thelightofthingshopedfor

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

wow what a pretty boy...he would look beautiful writhing in pain and crying in agony

#you know who I’m thinking about

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

two of my “concept art” style Loki designs 🐍

painted in procreate on ipad pro / do not repost

art tag

#loki #fanart #marvel cinematic universe

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

What region of the US do you live in? (I'm using the Census Bureau region names here)

West

Midwest

Northeast

South

Not a US resident

#well…as an Alaskan I guess I pick west? #which is true but doesn’t really cover it #and also isn’t included in what people typically think of as the western US

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

Poll for real people this time

#13 but most of them have been comics trades #so…quicker reads than other books #Kyra reads

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

Searching your eyes for the saint is an act of futility

something that's just been on my mind recently!

#artwork #cult of the lamb #oh I didn’t realize this was a fandom thing #well it’s cool

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

kitten i'll be honest daddy isn't sure he's cut out for full time employment

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

(I promise I am not deliberately ignoring anyone here, I apparently just only have the brain capacity for Twitter most of the time now, which is...not good, I know)

it took a long damn time, partly because insurance stuff and partly because ADHD and also hating the phone, and as usual with major things I kinda don’t want to talk about it as if that’ll jinx it somehow, but I now have an official date for a bilateral salpingectomy (what they actually do now instead of tubal ligation) and I’m…excited? like that's definitely the thing I'm feeling. I'm sure I'll be at least a little nervous as I get closer but right now I'm just kinda excited. partly it’s just relief to be getting this done because it’s, you know, one thing I can control in an increasingly uncertain, fucked-up world--I have no idea just how bad the future might get in however many ways (fascism! climate collapse! an even worse pandemic! who knows!) and realistically there's not a whole lot I can actually fix or prevent in advance, but I can take one thing off the table and that's something.

but also. I think it’s partly a Gender or Gender-adjacent thing because I just don’t LIKE having a pregnancy-capable body, you know? like even beyond all the practical reasons I very much want to avoid that, it just feels wrong that I came equipped with a built-in organic 3D printer I didn’t ask for, so I’m pulling the fucking plug on it.

also it’s exciting because actual surgery means I can take several days off without feeling guilty about it at all, which is...a different problem entirely, yes.

#surgery mention #this whole thing smacks of gender

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

Just a couple more days to get these cool cyberpunk pins funded!

Aurorapunk is my own creation--kind of made to be a blend of cyberpunk, fantasy, and techwear I guess? And the "aurora" attached to it to me indicates inclusion. Sometimes aesthetics can end up being gatekeepy, and this is a direct pushback against that.

If you want a pin like this for yourself, back it on Kickstarter here!

#and yes. if you're wondering. #I mean I would think they look cool regardless #but the reason I actually want this one is #he can very reasonably pass as a cyberpunk version of my blorbo #enamel pins #pin collecting

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

also like 10-15 years from now I hope someone makes one of those inspirational sports movies except it’s a 50 year old woman who wants to play competitive online games and everyone tells her she can’t because she’s too old, her reflexes are too slow, etc, and she gets this grizzled trainer except they’re a 19 year old kid who had a promising career until carpal tunnel syndrome ruined their chances of becoming the world champion so they train her and she fuckin wins, the end. movie of the year.

#no but I want this SO MUCH now #gaming

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

found you?

Haha yeah that’s what my username is from. I don’t even care much about the group, but I loved the lyrics from that album when I first read them ages ago.

#conversations #brave saint saturn #maikerusapphire

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

You might also try C. Gockel’s I Bring The Fire…series? Or maybe that’s the name of the first four books and the overall series is The Firebringers? Not totally clear on that. The author also wrote Loki/Jane MCU fic, if I’m remembering right, and the version of Loki in her novels does seem somewhat influenced by MCU Loki. (I only read partway through the series, though, and some things happened that I found very frustrating, for whatever it’s worth.)

Can you recommend me Loki books? (as in novels, not norse mythology textbooks)

I am not sure if I rated these correctly in terms of audience maturity. But I tried lol.

Comics:

Valhalla comics-Peter Madsen

Fun slap-stick re-tellings of the Norse myths. Children oriented?

Loki (2004) aka "Blood Brothers" by Robert Rodi & Esad Ribic

It's my favorite Marvel!Loki comic of all time. It altered my brain chemistry. You can read it for free on the links in my pinned post.

The graphic novel version of Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.

There's also this webcomic I found as a teen that's ongoing to this day and I need to go back to following:

Kids:

Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good by Louie Stowell

Diary of a Wimpy Kid but with Norse mythology! What's not to love about that?!

Eight Days of Luke-Dianna Wynne Jones

The book that inspired "American Gods."

Odd and the Frost Giants-Neil Gaiman

A boy named Odd encounters Odin, Thor, and Loki who have been turned into animals.

