goblinchild

[goblinchild]

never say with eleven words what you could with ten. do not use nine words where ten words will do. only ever write sentences that are exactly ten words long.

[goblinchild]

[goblinchild]

The problem with having a child with an attorney that has spoken to the child like an adult since birth is that she's 4 years old and she's negotiating the order in which we're going to complete tasks as a family to best suit her idea of an ideal day.

[goblinchild]

[goblinchild]

Back in 1997 there was a goth lesbian Muppet

[goblinchild]

Yuri shippers: *ignoring the nominal protagonist to ship his various designated love interests with each other*

Nominal protagonist: *actually has a halfway-interesting deal for once*

Yuri shippers:

Yuri shippers: We have a proposal.

[goblinchild]

when you listen to a song and it gives you inspiration to daydream an answer to the plot hole in the story building inside your head

[goblinchild]

was going through some of my health records and some doctor put “dresses oddly” next to my psychotic symptoms. hey fuck you too man

[goblinchild]

“me when i lie” is the funniest way to call someone a liar the internet has cooked up thus far

[goblinchild]

i think incest gets a bad wrap because Folger’s just isn’t a very good coffee brand personally

[goblinchild]

going wild thinking about the use of Rocky Road to Dublin in Sinners. It’s a really tight microcosm of a lot of the film’s themes just by itself. Credentials: I’m a retired Irish dancer, I went to worlds and the whole bit. My family is appalachian and I grew up on bluegrass

It’s played on a banjo, an instrument with origins in West Africa formally invented in the US by enslaved people (and then popularized in Irish music through Irish American immigrants, largely in the South and Appalachia). Even the instrument telegraphs an attempt at cultural exchange morphing into theft and exploitation, especially because the history of the banjo has been purposefully obscured by white people

It’s got a strong down beat, making it the musical opposite of the swung blues sound (emphasis on 1/3 as opposed to 2/4). The scene is clearly meant to evoke klan imagery, and giving it this marching feel ABSOLUTELY contributes

It’s in 9/8 meter (with some mixed—it’s a uniquely weird song), making it, traditionally, a slip jig. Historically, this is a light shoe dance for women only (he’s dancing hard shoe in the movie) meaning that Remmick’s attempt to reclaim his own culture has been botched, obscured, and lost as he’s been alienated from it and co-opted into the symbolic hive of American whiteness/cultural orphanage/cultural patricide.

The song itself is about a guy cutting a shillelagh (a walking stick/club with a folkloric purpose of warding off evil spirits) to protect himself on his journey to Dublin, but winding up using it against a few Englishmen mocking him for his Irish accent. It’s a parallel to exactly what Remmick was not able to do—protect himself from monsters, and protect himself from colonization. It also highlights that this number is being used to threaten violence against the leads

It’s such a clever combination of inverting swing/jazz sounds and showing ways Remmick is missing the point. Since he sold his soul for power, comfort, and conformity, he’s only able to access a shadow of his culture, while misunderstanding and misrepresenting major pieces of his own traditions. Even his attempts to culturally “share” through the banjo is plowed over by his use of it and Black bodies and voices for his own individual pleasure and as a threat of further violence. It’s such a smart pick

[goblinchild]

I was talking with my writing instructor on how it can be excruciating to put too much of yourself into a book and then have people read it, and she was like “I know exactly what you mean, I always have to tell my mother ‘this character isn’t based on you; their issues are not our issues, I promise.’”

and I was nodding along and going “yeah, yeah, totally” but what I’d meant was all the weird old man bdsm scenes.

[goblinchild]

“the heart wants what it wants”? okay well the heart is fucking stupid can we let someone else have a turn? maybe the spleen wants to have a go?

[goblinchild]

“how did you get into writing” girl nobody gets into writing. writing shows up one day at your door and gets into you

[goblinchild]

Happy pride month to my dad. When I came out as bi to him, this man googled what it ment, look at me and said "ohh. Yeah. You get that from me. You'd have far more siblings of I only shaged women." And went right back to his work emails.

[goblinchild]

More favourite tropes:

“Unfortunately, [thing that would ordinarily be described in much stronger terms than ‘unfortunate’].”  

“Fortunately, [thing that is in no way fortunate].”  

“Unfortunately, [thing that would be fortunate in nearly any circumstance except the particular circumstance at hand].“  

“Fortunately, [very minor benefit that absolutely does not offset the considerable drawbacks of whatever just happened].“  

“Unfortunately, [the exact, word-for-word thing that somebody just expressed that they hope won’t happen].“  

“Fortunately, [complete non sequitur].”

[goblinchild]

Arugula is some crap they found on the ground for real