mavines

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ppl who celebrate fictional character birthdays are annoying pass it on

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decentralize and clean up your life!!!

use overdrive, libby, hoopla, cloudlibrary, and kanopy instead of amazon and audible.

use firefox instead of chrome or opera (both are made with chromium, which blocks functionality for ad-blockers. firefox isn't based on chromium).

use mega or proton drive instead of google drive.

get rid of bloatware

use libreoffice instead of microsoft office suite

use vetted sites on r/FREEMEDIAHECKYEAH for free movies, books, games, etc.

use trakt or letterboxd instead of imdb.

use storygraph instead of goodreads.

use darkpatterns to find mobile game with no ads or microtransactions

use ground news to read unbiased news and find blind spots in news stories.

use mediahuman or cobalt to download music, or support your favorite artists directly through bandcamp

make youtube bearable by using mtube, newpipe, or the unhook extension on chrome, firefox, or microsoft edge

use search for a cause or ecosia to support the environment instead of google

use thriftbooks to buy new or used books (they also have manga, textbooks, home goods, CDs, DVDs, and blurays)

use flashpoint to play archived online flash games

find books, movies, games, etc. on the internet archive! for starters, here's a bunch of David Attenborough documentaries and all of the Animorphs books

burn your music onto cds

use pdf24 (available online or as a desktop app) instead of adobe

use unroll.me to clean your email inboxes

use thunderbird, mailfence, countermail, edison mail, tuta, or proton mail instead of gmail

remove bloatware on windows PC, macOS, and iOS X

remove bloatware on samsung X

use pixelfed instead of instagram or meta

use NCH suite for free software like a file converter, image editor, video editors, pdf editor, etc.

feel free to add more alternatives, resources or advice in the reblogs or replies, and i'll add them to the main post <3

last updated: march 18th 2025

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just checking in

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happy pride to the boyfriend who looks like a girlfriend that mr the killers had in February of last year

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"what's the worst thing you can do as an artist" is not "shade with black" or "not use references" or whatever the worst thing you can do as an artist is hate yourself. and that includes the person you used to be

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star trek tos but every scene is a baroque painting

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Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.  Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new  life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!    

Star Trek: The Original Series - Season Three

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One of the K/S talks about TOS S3

I've seen more than once how the third season of TOS is perceived as a season of breakup for K/S. I had seen many references to this, and I was bracing myself for the (bad) tension and estrangement between the two of them that was about to occur.

But being now at the midpoint of season three, I don't feel that way.

The third season has undoubtedly become much more intense and raising the level of plot drama in each episode, creating the feeling that they have crossed some point in a five-year mission, when fatigue and stress among the crew are only increasing. Which is especially noticeable with Kirk, who, as a captain, is responsible for his crew and his ship. You understand that all the things he's been through, the things he's been disappointed in, the things he's believed in, it's changed him. Kirk in S3 feels different from Kirk in S1, more serious, more desperate, more rigid in his own principles, and not as attached to following the rules.

Although TOS is more of an anthology in its structure and is not linear, I like to perceive it linearly. It's not the obvious things, it's not the specific plot connection, but it's the changes that occur throughout three seasons in the main characters, in their moods, the things they talk about, how they react to situations, and especially in their nonverbal language. TOS says a lot without saying anything. That's the part that makes it so poetic. And this linearity is clearly noticeable when we talk about K/S. They've come a long way since the first season, and in my personal opinion, the third season is definitely not the season of their breakup, but conversely, the season of them approaching the point where they can't help but be together. The K/S relationship in TOS is actually such an Edwardian romance - these are hundreds of dialogues that are conducted without words, with just glances, the silent conversations of their touches without touches, decisions that remain unspoken, and are expressed only in their actions. Considering what kind of people they are, how they perceive the world, and what they really want from a relationship, I don't think there could've been any kind of casual connection between them. They both want a serious relationship, and they really value and respect each other, appreciating this exceptional importance between them, and neither of them would risk that for something that wasn't visceral enough. There's no doubt here; if something really happens between them, it will be permanent, fundamental for them both.

