plenty of people are going to analyse these pictures in a much more eloquent way but i still want to throw out a small perspective i have on nace's photos
especially as someone who's struggled with body image and self perception and weight for practically half my life (so tw for talking about those things kinda)
because i'm sure we're all very aware nace has struggled with those things in the past too, and i can't help but think about how those things will have affected him while having his shoot done.
compare what nace wears here to bojan's topless photos. bojan is emotional in a very different ways in those pictures, and the shirtlessness enhances that, but he's confident in his 'nakedness' (not happy, arguably, but confident enough in his body). compare it especially to kris, who appears the most naked out of all of them in their shoots, despite wearing a shirt, because of the all the artistic choices made and how much more relaxed within himself he is compared to the others in his own 'therapy session'. compare it even to jan's all-black long-sleeved shirt; jan (or the image of jan being presented to us through damon's lens – that's a whole other story in of itself) is making a choice in what he shows of himself, and he's certain in his choice. there's no resistence or discomfort or yearning in the shadows he's hidden himself in.
nace, meanwhile, is somewhere in the middle of all of them. he's in a short-sleeved shirt, tugging it further to give us a glimpse at a little more. aside from, obviously, letting us see his gorgeous tattoo sleeve better, i think one of the things this could well be showing us is nace's strides in confidence, alongside the discomfort he likely still feels.
because he's ready to show off his arms, and he's tugging at the fabric to show a little more than we usually get to see and, let's be real, it's fucking hot. he's confident enough now to start leaning into being found attractive, which is fucking beautiful.
but, at the same time, he's not ready to go fully shirtless – he's not at the point where he can strip and pose purposefully like bojan can, or strip and let himself relax into his identity like kris can. and, unlike the way jan hides himself, which feels very purposeful on jan's part, it doesn't feel like it's fully nace's choice – or, at least, there's tension and discomfort there still that he doesn't get a choice in hiding. his hands are clenched and clinging to the material, his arms are crossed protectively over his chest, and his eyes?? they're heartstoppingly dangerous. protecting himself and keeping the audience at a distance, but alluring and drawing you in at the same time; he's so confident in himself these days, but he still likely carries a lot of his old discomfort.
couple all of that with the way he looks in the last picture up at the top of this post – the way he's rubbing at his face, like he's trying to mould it into a shape, almost. all these three images have a kind of tourmented edge to them.
luckily, similarly to bojan's safe sweater shots, nace gets catharsis after all these intense emotions in these soft, tender shots, where his eyes are so much brighter and then heavily lidded and peaceful.
...oh, and of course, as has already been pointed out by @radioactive-cloud, nace gets his safe sweater in the form of jan, and we get to see that playful smile when he's around someone who makes him feel comfortable in himself ♡
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I wasn't going to post this, and I doubt it'll get much attention but I wanna say it anyway. I had a conversation with someone I met a few times back in college via email and he wished me several happy specific holidays-- Thanksgiving and Christmas specifically. Upon telling him thank you for the thoughtfulness but I don't celebrate those holidays his reply was very... Well, it's what I've heard a million times and it always feels so luke warm and someone who never really actually puts in the effort to learn and change to be more inclusive. He replied with "well, i don't think about the origins of the holidays! I just view them as family gathering times haha!"
I'm sure other people have heard that sort of response waaaay more than me around this part of the year (indigenous people, jewish people, and many others) and I can't ever help but always feel so irked and annoyed by it. It's like theyre taking someone who doesn't partake in christian holidays/US centric holidays as a personal attack and are deflecting in a "im not one of THOSE people" even though they are simply by not being more inclusive in their wording/assuming everyone celebrates these days.
I could probably word this post better in some way but it's early and I sat there with my email open just staring at the reply for a few minutes.... I always felt the need to apologize growing up for saying "i dont celebrate [insert christian based holiday]" because of this sort of reply over and over and over. It's just... strange. Why do I, and millions of others, need to apologize for not celebrating your holidays? Why do we need to feel awkward and bridge the gap with soothing your feelings over us having different holidays than you? Why do you feel the need to "oh i just view it as family gathering time" when faced with someone only saying they don't celebrate your holiday (not criticism or bashing or anything further about it)?
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Has Dirk ever actually eaten steak?
(TW casual animal death I guess, sorry)
Okay, so this is a total shitpost idea I had last night on Tweeter and I said I'd make it a post here, so I'm following through. Bear with me, because if I jump past my thought process, I'll probably sound like a total maniac for even imagining this.
Let me back up.
I was thinking about Dirk (a normal occurrence). Then I start thinking about Nepeta, since they have the same Aspect. And then I start thinking about Tavros' cat allergies. So then I circle back to Dirk, since Dirk has obviously never seen a cat in person before, and therefore has no built-up immunity to cat dander, and would definitely be hella allergic. (Also, it's been my headcanon since, like, the dawn of time, that Dirk would have a shit immune system when it comes to humans, on account of never being around another person in his life, and he probably gets super sick upon meeting up with people in person for the first time.)
Back to the steak quote. Dirk has obviously never eaten like, actual steak from a cow before. Cows probably don't even exist anymore, outside of maybe a scant few super high elevation places on the other side of the globe. He probably wouldn't be able to digest it well regardless, since he's never had red meat. Dirk says he fishes, and he's obviously got seagulls around, so that's probably also on the menu (besides the super expired canned and dry ration shit left behind), and it's as natural as eating chicken is for everyone else (cough chicken of the sea joke cough), and he assumes that's what chicken is supposed to taste like, which leads to a hilarious spit-take for his first time trying actual chicken.
Moving forward to post-game. We're gonna set this scenario inside a neat little anime beach episode setting where everyone is happy and alive, because that makes it hilarious. Everyone's having a chill day at the beach. The seagulls presumably pester everyone who has a shiny bag of chips in their hands. People are playing volleyball. It's lunch time.
