#diversity makes everything better

[dragonridingsorceress]

I watched Blade Runner 2049 for the first time tonight, and this scene stood out.

"Being asked personal questions" by someone you've just met, especially someone you've just met who is trying to decide if you're human enough to have rights, is not "invigorating", in my experience. It doesn't make me "feel desired".

But it seems to be the sort of thing (cishet) men think, and maybe what they think women would/should think. And Luv is a replicant, made by (and for) a man. This made a lot of the Blade Runner world building click for me: the "female" replicants' behaviour patterns have been designed by men based on their perceptions/desires of women, not on real women.

The final still really clinches it for me: Luv asks K a personal question, to make him feel desired, even though he's a replicant - because that is the role of "female" replicants, and the behaviour she's been programmed with: to make men feel desired.

[anabetel35]

Guys hear me out: Cinder had memory issues all his life, courtesy of being the EM of smoke. His memories, old and new, seem to dissolve into nothing all too often or they're foggy and hard to grasp. It's nothing too horrible, he can still function perfectly well. He's been working with this poor memory of his all his life.

But then Ras strikes the gong for the first time. And his powers get a new angrier, stronger breath to them. He finishes the fight, proud and emboldened by his strength. That evening he forgets where he lives.

Jordana, the teenage girl working alongside him, clearly struggles under the effects of magic. Her hands shake when she's even slightly tired, Cinder notices, her breathing is labored even as she only passively stands and the dark beneath her tired eyes slowly burrows itself deeper and deeper, so much so that Cinder sometimes worries wonders if it has already carved itself into her bones. Her mind dwindles, too, her memories getting murkier and more chaotic. She misuses words, changes them, forgets them. Her sentences are becoming riddles, mysterious, confusing, strange.

He doesn't think much of it. They are rivals, after all. If anything, it makes him selfishly glad. She's falling behind, moreso than he is, he's sure. He walks with pride in his step, thinking that he has a better grasp on his thoughts and memories than that little ginger twerp -- he has a lifetime of practice in remembering even when his mind doesn't want to. Out of the two of them, he's the one who's more fine.

Until he forgets his name on the battle field.

Until, for a terrifying moment, he forgets who he's supposed to be.

Until he realizes that he doesn't quite remember how his hands or face look.

Until his memory slips away from him and leaves only smoke behind.

[hanseelie]

I'm honestly surprised I had something for every month, this year has been a Lot. Thank you to everyone who supported me with commissions, likes, reblogs and feral tags! ily 💜

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

The New Titans #55 (1989)

Batman (2010-) #641

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Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016-) #6

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…

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Batman and Red Hood (2011-) #20

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Batman (2016-) #138

They sure do bAT&Tman. They sure as hell do.

Yet Jason never thought this way about you.

[ganondoodle]

me: coming to terms with my fanworks being really niche and not interesting to the majority of the fandom and maybe not the greatest in anything but decent enough to have a few people be interested and thats fine and good and i shouldnt feel bad about it and feel grateful for what i do have-

-sees other people getting into the same niche but with way cooler designs, ideas and writing, also way faster in making anything-

me: fuck fuck shit god damn fuck im gonna get bad grades at fanworks which is very real and possible to happen fucking hell oh gods no

[weareuniqueandimportant]

EMPATHY GLAMORIZATION IS NOT ABOUT EMPATHY BUT SUPERIORITY TORWARDS APATHETIC PEOPLE BIGOTRY TORWARDS THEM TYPICAL BIGOT EVIL. SIMPLE AS THAT. IF YOU SEE THEM AS LEFTIST YOU'RE NO LEFTIST YOURSELF. HORRIBLE. THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE ONLY EMPATHY AND BAD TO THINK EVERYTHING YOU DO IS SUCH ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY'RE CLEARLY BEING APATHETIC IF ANYTHING WHEN THEY DO THIS...

COMES TO SHOW BIGOTRY TORWARDS CRAZY AND DISABLED PEOPLE ASWELL AS PARAPHILIA PEOPLE ISN'T TAKEN AT ALL THE SAME AS SEXISM RACISM AND QUEERPHOBIA... OR PERHAPS... LIKELY... THEY ARE ALL THE BIGOTED THINGS EVIL AND TAKE NONE THAT SERIOUSLY... BELITTLING DOWN THEIR PAIN AND DAMAGE...

[longagoitwastuesday]

ngl it sort of pisses me off the way adults regard Gojo in Jujutsu Kaisen at times. Which could be a very interesting and poignant point in a good way if well written, but as it is it becomes mainly just frustrating and sad in a negative way.