Teens:

Runemarks duology-Joanne Harris

Just keep to the first two books. You'll hate the rest. Let's just say it dealt horribly with Eating Disorders and Harris should have done research on heavy topics before writing about them. Her Loki in the first two books is very enjoyable and he rules over goblins for a while, among other things. I also thought the way rune birthmarks worked in here was fun.

Norse Mythology-Neil Gaiman

It's an entertaining overview of the myths. If you're unfamiliar with them it's a good place to start.

Adult:

Black Wolf: The Binding of Loki-Una Verdandi

I don't recommend if you want a soft!Loki or one that remains a decent person. Loki is interesting and feels like a force of nature. But let's just say he's like the Joker with all that implies. But I thought it was a worthwhile read (very long). It has probably the best Sigyn depiction I've encountered. She feels like a real person! I go more in detail here. I'd pay attention to the things I warn about in case they're deal-breakers or triggers. My review is not spoiler free but contains warnings.

American Gods-Neil Gaiman

Has very interesting premise and a multiple pantheons existing at the same time. It's fun how the deities adapt to the USA and modern times.

The Goddess of Nothing at All-Cat Rector

This book is basically a Norse myth whump fic. I would avoid if that's not your thing because I can see how someone else might hate it. I know I like it because making fictional characters suffer is my guilty pleasure. You won't be laughing at the mythology-based Loki memes. I don't think it's perfect. For example, I dislike that they have to make Loki's every action "justified", such as cutting Sif's hair because Sif called him fantasy racism slurs. Let him be a bit of an asshole just because. The disproportionate punishment makes it difficult not to sympathize with Loki either way. I don't know how I feel about her Sygin. It's the 2nd best Sygin I've seen yet in books. She has a personality, is likeable, and is not a doormat, but something about her and this Loki feels sanitized to me. Like the author was checking boxes for Sygin and Loki. I don't know how to explain it.

Father of Monsters-A. B. Frost

Short read. Loki is a loveable little shit that gets the Aesir into trouble and takes one for the team to get them out of it. I really liked this characterization and it had cute illustrations of Loki, Angrboda, and Jormungandr.

The Nine Worlds Rising Series-Lyra Wolf

They're not perfect. I think her Loki is very funny and likable but too sanitized. And Sigyn has no flaws other than caring too much for her no-good brother while the other goddesses are evil witches. But the author has a very comedic writing voice that is highly enjoyable and keeps the stakes high so that you want to keep on reading. I also like how one of the books starts with a very vengeful Loki and draws comparisons to Lucifer. Thought that was cool. Also, some reactions to some reveals didn't land the impact as well as they should. They do tease the Odin/Loki abusive relationship, but not with the toxicity I wanted, and Odin goes on a redemption path a bit too soon for my liking (while making all the goddesses evil witches...). There's also a lot of anachronistic language in here, such as Loki mentioning a Chihuahua.

Books I haven't read but I know of their existence:

Loki-Melvin Burgess (I saw a Sigyn stan complain about it, but I am not sure how seriously to take her complaints because she said shipping myth!Loki with say Balder or Thor or Odin was "incestuous" because Loki is Odin's "blood brother" despite Loki being unrelated to everyone but Narfi and Nari on Asgard). My standards for Loki don't require that Loki be a paragon of morality, unlike hers.

Harbinger of the End-Nicki Chapelway (I've seen praise from Logyn shippers for this one)

Loki: Nine Naughty Tales of the Trickster by Mike Vasich

I saw an excerpt with a rather humorous joke, but the one other Mike Vasich Loki book I read bored the hell out of me. So I haven't given it a chance for that reason.

The Blackwell Pages by Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr

It's a children's book series where the descendants of Thor and Loki are the protagonists.

I might have some revies in "LokiBookClub" tag.

#Loki #Kyra reads

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

#artwork #we all go into the dark

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

TIL: Paper airplanes were not created to mimic real airplanes. They predate them.

via beatlyzer.com

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

giving even a single shit abt covid will actually make u feel fucking crazy sometimes lol

#it IS gaslighting #for the simple reason of #make number go up #well that and adapting to a pandemic is hard and scary and people don’t like that #plagueblogging

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

Chapters: 4/? Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Loki & Thor (Marvel), James "Bucky" Barnes/Loki/Steve Rogers Characters: Loki (Marvel), Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes Additional Tags: Everyone Has Issues, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fix-It, Everybody Lives, Because I said so that's why, Magic, Dark Magic, Swearing Summary: Sanctuary sprawls over the landscape like some sort of spiky, cancerous growth, or a tentacled creature made of metal and bone, and the land is a ruin all around it even beyond the massive perimeter of structures fused with the rock beneath. It hurts Steve and Bucky just to be here long enough to unmake the Stones after Thanos's defeat; the place would probably kill an ordinary human outright. The last thing they expect to find is a living prisoner.

so I finally posted another chapter

#fanfic #loki #steve rogers #bucky barnes #occasionally I write things #marvel cinematic universe #fantasy AU #loki fic

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

Genocide experts warn that India is about to genocide the Shompen people

Who are the Shompen?

