#diverse means for diverse works

[somnimagus]

My page for @kairizine. It was such a huge honor to be part of this wonderful book with everyone, I had so much fun!

[id in alt!]

[aragornsrockcollection]

Isn’t it funny that you never see anyone throwing a hissy fit over the inclusion of flora not native to Medieval Europe in Tolkien or other fantasy works.

Tomatoes, tobacco, POTATOES, tea and sugar, are all perfectly acceptable and normal for Tolkien to have included in Middle earth, but depict a single character with brown skin, and suddenly it’s not realistic, and WHAT ABOUT OUR HERITAGE.

Forget that we don’t analyze the heritage of white actors playing these rolls to make sure they’re from the proper culture to represent Tolkien’s extremely English story. Has a single person ever complained that Frodo and Sam were played by Americans when Hobbiton is CLEARLY based on rural England?

According to some, Hobbits can grow food and other crops that were only introduced into Europe through the violence of imperialism, but to have the hobbits look like the people who originally grew those crops is sacrilegious.

Medieval Europe, which wasn’t as homogenous as people think anyways, is only ever trotted out to justify hating the inclusion of black and brown characters.

If Sam can wax poetic about potatoes, he can look like came from Peru, like potatoes did.

And if that idea bothers you, maybe examine why.

[leahthedreamer]

My hope for next season and leading into the Olympic season is that the ISU somehow revives womens skating cause yes it’s beautiful yes it’s lovely but is it exciting? Ehhhh.

In my personal opinion it’s the discipline that’s stagnated the most post Covid. You can argue that the crown goes to ice dance in that regard but even though the judging is shitty and the ISU insists on ridiculous themes for the rhythm dance we’re still getting quality and creativity through the bouts of corruption.

I just feel like women’s choreography has plateaued, it’s become uninteresting, very little memorable programs. Same elements same ordering same music like it’s becoming a by bland to watch. And my honest wish for the future is to reignite the spark it once had.

[virtualcarrot]

been seeing old fans of the graphic novel complaining about goldenloin's new design compared to the old with pictures of the comics' design side by side with the movie's calling the new one terrible

i promise you can miss the long hair without dismissing the new design as a whole

especially considering the efforts at diversity in the movie

[beybuniki]

one thing i noticed (form personal experience and by observing other artists) is that the longer you draw and create, the more boring it gets to simply replicate references, especially when it comes to characers' fashion choices.

with bnha, i keep mine pretty simple and basic because teens ARE very trend-loyal, but mainly im just lazy lol, but when i AM motivated, i love to think about characters' personal style, what could influence them, but also more trivial things such as budget into account, which is why i love to draw Deku in basic tees or clothes provided by his school (while bakugo gets to wear ed hardy and shoto wears arcteryx). i also love to limit the items like its just more realistic to me when someone as ordinary as deku wears the same 5 crewnecks all the time

which brings me to my actual point, namely that the more frequently you draw, the more you learn to do research andto combine your findings into sth new rather than staying faithful to one reference, and i think that's what makes good art so good, being able to draw inspiratioin from all kinds of niches and creating something that feels very authentic and suspends the spectator's disbelief. sometimes i see art and i know exactly which fashion editorial or which kpop idol was referenced, and I'm not insinuating these are bad things i do that too (less frequently now but i sure did!), my point is it's kind of nice to see how ALL artist start out with rather derivative art but eventually move on to create more authentic art that is less about drawing beautiful and perfect people and more about trying to individualize them and that ALSO means giving them weird clothes, scars, asymmetric eyes, a receding hairline etc. like drawing the same beautiful character 200 times gets so boring and it's just more fun to try and make them a bit more human

[urlocalwhumper]

oh rayan and your part time caretaker part time whumpee swag. dw u have pupy now and she will make everything better

rayan belongs to @sowhumpshaped

even though she'd been half-asleep just moments prior, nana's ears perked up when she heard the front door opening. she blinked the remaining sleep out of her eye and sat up, wagging her tail and letting out a happy yip to greet her master.

except... something was wrong. he was sniffling and wiping his eyes, almost as if he'd been crying. her ears flattened and her tail lowered, worried.