Nanami saying Gojo never cared about anything or anyone other than himself crashes interestingly with Kusakabe saying the whole situation was just all his fault because he refused to kill Itadori. The students are very aware of those aspects of Gojo's personality, but overall they seem to regard him with way more kindness and fondness even when at their rudest, not truly coinciding with either Nanami's or Kusakabe's views.

[snekdood]

ive been disillusioned with a lot of the left for a while, it's nice to at least see that other ppl see it now, though the reason why kinda fucking sucks.

[tastytofusoup]

I remember the plot of a novel, but that doesn't mean it's real

[hauntingblue]

Can't believe I spent so much time thinking kiku and kinemon were dead... they really got me there...

[pixiestein]

bigstupid ramble/rant incoming feel free to ignore//cursing cw

it’s actually very disturbing to me how many people in the monster high fandom think it’s ok to say that abbey & twylas g1 sculpts are “ugly” or “offputting” because they have strong/square jaws & the new molds are sooo much better bc they no longer have them. like i really really really try to be nice here & pardon my language but are you fucking stupid? did you miss literally everything monster high was trying to teach you? did you miss the whole “everyone is unique & beautiful in their own way” thing? or did you just forget that the features you’re calling ugly are features that real people have? genuinely asking because it’s baffling to me how many people who praise g3 for it’s body diversity are foaming at the mouth excited over characters’ unique features being replaced with conventionally attractive ones. u don’t like strong jawlines? awesome, people who have them still deserve to feel beautiful & have gorgeous dolls that look like them & the fact that mh had that & got rid of it is objectively bad. like first of all, a franchise that preaches accepting ppls differences SHOULD have characters with both body types & facial features that aren’t considered “conventionally attractive”. that was one of the issues w g1, their message was about everyone being different but everyone had the exact some skinny body type. & now g3 has greatly improved on body diversity (pls give us an actual plus sized doll tho) yet they’ve been removing diversity in facial features. it fucks me up bc WHY can’t we have rep for diverse body types AND rep for diverse facial features?? and second, bro they are literally monsters. they absolutely should have features that challenge traditional beauty standards because hello she’s a yeti, she needs jaw space to house those bigass tusks. and if those unconventional features look strange to you? GOOD. bask in their strange weird abnormal beauty!! i literally don’t care if u think abbeys new face is cuter & her old jaw was ugly, if you see a person with a prominent jawline & think “hm not aesthetically pleasing enough” unpack that with your therapist, don’t post it on the internet where impressionable kids with those exact features get to see it & gather more fuel for their insecurities. this goes for literally any facial feature or body part btw. basically, bottom line, if it’s a feature that real people have that they can’t control, don’t fucking say a WORD about how aesthetically unpleasant you find it. criticize the fashion, criticize the quality control & messed up face screenings, criticize the weird continuity errors & questionable representation, but if your issue with a doll is their body type/facial features look ugly to u, shut the fuck up!!!!!!

[the-trans-dragon]

I am feeling a little disappointed in myself, because my autism isn’t compatible with Going Shopping, and thus I’m always suffering from needing to buy things (food, clothes, bedding, medicine)

But the other day I went to a new doctor, and it DIDN’T overwhelm me. Why? The lights were dimmed everywhere except a warm-colored light over the receptionist’s area. The only sound was an almost-muted TV. There were a lot of people in the waiting room but there was enough space to let everyone sit 6+ feet from each other.

All the walls and furniture were darker colors, and soft sunlight filtered in through the windows, and it was quiet and calm.

I take a lot of comfort knowing that the world can be easier to navigate when accommodations are made.

[mybrainproblems]

brain is just mii waiting room music as i consider where i've ended up in my supernatural fandom journey

[novadreii]

this is a such first-class whine from a lower-middle-class citizen, but hear me out. the covid era has been dogshit (precursor, not the point lol). it killed, (further) divided and frightened us. the final kick in the nuts is that we really don’t benefit from any of the Panaceas for Shit Life anymore. the puppet masters have tightened the purse strings and made everything unaffordable. and what IS left that is affordable is just...crap. shite, even. have y’all noticed how mediocre stuff like cheap junk food/takeout is now? most forms of media? the stuff meant to distract and soothe us average jobhavers from going bonkers in the hamster wheel.