They've definitely been forming and deepening this attachment to each other since the first episode, but I think until around "This Side of Paradise", neither of them had really called things by their own names. I find this episode very pivotal in how they both, Kirk and Spock, accept the fact that they can't leave each other, that they can't be without each other, and that they have no right to it. They both, for different reasons, feel they can't afford it, but from that moment on, when they can no longer ignore the existing attachment, it gradually begins to change. It still remains something completely out of reach for them at this point, but they go through different situations together, changing themselves and becoming closer. That's why the second season is actually quite comfortable with this "hey, I got you, I will be there if you need me, take your time" between them. For me, the second season is their period of understanding themselves, each other, and defining boundaries that they both try to adhere to.

But the third season leaves no room for that. They're constantly moving from one critical moment to the next, going through terrible things, and they only do so because of the trust and intimacy that exists between them. They no longer have time for the polite "I'll wait until you're ready" as they have to cross each other's established boundaries over and over again to save another, their crew, and their ship. And they both noticeably become much more desperate in their actions when the other is in danger. This is a difficult season that constantly tests them both, demanding a clear awareness of their own selves, and I think at this point, all the reasons that each of them held on to, forbidding themselves from loving each other like this, denying themselves the possibility of a real relationship, are no longer so crucial. Yes, it may not happen anytime soon, but it's no longer about awareness or accepting your own feelings; it's all here, it's monolithic, and it's all undoubtedly heading towards this. This is no longer the "Let me help" of the first season; this is constant help for each other that doesn't have to be asked. It's not about heart eyes, lovey-dovey looks, or warm flirting anymore; it's about I'm willing to do this for you because I love you, and your happiness is more important to me than other things, even if it means letting you go.

These two are so obviously into each other, and for me, season three is just blatant confirmation of that. It's still like reading Jane Austen, when you're nearing the end of the story, and you know that these people are obviously going to be together, but it's still held in a tension of unspokenness.

And, well, that's what I like about it.

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The problem with AO3 is that every online store's search function is bullshit by comparison

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TOS Tricorder

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i like that we see ^_^ as a smile even though its mouth is totally straight. Its happiness is so radiant it need not smile to let us know!

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One of the things that always gets me about Kirk's incredibly bleak speech about romantic love in "Metamorphosis" that, uh, is very easy to read in K/S terms—

Kirk's speech about love includes not only "Is he important to you? More important than anything?" (okay) but further defines it specifically as "the total union of two people." For whatever reason, Shatner delivers this speech with palpable melancholy and yearning, so it's difficult to believe Kirk is simply talking about the Companion's relationship with Cochrane.

One of the many reasons this feels incredibly applicable to Kirk's feelings for Spock is that his melancholy around love seems fed by his desire for union with another person—one other person—to such a degree that this defines his entire understanding of what romantic love is. The yearning that he sees reflected in the Companion/projects onto her is, for Kirk, fundamentally a yearning to become completely, inextricably interconnected in his being with a single other person.

This informs both the allure and torment of love for him. He asks the Companion, "Is he as though he was a part of you?" only to repeatedly insist on the impossibility of his her love:

You can’t join. You can’t love. You may keep him here forever, but you will always be separate, apart from him.

The joining he's thinking of here is IMO not only sexual or even tactile. He's talking about becoming part of the other's being, about total union. The real anguish of impossible love According to James T. Kirk's Totally Objective Representation ultimately lies in a sort of metaphysical separation between the lover/beloved, in being fundamentally apart, unable to become integrated into the other person. That's the thing to be longed for in his perception, emphasized over and over: union, joining, becoming part of each other, enmeshed in a total and absolute way.

This is a pretty unusual representation of romantic love from someone culturally human in every way. I don't think it's what Cochrane, the human man loved by the Companion, gives much indication of wanting out of romance. It's the alien Companion who does, and the meh resolution to that plot lies in her taking a shape Cochrane can accept and having a normative human relationship with him, one in which the sparkly spiritual communion between them from the episode will likely never recur.

I don't think there are all that many human characters in TOS driven towards love in these terms at all. McCoy's long speech about human love that Spock allegedly can't experience, say, doesn't touch on this sense of total and exclusive union at all. Even his joining with Natira's people out of love isn't an absolute merging with her. But Kirk's fundamental yearning for total union and the purgatory of being apart on this level does seem reminiscent of a formulation of romantic love we absolutely do see in TOS. It's just not a human one.

