jacob-the-pianist

[jacob-the-pianist]

Why is this heat so hot 😩

[jacob-the-pianist]

My FBI handler is a Sondheim nut, how lucky can a guy get?

[jacob-the-pianist]

I'd seen lots of people describe Night in the Woods as being heavily rooted in the experience of growing up in a dying small town in the American Rust Belt, but somehow nobody told my West Virginian ass that it's so Appalachian that I probably live closer to where Mae's house would be than to the nearest IKEA.

[jacob-the-pianist]

not to be a slut but can u come gently rub my back

[jacob-the-pianist]

It's how I met my wife!

[jacob-the-pianist]

Im glad I coexist on tumblr at the same time as you, dude

[jacob-the-pianist]

Guess what @juanepstein and I did today

[jacob-the-pianist]

ok im going to #seriouspost for a second here. I don't think Harry Potter is a manifesto. I think it was a flawed passion project that millennials latched onto because of the fantasy of sticking it to their mean teachers and arbitrarily categorizing themselves (hogwarts houses; it's the thinking millennial's astrology). I think the fact that the series got popular when and how it did was very much a product of its time.

I don't think Harry Potter is the biggest symbol of JKR's bigotry. I think the most flagrant sign of that was how she responded to critics. I watched her become radicalized in real time. I watched how she doubled down on her racism when she was called out for the ways she promoted her tragically mid fantastic beasts movies. I watched her chase marginalized teenagers with a double digit follower count off of twitter for daring to criticize her thought process, and no one with any kind of power standing against her because she was the one who was paying them. This isn't to say Harry Potter is without flaws. This is to say she really didn't give a shit about that. Getting rich and powerful is a hell of a drug, and she had enough sycophants that she had no reason to care about what her critics were saying.

She was convinced that she was a martyr; a voice for the unheard; a leader for the ages, so of course her detractors were the bad guys. And I think we should take this to heart. We should see this as an example of how easy it is to get radicalized; if you think of yourself as a paragon of virtue, you are going to think that whatever you see as good and right is an objective fact. Most people don't know this, but the majority of terfs start out as trans allies. You are not immune to propaganda! You are not immune to falling into dangerous ideologies!!!

This is why the most important thing you can do as an activist is to listen. Do NOT think you're above being wrong; do NOT develop a god complex; do NOT form an identity out of being right all the time. Involve yourselves in the groups you claim to speak for. Listen to trans women; share resources that help trans women; familiarize yourself with the diversity of experiences that trans people have and the struggles they face.

No, none of you are as bad as JKR because you don't have her money or her power. You will likely never have the capacity for harm she does. But check yourselves. Do not affirm yourselves into thinking you always have the moral high ground. Watch yourselves; humble yourselves; check yourselves for signs of cult behavior and internalized prejudice. You are always learning. You will always be learning. Do not allow yourselves to get a power trip from brushing off marginalized voices.

[jacob-the-pianist]

...never try!!!

[jacob-the-pianist]

Happy Audio Drama Sunday! The heat's starting to pick up in my neck of the woods, and I'm grateful that I can crack open a cold can of podcast to cool me down. SUCH good episodes this week, let's dive into it.

💫 It's hard to do Someone Dies In This Elevator for Audio Drama Sunday because the episodes come out on Sundays. And don't tell anyone, but I'm writing this on Saturday night, so I haven't heard the new one yet. So to be clear, this bit is about last week's episode of @sditepod, which was written and performed by William A. Wellman and absolutely knocked my socks off. Wellman has this way of describing the breadth and depth of unimaginably huge concepts that makes them tangible. It's a rare and beautiful gift. What a good episode.

🚂 @theholmwoodfoundation’s second episode is finally here!!! I was already so excited for this show, but it exceeded all my expectations. The interplay of the four main characters has been so fascinating. I am thrilled to have seen Arthur in action, excited to hear about these other characters whose coming has been foretold, Henri and Tom; and the thrall was WAY scarier than I ever expected. I love a combination of something so animal that is also perfectly sentient. I can’t wait for the next episode. Hold on Maddy!

🥩 Hello @freshmeatcast! I think this was the episode I was waiting for, the episode with the outside perspective to Andy's fury and scorn. It's an interesting commentary on true crime in general to really expose how narrow and subjective Andy's analysis is, especially after the last episode, which roasts a bunch of other true crime podcasts for their narrow subjectivity! I cannot wait to see how Rachel's prodding affects the course of this story. I too want to know: what in the h*ck is this meat monster?

🕷️ Speaking of William A Wellmen, I found this episode of @hellofromthehallowoods chilling in three different ways. Surely nothing can be scarier than a spooky guy with creepy fingers! Oh, no wait, the crushing knowledge of the fallibility of humans to their own bigotry? What could be worse than that? Perhaps a moral dilemma??? For an episode about reunions, this ep really tore me apart. It's genius.

🔍 I had the absolute privilege of getting online tickets to the recent @victoriocity live show, which I finally got to sit down and watch this week, and it was everything I hoped for. It was very fun spotting Felix Trench in amongst the cast and trying to guess who he was going to play, and as always I would die for Septimus Bell. Nobody sets up a joke like Victoriocity. Also, it was extremely funny watching Chris Sugden break when he got surprised by the script. I like to think Jen Sugden wrote those bits.

🩸 This week I started listening to @last-dance-audio-drama, and uhhhhhhh oh my gosh? I am floored by the worldbuilding in this show, which begins every episode by telling you that the gods are dead and we're on our own out here. It's fascinating to see a fantasy world building religion and scripture that explicitly excludes gods. Instead you have the monks, who are godlike based on a humoral theory that has actual implications in the world--it's incredible. And Jericho Raeke, the sopping wet man that you are. I'm five episodes in and I'm so into this show, please join me.

That's it for me! I'm going to go celebrate Father's Day by eating too much Brazilian barbecue. With my DAD. See you next week!

[jacob-the-pianist]

i think all quiet on the western front and the lord of the rings are in direct conversation with each other, as in theyre the retelling of the same war with one saying here’s what happened, we all died, and it did not matter at all and another going hush little boy, of course we won, of course your friends came back

[jacob-the-pianist]

Hey, we're getting married. If you'd maybe like to give two newlywed Jewish educators some help? Thank you! 🥰

if anyone is interested in contributing to our simcha and have a hand in building our home together

[jacob-the-pianist]

as a kid, I walked into a closet, saw an enormous snake, and then walked out. I walked up to my dad, as you do, and said "dad there's a huge snake in the closet"

so he smiled smugly, grabbed his knife (I think it was a machete?), walked off, and then I heard him scream followed shortly by three panicked slams

it turns out he didn't actually think he'd find a huge snake in there, but it sure was there, and he sure did chop it into three pieces

[jacob-the-pianist]

average library childrens room tasks

[jacob-the-pianist]

an interesting part of being jewish is that a lot of people are just wrong about it. they find out about our words or customs or literally anything we do that doesn’t fit the society they grew up in, and then they’re wrong about what they are. and then they get mad at us because they’re wrong and we’re not different in the way they want us to be. like. “l*lith is a feminist girlboss and was cast down for wanting to be equal” “all orthodox women are forced to shave their heads and if they don’t then they’re not actually orthodox jews” “actually part of judaism is hating Gd like they have a story about it and they’d fight him behind the denny’s”. etc etc etc. and they just never accept (much less consider) that they’re wrong