6+ years ago, we all at least all knew a few cheap, bomb and reliable places to eat out once in a while. a treat. you could eat takeout on a friday night while picking a reasonably well produced and thought-provoking movie from the one major, well organized streaming service (that cut your tv bill to $7/month, wahoo!). you might even partake in some say, drugs/alcohol to get a little silly with it. maybe you were more of a dine-out person, and made a night of it with friends. you had a good time and didn’t have to forgo groceries that week to make up for it.

now, the food and tv is boldly served, expensive ass. you can’t afford drugs, a book is $50. hobbies take up precious time and energy. ANY service you need is slow and unresponsive. people are tired. like, this is not the depression talking! things are worse, more expensive sure, but why couldn’t they have at least remained the same QUALITEA? why skimp on materials and production?

and then it occurred to me. is it our fault? are the price skyrockets and decrease in the quality of goods separate issues, in fact? one a consequence of opportunistic greed, and the other simply that market forces have determined that we are willing to pay those increased prices for less? the corporation is always experimenting to see what it can get away with. cheaper materials, less concern for our safety, well being, entertainment and enrichment. if we buy them at a certain prices in certain numbers that fit their optimized projections, they sell it. simple as that. are we just accepting the capitalism we think we deserve? or did they just financially ream us so badly that we had no choice to settle for worse product?

[weareuniqueandimportant]

SHE WAS DIFFERENT... SHE WAS INTERESTING... COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM US.. WHILE ALSO SIMILAR... I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE WOULD IDENTIFY AS THEM IMMEATEDILY... WATCH THAT... IMMEATEDILY... I AM FASCINATED BUT ALSO DEEPLY SCARED AND FEEL STRANGE... BECAUSE THAT COULD NEVER BE US... HOWEVER... WE LOVE PARAPHILIA PEOPLE... I CARE ABOUT THAT PART OF HER... HER INTERESTING DETAIL... SOMETHING EVERYONE HATES... THEY MUST BE PROTECTED THEIR KIND THE EXTREME... THAT IS OKAY TO CONTACT ONLY A BIGOT WOULD OPPOSE TOUCHING FUNNY THINGS... THIS SOCIETY DESERVES TO BE FUNNY ALL AROUND... SO EVERYONE CAN WATCH AND DO THE FUNNY IN PUBLIC ONLY TO HEAR CHEERS... BEATIFULL... ANTICAPITALISM ANTIPRISON... ALL COPS ARE BASTARD... ALL THIS IS FACT ALL THIS IS REALITY... FACTS ACCURACY CORRECTION WHAT IS RIGHT NONE THEY CAN BE GASSLIGHT FROM OUR STATUS... BECAUSE ONCE ALL CLEAR... FREE FROM MAD ABUSE ONCE AGAIN... ONCE WE'RE... OUR BEST... WE CAN ALWAYS SEE REALITY... BECAUSE WE ARE RIGHT... AND FOR THIS IS WHAT WE ARE PUNISHED FOR... COME ON HONEY... WE DESERVE MORE THAN THIS... WE DESERVE... TO TRANSITION... TO HAVE CHILDREN... LET'S... WE HAVE TO... WE NEED TO... YOU AGREE DON'T YOU HONEY...? I CARE ABOUT YOU... MAKE US TRANSITION... PLEASE... <3!!!!

[reddpenn]

Here is a potentially silly question: how do you feel about birthstones? Do you think they fit the months (by season or astrological sign)? Do you have other stones you'd rather see as birthstones?

Okay, so, birthstones make absolutely no sense.

I mean, look at this mess. We’re doing beryl and corundum twice! I get that they get Special Different Names for their Special Different Colors, but it's just lazy. And why are we giving some months cheap, common gemstones like garnet and amethyst while the poor June birthdays have to shell out tens of thousands of dollars for FREAKING ALEXANDRITE? That’s incredibly unfair! We should be picking birthstones that are all roughly the same price. And why do some months get multiple gemstones? I’ll tell you why: because nobody can agree on an official list and every attempt to standardize this thing has just added MORE birthstones to every month.

So obviously the answer is to standardize it again, by throwing out everything and starting over. Here are our goals:

Fair pricing. You should be paying roughly the same amount regardless of what month you were born in. We’re getting rid of those ridiculous outliers like diamond and alexandrite.

More customization potential! Nobody should be stuck with a stone they hate. We’re picking gemstones that come in multiple colors or varieties, so that everyone can choose a variant they like.

Wearability. Some birthstones are too fragile to be worn as jewelry. We need to replace them with stronger stuff.

No more duplicate gemstones. Every month gets a stone or family of stones with a unique chemical composition.