The ritual words exchanged between Spock and T'Pring in (ostensible) lead-up to the finalization of their marriage sound a lot more like this sense of love than anything McCoy or most other humans say in TOS:

parted from me and never parted, never and always touching and touched.

Spock describes his childhood betrothal to T'Pring a little later:

One touches the other in order to feel each other's thoughts. In this way our minds were locked together.

And I think it's worth mentioning that there's another other word for two things becoming united or joined or part of each other that goes (I think carefully) unmentioned in the "Metamorphosis" speech. But the significance is obvious in this context: melding. The melding of minds is important in Vulcan culture, and implied by Spock to be fairly intimate for Vulcans, which is why he doesn't like having to use it in a professional context:

It's a hidden, personal thing to the Vulcan people, part of our private lives.

As of "Metamorphosis," Spock has never melded minds with Kirk. He eventually forces a meld on the confused amnesiac Kirk early in S3, upsetting both of them, but throughout the season ends up melding three more times with the unimpaired Kirk. On two of those other occasions (the second and fourth) the mind-meld is proposed by Kirk, while he's unconscious during the third. So it's not just that once Spock melds his and Kirk's minds the first time, they keep doing it, Spock melding more often with Kirk in those few months than with any single person in the entire run of the show. In addition, Kirk seems very particularly, conspicuously receptive to these melds in a way that's clearly linked to their personal relationship.

By the series finale, when Kirk invites a meld to prove his identity (under the logic that Spock is closer to him than anyone in the universe and uniquely knows his thoughts), Spock can effortlessly join their minds. He no longer even requires the speech that usually guides Vulcan mind-melds, ritualized or otherwise; he only said one word in their third meld ("Forget"), and for this fourth one, quickly melds with Kirk in total silence before separating. He does keep his fingers wrapped around Kirk's wrist throughout their escape attempt, perhaps only to ensure his safety, but quite possibly also to retain some connection to his thoughts after the easy meld.

I've mentioned it before, but taking TOS by itself, it does feel like they're right on the edge of something very much like what Kirk was yearning for in "Metamorphosis," something Spock also desires with him. I don't think it's even really all that subtle (just allowable in this kind of show in 1969 because sci-fi metaphors + Kirk being trapped in a woman's body in that episode plausible deniability, baby!).

In any case, I find it interesting that Kirk's conversation with the Companion about love is followed by an additional exchange with Spock. When Kirk explains to a completely baffled McCoy that he delivered this devastating speech about love to encourage the Companion towards sacrifice, Spock responds:

But she or it is inhuman, captain. You cannot expect her to react like a human.

Kirk simply says:

I tried.

There's obvious subtext on multiple levels here; I think it's one of relatively few scenes where Spock is genuinely not getting what's going on with Kirk at all, and this response only digs the knife in deeper (unintentionally). But also, the sense of conflict between the essential human yearning of Kirk and essential alien nature of Spock isn't even true. Yes, they both still have some very evident hang-ups derived from their respective and common cultures that feed this moment of counter-communication, but the reality is more (and less) complicated.

The thing is, Spock's love for Kirk is wildly intense and focused, and in some ways often brutal towards people who aren't Kirk. But it very much encompasses the kind of self-denial and sacrifice that Kirk hoped the Companion might be capable of, which Spock here specifically categorizes as human.

Spock repeatedly watches Kirk try to find love, and prioritizes his happiness enough to just suffer silently in the background, rather than trying to keep Kirk to himself or limit his choices, and certainly rather than saying what he feels or interfering with Kirk's handful of genuine romances until after they fall apart. Spock is blatantly miserable about them, but also cares more about Kirk's welfare than, well, pretty much anything. McCoy's vicious but heartfelt speech about the human love Spock is supposedly incapable of triggers the wild finale of "Requiem for Methuselah" because it so accurately describes Spock's love for Kirk.

