#back when things were simpler

[universe-of-peoples]

Is the so-called “nostalgia epidemic” among gen z just a result of the desire to live in a time when corporations didn’t control the internet nearly as much, when there were only 2-3 streaming services and they didn’t have ads, when teenagers weren’t expected to stretch themselves thin doing 10 million extracurriculars just to get into college, when buying a house was a reasonable goal, when beloved shows were given more episodes per season and weren’t canceled prematurely (nearly as often), when third spaces (i.e. malls) existed so that your friends could hang out together, when clothes were made higher-quality instead of fast-fashion, when…

Or is it just because cute aesthetics?

[majikuriboh]

blindfold Satoru crumbs

[howlerbat]

that picture probably was taken in the ussr, if I'm to guess the bigger robot's helmet says "USSR" ("СССР")

oh yeah, didn’t notice this! although the architecture was also a dead giveaway

[sforzesco]

 Then, on his arrival in Constantinople, after much counsel with himself, considering that he was already unequal to the amount of pressing business and believing that there was no room for delay, on the twenty-eighth of March he brought the aforesaid Valens into one of the suburbs​ and with the consent of all (for no one ventured to oppose) proclaimed him Augustus. Then he adorned him with the imperial insignia and put a diadem on his head, and brought him back in his own carriage, thus having indeed a lawful partner in his power, but, as the further course of our narrative will show, one who was as compliant as a subordinate. No sooner were these arrangements perfected without disturbance than both emperors were seized with violent and lingering fevers--

AM 26.4.3-4

this was one of those illustrations that was originally supposed to be a 5 page comic until I realized I don't know anything about later roman empire architecture or visuals or art or anything, so we'll revisit that later. maybe

for right now though, these two are fascinating. we have two brothers acting as one body, even becoming ill in tandem with each other, it's giving This Throne Is Cursed. like, the last time I read about emperors coming down with life threatening illnesses, it was Caligula, and that moment in his biography marked a very specific tone shift. I spent the rest of the (first) time reading about Valens and Valentinian waiting for something comparable to Caligula's reign to happen lmao (Dio 59. 8. 1-2)

and since Caligula was already on the mind, I started thinking about Tiberius: I think he would've loved these two since he had a whole thing about twin-ification and brothers and etc etc etc. ofc, Rome is both a Mouth and a Tomb, so it's going to go badly for someone/everyone eventually, but honestly I think that Valentinian and Valens were the best we could've hoped for. like it could've been so much worse

Tiberius and the Heavenly Twins, Edward Champlin

Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D, Noel Lenski

⭐ I have a tip jar (ko-fi)!

⭐ and other places I’m at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app

[awfullybigwardrobe44]

Current state of the world got you down?

I suggest watching 2000s-2010s Disney Channel Original Movies and/or other movies with the same vibes

[revvethasmythh]

the youtube app on my tv absolutely crapping the fuck out so i have to watch this ep on my computer like i used to back in the mighty nein days.....you know what, it feels right. it feels correct

[ardri-na-bpiteog]

Modern life just has...too much stuff to keep track of. Too many deadlines and logins and accounts and emails and messages on multiple different platforms and constant bombardment of information and I can tell my brain is really struggling to manage it all.

[gender-euphowrya]

besides the obvious It's Racist Shit reasons for finding this stuff weird i just

whenever i hear people here say stuff like "oh we need to preserve our culture, things were better back then yaddayadda" it's like... what the fuck are you fucking talking about

teachers were allowed to beat your kids and all you got for christmas was An Orange and we had weird as fuck traditions like when people got married they would sneak away during the party to Fuck and everyone would try to find where they went and catch them in the act what are you TALKING ABOUT

[inkshine]

Oh old Decemberists songs I'm relistening to, we're really in it now

[missrandomdreamer]

my brain has gone down the rabbit hole of anime /anime songs my friend used to show me and now im transported back to middle school: so i will share them all with you

this whole damn soundtrack that i remember picking up at the library and just putting it on repeat on my little portable cd player

this also was whole traumatizing album if you read the lyrics despite this song's happy nature

these songs unlock like something in my brain and it gives me all the sadness and serotonin :T

[stained-glass-mustache]

i have been possessed by my 14 y/o self and am grinning and giggling and kicking my feet thinking about frerard

[ghostlynimbus]

I've been struggling with writing the last few days and my tummy is upset so I'm going to watch twilight and call it research for my supernatural creatures au

[gontagokuhara]

how to say “i want to study this person” abt someone rbing old deh posts of mine from 2017 but in like a respectful and non zoo-animal type way

[dividedskylane]

the saddest thing that can happen to me when i'm reading a book is when it turns out to be not good, but with enough moments of brilliance scattered through that i keep reading it — and don't even feel like dismissing it as just plain bad would be fair. sigh

[dat-asslyn]

real quick

I know I've been reblogging a lot of Attack on Titan stuff lately so I just wanna be clear, I do NOT in any way support legitimate anti-semitism or any of the other Actually-Problematic-in-Real-Life aspects of the manga/anime. It's just another flawed piece of media whose premises must be carefully interrogated.

[6mayhem]

but i would give anything for just one day spent in the life i had when i was 15. it may not have been perfect but i felt like i belonged somewhere. and i didn't worry so goddamn much about the big picture