The Shompen are an indigenous culture that lives in the Great Nicobar Island, which is nowadays owned by India. The Shompen and their ancestors are believed to have been living in this island for around 10,000 years. Like other tribes in the nearby islands, the Shompen are isolated from the rest of the world, as they chose to be left alone, with the exception of a few members who occasionally take part in exchanges with foreigners and go on quarantine before returning to their tribe. There are between 100 and 400 Shompen people, who are hunter-gatherers and nomadic agricultors and rely on their island's rainforest for survival.

Why is there risk of genocide?

India has announced a huge construction mega-project that will completely change the Great Nicobar Island to turn it into "the Hong Kong of India".

Nowadays, the island has 8,500 inhabitants, and over 95% of its surface is made up of national parks, protected forests and tribal reserve areas. Much of the island is covered by the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve, described by UNESCO as covering “unique and threatened tropical evergreen forest ecosystems. It is home to very rich ecosystems, including 650 species of angiosperms, ferns, gymnosperms, and bryophytes, among others. In terms of fauna, there are over 1800 species, some of which are endemic to this area. It has one of the best-preserved tropical rain forests in the world.”

The Indian project aims to destroy this natural environment to create an international shipping terminal with the capacity to handle 14.2 million TEUs (unit of cargo capacity), an international airport that will handle a peak hour traffic of 4,000 passengers and that will be used as a joint civilian-military airport under the control of the Indian Navy, a gas and solar power plant, a military base, an industrial park, and townships aimed at bringing in tourism, including commercial, industrial and residential zones as well as other tourism-related activities.

This project means the destruction of the island's pristine rainforests, as it involves cutting down over 852,000 trees and endangers the local fauna such as leatherback turtles, saltwater crocodiles, Nicobar crab-eating macaque and migratory birds. The erosion resulting from deforestation will be huge in this highly-seismic area. Experts also warn about the effects that this project will have on local flora and fauna as a result of pollution from the terminal project, coastal surface runoff, ballasts from ships, physical collisions with ships, coastal construction, oil spills, etc.

The indigenous people are not only affected because their environment and food source will be destroyed. On top of this, the demographic change will be a catastrophe for them. After the creation of this project, the Great Nicobar Island -which now has 8,500 inhabitants- will receive a population of 650,000 settlers. Remember that the Shompen and Nicobarese people who live on this island are isolated, which means they do not have an immune system that can resist outsider illnesses. Academics believe they could die of disease if they come in contact with outsiders (think of the arrival of Europeans to the Americas after Christopher Columbus and the way that common European illnesses were lethal for indigenous Americans with no immunization against them).

And on top of all of this, the project might destroy the environment and the indigenous people just to turn out to be useless and sooner or later be abandoned. The naturalist Uday Mondal explains that “after all the destruction, the financial viability of the project remains questionable as all the construction material will have to be shipped to this remote island and it will have to compete with already well-established ports.” However, this project is important to India because they want to use the island as a military and commercial post to stop China's expansion in the region, since the Nicobar islands are located on one of the world's busiest sea routes.

Last year, 70 former government officials and ambassadors wrote to the Indian president saying the project would “virtually destroy the unique ecology of this island and the habitat of vulnerable tribal groups”. India's response has been to say that the indigenous tribes will be relocated "if needed", but that doesn't solve the problem. As a spokesperson for human rights group Survival International said: “The Shompen are nomadic and have clearly defined territories. Four of their semi-permanent settlements are set to be directly devastated by the project, along with their southern hunting and foraging territories. The Shompen will undoubtedly try to move away from the area destroyed, but there will be little space for them to go. To avoid a genocide, this deadly mega-project must be scrapped.”

On 7 February 2024, 39 scholars from 13 countries published an open letter to the Indian president warning that “If the project goes ahead, even in a limited form, we believe it will be a death sentence for the Shompen, tantamount to the international crime of genocide.”

How to help

The NGO Survival International has launched this campaign:

From this site, you just need to add your name and email and you will send an email to India's Tribal Affairs Minister and to the companies currently vying to build the first stage of the project.

Share it with your friends and acquittances and on social media.

Sources:

India’s plan for untouched Nicobar isles will be ‘death sentence’ for isolated tribe, 7 Feb 2024. The Guardian.

‘It will destroy them’: Indian mega-development could cause ‘genocide’ and ‘ecocide’, says charity, 8 Feb 2024. Geographical.

Genocide experts call on India's government to scrap the Great Nicobar mega-project, Feb 2024. Survival International.

The container terminal that could sink the Great Nicobar Island, 20 July 2022. Mongabay.

[Maps] Environmental path cleared for Great Nicobar mega project, 10 Oct 2022. Mongabay.

#india #for future reference

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

he came to me in a dream

#pffffff #red dead redemption #john marston #fanart #undead nightmare