"hi, nana." he said sullenly, sounding a bit congested. "sorry, i um... i didn't have a very good day at work today."

she frowned, scooting over on the couch so he could flop down beside her. he just stared up at the ceiling for a good few moments, until she climbed over and laid across his lap, staring up at him with a single worried eye.

"it wasn't," he sniffed, "it wasn't that big of a deal. people get mad sometimes." he ran his thumb over her right ear. "i... i wish they weren't so mean about it, though."

well, she could certainly understand that. she leaned into his touch, nuzzling against his hand and prompting him to go on.

"it wasn't even about me, really." he sighed. "people were just mad about the wait time, or- or that their food took longer than they wanted. neither of those are my fault, but... it still hurts."

master didn't say anything for a few minutes. he just sat there, petting her hair and seemingly contemplating something. she grunted softly as she sat up, joints a little stiff from not moving for a while, and gave him a proper hug, like she'd seen humans do for each other when they were sad.

it seemed to work, considering his reaction. he froze for a moment, before quickly returning the hug, starting to sniffle quietly again.

"i'm... i'm really glad you're here." he said. "you- you know, before i brought you home, i was always alone after a bad day. and it- it just made me feel worse. i'd call my parents, sometimes, but..." he squeezed her tight. "i'd still be alone."

he pulled back slightly and gave her a watery smile. "but now i'm not." he laughed a little. "now i've got the best doggy in the world, isn't that right?"

she couldn't help but wag her tail at the praise, giving him another happy yip in response. he ruffled her hair, grinning at how the strands stuck up all over the place once he pulled his hand away.

"alright, come on." he said. "time for walkies!"

and he couldn't help but laugh at how quickly she leapt out of his lap and darted over to her leash on the counter, his troubles forgotten, at least for a moment.

[noodlesnatcher]

Day 21: Misc Sketch Dump no.9

[deadmomjokes]

Idk how me, a broad and chubby woman from a long line of broad and chubby women, and my husband, an average-height man from long lines of very tiny women and very average men, managed to produce a child so exceptionally tall, long, & lean that she can't wear store-bought clothes anymore without alteration. Yet here I am, dusting off a sewing machine I barely know how to operate....

[hussyknee]

Not entirely sure how I'm expected to respond when I point out something is white as fuck and the person I'm criticizing goes "I'm literally PoC!!" Okay? Good for you? Get well soon??

I literally live in South Asia, a place still nursing the world's worst colonial hangover. That's like one billion brown people desperately in need of joining Bootlickers Anonymous. If I had to respect the rancid takes of every yahoo that lives here I'd have to drown myself in the sea.

Living in white countries does something odd to diaspora brains. If you call yourself BIPOC in your own head long enough you end up forgetting you're just a garden variety idiot mainlining white supremacy like everyone else.

[nothorses]

in regards to your post abt the word queer, if youre willing, whats your opinion on the idea that queer and lgbt+ is not inherently the same? like for me, i consider them different bc to me being queer is not just an identity its also a choice, an ideology, a stance, a movement.

Its choosing to say "no fuck you we're here, we're queer", its choosing to be inclusive, its choosing to actually be in community and help other queers, its choosing to be true to yourself, etc. So when I say 'the queer community' Im usually not referring to the 'queer is a slur' ppl bc I dont consider myself in community with them.

But after reading your post im wondering if i should reconsider my stance on this, so if you have any insight or thoughts abt it id love to hear them! Thank you :)

I mean, I think the word has a lot of uses and meanings, and that's certainly one of them.

But it's contextual, right? When I take a "queer studies" class, I'm not taking a class in the intracommunity movement of radically inclusive queerness- I'm taking a class about the history of the whole community, and the theory our existence necessitates.

I don't really want this to be relabled "lgbt studies" or whatever. I don't want the academic community to dance around it; the overarching department that contains the "sexuality and queer studies" certificate program at my school (which itself does not mention queerness or even gender in any fucking description) is called "gender, women, and sexuality studies". And guess what! It too does not mention trans people in anything except class names/descriptions for explicitly and exclusively trans-centric classes.