Dirk is looking at the seagulls eyeballing his bag of chips like, "Man, these guys are so dumb, watch this." And he calls a seagull over because he knows how to call them in a way they immediately trust him, and just... kills it quickly, and goes, "Alright, that was easy, let's start the barbecue, guys."
But there's a pall that's fallen over everyone. The beach ball blows past like a tumbleweed. Everyone's* mouth is agape in pure horror.
Dirk looks at the seagull in his hands. And back at the group. And he's like, "This is another one of those things I needed to deprogram, isn't it."
Everyone is whispering like, "What the fuck..." But to make things worse, Jade declares that there needs to be a funeral for the seagull, because literally no one else there is okay with eating it (and no one told Dirk beforehand, but someone already brought store-bought and pre-seasoned chicken for the barbecue, which doesn't make sense to him because it's not even fresh, aren't you supposed to have like a 'catch of the day' type of thing? Someone has to tell him that that only applies to fish, however arbitrary that seems). And Dirk has to stand there, living the most embarrassing moment of his life, keeping his cool, while perfectly good seagull meat is being lowered into the ground. People build a fucking sand castle memorial.
Jade like, gives him a hug like, "It's okay, Dirk, you didn't mean to do it." And Dirk has to bite back a 'Yeah, I kinda did mean it. This is stupid, and if anything, even worse to waste its life for nothing.' But he has enough self-awareness to know when to at least keep his mouth shut to prevent further damage.
He never could get over how weird chicken actually tastes, it's like fluffy and weird and doesn't even fit the theme of a beach party.
*everyone, except Jake and Nepeta/Davepeta, is completely scandalized at the image of Dirk just snapping a seagull's neck like it's nothing. They still wouldn't eat it, but they at least don't think he's a murderer for doing it.
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oh in other news i went to a bill nye thing tonight bc my roommate had a ticket she didnt want bc other plans (review: yeah it was okay, a bit meandering but 👍) but at the end when they did audience questions one dude stood up and said "so ive distanced myself from the big bang theory" and for a moment i was like please be talking about the show. then he just started explaining his "theory" that actually theres fundamental particles that were capable of creating matter and actually thats how the universe was created and fuck idk what else. and he spent like a solid 30 seconds talking and bill was just like. okay so are you. asking me what i think of your theory. whats the question. and the dude just mumbled something and bill just started trying to explain that the big bang theory is u know. evidence based.
anyway the next question was "whats your favorite dinosaur" (answer: washington orioles, or for extinct dinos stegosaurus)
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okay its going under a readmore bc its messy and a lot, i'll try to keep it succinct though. CW for some discussion of the ongoing g.enocide and things around that topic
so one of the friends is someone I've really respected and admired because they're a very intelligent well-spoken and kind-hearted individual. i've really been impressed with how they think about things and with their ability to write really fantastic essays (that they often share with this friend group because they're in school and enjoy sharing their work with us because a lot of us are interested in the things they write about). about a year ago, this person went through the process of converting to j.udaism and we were all very excited (and continue to be happy) for them. they've been really happy with the process and the community they've found and it's been really good for them.
however! this person has since stated they are a z.ionist! and they've said that it just means that j.ewish people should live in i.srael, it doesn't mean they support the i.df or what is happening in p.alestine currently. but I'm just... baffled at how they can think that non-p.alestinians occupying the country could EVER be done peacefully. it has ALWAYS been colonization. it was never going to be done in a peaceful manner.
do j.ewish people deserve a safe place to exist? absolutely! but I do not think, ESPECIALLY now, that that safe place can ever be located in p.alestine. I'm not the most educated or well-read individual, I've done a bit of reading over the past few months but my memory is shoddy and I consistently forget almost everything I've read, but as far as I can tell, this has been a non-peaceful occupation (...can occupation ever really be done peacefully in reality? i doubt it.) from the very beginning. p.alestinians were being kicked out of their houses from the start.
and to add onto the messiness of this all, I am the only i.ndigenous person in the entire group. I am the only one coming at this from an i.ndigenous perspective. and because of my perspective, I am ALWAYS going to be on the side of the population that first lived and existed in a place. i am always on the side of l.and back, i am always on the side of the first peoples. anything less would be essentially agreeing with colonization.
so it is just incredibly uncomfortable to be the only i.ndigenous person in this group while the rest of the group has discussed and expressed sympathy with this person for holding self-professed z.ionist beliefs (I do not believe this person has done the right reading to fully understand what they are saying, which is so strange because they are usually so good about educating themself). and I feel like if I try to say anything to argue or simply question this person, I'm going to rock the boat too much and make Everyone uncomfortable and the entire thing will blow up and fall apart around me. so my options seem to be either: a) say something, b) say nothing and stay in the group, or c) say nothing and quietly leave the group. none of which feel like good options!
and it sucks so much because there are people I genuinely do like in this group, and I've liked this one person and respected them since I met them, but they're really .... showing themself to be an unsafe person at the end of the day. I keep feeling like maybe I'm not seeing something or maybe I'm missing something, but I've looked at this from multiple angles and while I do absolutely see where they're coming from and even sympathise with some of it, I disagree with them on a fundamental level.
(also it seems really fucked up for them to be newly converted to j.udaism and endorsing what is essentially colonization and lowkey ignoring the fact that PEOPLE ARE BEING GENOCIDED RIGHT NOW so maybe we should not be discussing "but where are all the j.ewish ppl going to live :(" until the bullets and bombs stop at the very least(????????), while I've been indigenous and dealing with the consequences of attempted (and still ongoing!) genocide and colonization my entire life)
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