In the analogy between the Companion/Cochrane and Kirk/Spock, meanwhile, it's Kirk—not Spock—who most corresponds to the alien Companion in feeling and behavior. Kirk is the one who relates to her and projects onto her. In TOS especially, Kirk is the main (arguably only) person willing to supply Spock with the affirmation, admiration, and acceptance he clearly needs above all else, and doesn't seem to expect an exact reciprocation of it so much as he desperately needs Spock to remain with him—preferably forever, as suggested by Edith. The Companion, meanwhile, has granted inexhaustible health, youth, and comfort to Cochrane throughout the years as well as silent, devoted companionship, but can't bear to let him leave.

I think it's significant that while in his right mind, Kirk accepts his own role in Spock's shame and repression with pretty astounding grace and patience despite it being upsetting at first and such a persistent thread throughout the show, not pressuring him to change or really doing much about the situation at all, though it's clearly ongoing. He offers brief light teasing that is the only kind Spock is receptive to (I feel that Spock's willingness to enter into amicable, usually quietly pleased banter with Kirk vs visibly resenting anyone else prodding him about his heritage or culture or emotions is very clear in TOS). But apart from the professional demands on them—and only sometimes apart from them—Kirk seems remarkably willing to do and be what he thinks Spock needs, as long as Spock stays with him and their relationship remains at the center of Spock's life.

He repeatedly insists that he needs Spock, without really specifying any particular thing he needs from Spock beyond what Spock would generally do anyway + their mutual admiration society. At the same time, though, Kirk gets quietly, bitterly upset and insecure whenever he's faced with the prospect of Spock's life centering on something else for any length of time, whether this involves another person or not. So it's not that Kirk isn't demanding in his own way, but that what he requires from Spock is just very profoundly different from what other people do.

And this isn't that dissimilar from what the Companion chooses in the end. She is never willing to make a sacrifice for love in the sense of giving Cochrane up (something Spock unhappily does with Kirk more than once). Instead, she turns herself into someone Cochrane can accept, taking on a form and persona that make it easy for him to remain with her and willingly re-contextualize their relationship as romantic. I think the resolution feels more bittersweet than was intended because Cochrane is such an asshole about her (pretty much everyone reacts to his rants like he's using slurs they didn't know existed), but it does reinforce the primary link between the Companion and Kirk.

Spock isn't much like Cochrane apart from having (very different) cultural baggage that affects the relationship in question. Nor is he even that much like the Companion. The relationships are analogous because the Companion and Kirk experience love so similarly: what they feel, what they long for, what they're willing to do.

But it's not just an "actually Spock is the really human one and Kirk is the alien" thing, either. Spock has profoundly human feelings about Kirk, but is also extremely Vulcan about it, in what he needs and can bear. I don't think he'd ever be comfortable or happy in a purely human-normative romantic relationship. And Kirk's emotions and presentation are emphatically human in many ways—open, intense, and highly romantic and sentimental when he's not pressured. But there's a strain to his personality, thinking, and even desires that is not only able to accommodate Spock's Vulcan qualities and needs, but essentially produces similar ones in himself.

As a result, Kirk's easy natural rapport with Spock is broadly with Spock in his entirety, not only his human side. He tends to blatantly favor Spock in the Spock vs McCoy conflict, and often the Spock vs Anyone conflict, because he respects Spock's deliberately Vulcan perspective and it generally fits well with Kirk's own values ("You could learn something from Mr. Spock, doctor. Stop thinking with your glands" / "Insulted, Spock?" -> "Insults are effective only where emotion is present." -> "Good. We'll tackle him together" / "Have I made a rational decision? Am I letting the horrors of the past distort my judgment of the present?"). It makes a peculiar sense that the kind of love and relationship that Kirk, as an individual person, would yearn for might look awfully Vulcan in some ways, despite the raw human expressiveness of his love for Spock.

Personally, I think that the longing that pervades Kirk's and Spock's affection for each other and how they relate to each other throughout the show are fundamentally shared: human- and Vulcan-normative on both sides, essentially, blurring even the distinction between those in the yearning for total union. Appropriately enough! But their experiences are also not identical, and I think that Spock's performance of dispassion / Kirk's performance of emotion bury some specific ways in which Spock has a very human experience of love while Kirk's is linked to the alien.