Point being that this "dancing around it"-type attitude, even in my extremely queer-inclusive area and school, more than anything just leads to the exclusion and de-prioritization of certain queer people.

I don't want them to keep doing that. And I don't think drawing lines between the Real Queers and the Assimilationist LGBTs is worth that, or even remotely helpful in the first place.

You don't have to exclusively be in community with the people who already agree with you; if anything, that's kind of what's leading to a lot of these problems in the first place. You should obviously be able to engage with people on your own terms too, and you shouldn't necessarily try to reach people who obviously won't be reached by you.

But like, "they're not REALLY part of my community" doesn't lead to much except further division in the wider community. At a certain point, you're just dismissing any opportunities and obligations you have to improve your community in the first place.

And do we really want them to be saying that us dirty queers aren't a part of their pure LGBT (or LGB) community? Should we promote the idea of separate "Queer" and "LGBT" communities, which do not intersect and which are only and exclusively referred by one word or the other? Should we have separate "queer studies" and "LGBT studies", separate research, studies and statistics, separate nonprofit organizations and movements and Pride events?

There are, and always will be, ideological divisions and movements within our community. There will always be sub-communities, chosen and otherwise, within layers and layers of other sub-communities.

But we need to be able to distinguish between that, and the words we use to refer to the whole community together- even the people who try not to be a part of it, and even the people who try to force others out. Even the lesbian separatists and the truscum and the "Drop the T" people; they're still gay or trans or whatever else. If anything, their existence is an indication that something is wrong and needs fixing in our community; that we have work to do to improve it.

My point is just that both meanings can exist, and that's important. You can be part of The Queer Community as an ideological, intracommunity movement that excludes certain conflicting ideologies (I certainly am!); and you can also acknowledge that at the end of the day, the wider community is also your community, and you have as many obligations to it as it has to you.

[solannecontinuum]

Oh, hey, Wayne. It's been a little while, hasn't it?

still handsome as ever, I see.

Works in progress. I really liked the sketch, so I included that, also! My linework is beginning to take shape thanks to a Transformers How-to-Draw book I read back in August (in regards to the black shadows).

Sincerest thank you to Pinterest for always saving my rear when it comes to finding more unique poses!

[redysetdare]

Some parts of the aro community have become incredibly hostile towards anyone who is ace in any way and it's disturbing to see.

[huccimermaidshirts]

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[hunxi-after-hours]

okay this Xi Tian article is SO good

“Chinese BL as a highly interactive and adaptive genre has evolved significantly over generations of practitioners and has undergone a noticeable self-reflexivity.” (105)

“I therefore suggest that the trend of conflating BL with homosexuality and the deliberate homosexualization of BL in both texts and real life have ultimately extended the cultural identity of BL, as well as its political meaning, and in practice have created a porous culture that welcomes gender diversity and helps increase the visibility of the gay community, revealing a significant social and cultural shift that cannot be ignored or reversed.” (105)

“On the other hand, because of the heavy censorship on (re)presentation of homosexuality in literature and film, Chinese BL was born into and grows from a significantly different sociopolitical environment from that of Japanese BL and English slash.” (107)

“...I believe that BL should always be read queerly.” (107)

“Meanwhile, more BL stories are set in fantasy worlds, dynastic eras, or futuristic times, which have their own norms on gender and sexuality and in which characters live beyond real-life restrictions of sexual orientation and gender identity.” (109)

"...the reflexivity of the BL genre explicitly recognizes and normalizes male homosexuality, complements the exploration of female queer sexuality, and relocates BL in the larger scale of queer practice in the society, demonstrating that an increasing number of BL practitioners have realized the (possible) pitfalls of BL practice, responded actively to the shifting paradigms of sexuality in China, and used literary texts to better understand people who have been marginalized by heteronormative institutions and to change the society where they live.” (110)

[cinewhore]

I would just for once like to not feel exhausted after coming home from work