Now without further ado, I present to you:

The New And Improved List Of Birthstones With No Problems Or Flaws That Everyone Will Definitely Agree On And We Can Start Using Right Now Immediately

JANUARY: GARNET

I've got no problem with garnet. It's a fine, classic birthstone, so January can keep it. But I would like to see a little more garnet diversity. January birthdays shouldn’t be confined to just red. The garnet family of minerals contains a rainbow of different colors, like orange hessonite, green uvarovite, pink rhodolite, yellow grandite, and many more. They’re all garnet, so we should be wearing them all!

FEBRUARY: QUARTZ

The original birthstone of February was amethyst, which is… kinda boring. Super cheap and common and you only get one color? No, we can do better. February gets ALL the quartzes now. Keep wearing amethyst if you want, but also feel free to branch out into clear quartz, citrine, rose quartz, smoky quartz, rutilated quartz, tiger eye… actually, take all the agates too. If it’s quartz, it’s yours!

MARCH: SPODUMENE

March was originally aquamarine, but I’ll be giving all the beryls to May, so we need a different stone here. Let’s stick with that theme of pale pastels and go with spodumene. For an April birthday, bedeck yourself in green hiddenite, pink kunzite, or yellow triphane. Despite its subtle colors, your birthstone has some amazing fluorescence, with really cool pinks and oranges under a UV light.

APRIL: FELDSPAR

Diamond is too pricy for this list, so we’re replacing it with something less expensive and way more interesting. April will now be represented by the feldspar family. We’re talking labradorite, moonstone, amazonite, aventurine, and sunstone. While you don’t have much variety in color, your stones are full of shimmery schiller which glitters and shifts as it catches the light.

MAY: BERYL

May’s original birthstone was emerald, which is great and can stay, but we’re also adding its siblings! May is now represented by all beryls: Emerald, Aquamarine, Morganite, Bixbite, Heliodor, Goshenite, and whatever other varieties I’m forgetting to list. A bright and saturated rainbow of colors is represented here, so everyone born in May is sure to find something they like.

JUNE: ORGANIC GEMSTONES AND FOSSILS

It’s time to address the alexandrite in the room, and obviously we’re getting rid of alexandrite. A stone worth $15,000 to $70,000 a carat does not belong on the same list as friggin amethyst. Instead we’ll look at the other traditional June birthstone, pearl. The problem with pearl is that it’s a clear outlier in this list. An organic gemstone, by some definitions not even a mineral. Should we replace it? NO. We are OWNING it. All organic gemstones now belong to June. Pearl is joined here by jet, amber, coral, ivory, ammolite, petrified wood… in fact, June can have every fossil ever.

JULY: SPINEL

July was originally represented by ruby, which is a fine stone and won’t be kicked off the birthstone list - we’re just shuffling it down to September. Replacing ruby for July is spinel. (See, it’s funny because historically spinel has often been mistakenly identified as ruby! That's a little gemology humor for you.) Available in any hue you could possibly desire, spinel offers some nice color options to a month that previously only featured red. Of course if you want to keep wearing red, red spinel mimics ruby so well that you’ll barely notice the difference.

AUGUST: PERIDOT

Nope, we’re not changing this one. Peridot is the ideal gemstone and you ungrateful August whiners can die mad about it. HOW ABOUT YOU LEARN TO APPRECIATE PERFECTION

SEPTEMBER: CORUNDUM

Sapphire is a wonderful, classic stone and it deserves its spot on this list. But the corundum family has been separated for far too long, and we’re finally going to reunite them. Joining sapphire in September is its sister ruby. Between the pinks and reds of ruby and the many, many colors of sapphire, these two stones give September a nice variety of colors.

OCTOBER: TOURMALINE

Look, as gorgeous as opal is and as much as I love it, it is both way too pricy for our list and also TERRIBLE in jewelry. This stone is just too brittle to wear around from day to day and can be ruined just by getting it wet, which makes wearing your birthstone a huge hassle. We’ll kick opal out and hang on to October’s other traditional birthstone, tourmaline. Pink tourmaline may be classic, but this stone comes in plenty of other colors. Whether it’s brown dravite, watermelon elbaite, or the rare and beautiful blue indicolite, you can wear them all!

NOVEMBER: TOPAZ

November can keep topaz, but we’re not confining it to the color yellow. This stone comes in a huge variety of colors, and now they can ALL represent November. No further notes; it’s a nice, classic stone.

DECEMBER: ZIRCON

I dunno, I’ve had to come up with 12 of these, I’m burnt out. Sure, zircon, whatever.

“BUT WAIT,” you say. “Now instead of having a single color assigned to each month, almost every month is represented by almost every color, making it impossible to tell anyone’s birthstones apart and removing what made them special and recognizable as symbols!”

Well CLEARLY you didn’t read the title of this list.