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Having a sickass art idea that haunts your every waking moment but lacking the talent to fully idealize it in your exact vision

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arguing against ai is always like. im not sure how to explain to you. that you need to think for yourself with your own thoughts. . maybe this would be easier to understand if idk, you were practiced in thinking for yourself

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fem mcspirk but the motion picture

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Welcome to the Zine O’Biology Vol.2!

A multi-fandom Star Trek Zine.

Whats New? This time we are organizing the artist/writer partnerships like a bang! We want to avoid some confusion from last time and think this will be best way to do that.

Do you have strong opinions on Vulcan fra’als, Cardassian tails, or how the heck Trill symbionts reproduce? We want to hear from you!

The Zine O’Biology is a fictional comparative xenobiology academic journal set in the Star Trek universe. If you’ve always wanted to wax eloquent for up to 3000 words about your theories on alien biology, welcome to your new home!

We want all your theories about all your favorite aliens! This is a friendly but competitive academic journal where the content of every paper is a little bit suspicious (is this paper based on rumor or fact? What is the methodology?) and some competing authors leave snarky comments on one another’s work. So just like a real academic journal, except ours features the Great Green Anthurium.

We welcome xenobiology articles on all Star Trek aliens from all series!

The final format will be a PDF that you can scroll at your leisure or print at home in order to have a physical copy of the Zine. (This way there is no money involved.)

--SEEKING SUBMISSIONS FOR--

Alien biology articles

Alien biology artwork

In-Universe advertisements

Letters to the editor

ALIEN BIOLOGY ARTICLES

How do Andorian genders work? Are Cardassians actually lizards? Why do Klingons have so many redundant organs? What’s the biological purpose of Bajoran nose ridges? What’s the best cement mix for emergency surgery on a Horta?

You’ve been pondering alien biology for years. This is your chance to infodump all your favorite theories to an eager audience of your fellow nerds!

Articles will be separated into two categories: reproductive biology or general biology. Yes, we also want all your theories on what every species is packing downstairs…and how they use it.

Journal articles should be fun and engaging, but also written in your interpretation of a pseudo-academic style, since this is a highly respected Federation xenobiology journal. If you want to keep things more lighthearted and less academic, check out the section on Letters to the Editor.

ALIEN BIOLOGY ARTWORK

If you have independent illustrations about alien biology we would love to see them! If you would like to provide illustrations for one of our journal articles, we will open up bidding so that you can find the perfect article for your ideas!

JOURNAL ADVERTISEMENTS

Even in a post-need future, academic journals will need a little extra funding. Submit your ads for Ferengi Oomox Creme, Self Sealing Stem Bolts, Gently Used Federation Technology, and, of course, “reproductive aids.” The weirder the better! Have fun with it!

All art needs to be printable at high resolution

ART Sizes:

Full page: 4.5"w x 7.5"h

Column: 2.21"w x 7.5"h

Half Page: 4.5"w x 3.75"h

Square: 2.21"w x 2.18"h

Banner: 4.5"w x 1"h

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Do you have a great idea, but it’s not enough to fill out a 3000 word article? Submit it as a “reaction” to a previous journal article. Feel free to lay into a mythical researcher who does NOT understand why their biological theory is wrong and yours is right!

Max length 1500 words. Enjoy making these plenty frothy!

WANT TO GET INVOLVED, BUT YOU’RE NOT A WRITER OR ARTIST?

WE NEED:

Graphic designers to help with Zine layout

Social media promoters

Alien art and article wranglers (ie: get your fannish friends involved!)

--HOW TO GET INVOLVED--

Fill out the Art or Writing Google Form letting us know your interests or reach out to the Editor in Chief at zineobiology@gmail.com

DEADLINES:

July 15, 2025: Last date for writer applications

August 18, 2025: Last date for Artists applications

August 30th: Writer drafts due. Claims begin.

October 30, 2024: All art, advertising, and journal submissions are due

We hope to have the Zine O’Biology ready for your enjoyment by New Year’s Eve 2026. We all have full time jobs and lives, so that date may change depending on the volume of submissions.

FAQ can be found here.