#i'm not even protestant lol

[mondfahrt]

Some Christian/Lent stuff under the cut

It's Lent now and I just remembered that the Protestant Church in Germany always makes it into some kind of... motto months? Like: "7 weeks without..." It's basically not fasting meat or any kind of food but more of a motivational thing. They've been doing this since the 1980s, and in previous years it's been about "7 weeks without lies" or "7 weeks without pessimism" or something.

This year it's "7 weeks without despondancy" (yes, I had to look that up) and I really like that thought. It's about "not making it easy for myself by saying "that won't help anyway"". And I don't think that a lot but I'm in a very bad time these days, because it's beginning to feel very pointless, with my thesis, and all these job applications and everything.

They have a newsletter for every week and it's all pretty Christian and so on, but the first week's newsletter basically says "enjoy the light. stay a couple of minutes in bed after turning on the lights/opening the curtains every morning, to enjoy the moment and the morning in the light of day (or in the light of your bedside lamp".

I really like that. It made me think about those very first weeks during the first lockdown in 2020, when I barely was able to get out of bed in the morning, so I started to take my coffee out to the balcony, huddle up with a blanket and just sit there in the freezing March/April air and breathe.

Maybe I'll do that this year. Maybe I'll try 7 weeks without despondancy.

[iguessitsjustme]

Something I find fascinating about Wandee Goodday is that no one has kissed yet (I know Ye and Cher have kissed but...) Like not a full on make out session despite having an established couple in the show that they could be using to show us kisses. But we get no kiss sex scenes from Yak and Dee and soft, somewhat chaste scenes from Ye and Cher. We all know both couples are fucking. But the lack of kisses where normally the show would have one couple more active in that department tells me how important kissing is to this story.

Dee has stated that it's silly but he doesn't want to kiss unless he loves that person and is serious with them. But the entire show is respecting the no kiss rule which tells me that it's not silly. The entire show is respecting Dee's boundary here. And yes, Yak and Dee have come so close to kissing so many times, but they haven't. Dee has always pushed him away and Yak has always respected it when he does.

It makes me wonder what's going to happen once the main couple does eventually lock lips. Will that open the floodgates? Will the audience get to see both couples kissing then? Or will it continue to withhold that specific moment of intimacy. There's something the show is saying about the expected parts of intimacy being taken for granted and also deserving of privacy and that's up to the people in the relationship.

Kissing can be an act of love and desire, but what the show is saying is that it is not a requirement for those things. I can be completely talking out of my ass here, but something about this is really sitting with me. Not only do we get Plakao as ace representation, someone who wants a partner to cherish and be cherished without sexual expectations, but we also get the show reinforcing the ideas that love comes in all forms with so many different acts and different people are comfortable with different things. And all of that is okay. And all of those boundaries are worthy of being respected. Regardless of societies expectations for what it means to be in a relationship and be physical, whatever is right for you is right and isn't that just beautiful?

[curiosity-killed]

a while back I had lunch with a couple of coworkers, one of whom asked me why I like public transit and public libraries—in a genuinely, sincerely interested fashion. it was not the first time I've been asked—or had people express bemusement about this—and so, despite being caught totally off-guard the first time, I did actually have an answer this time, which was I try to support things I want to see in the world.

and i felt (and feel) like this is extremely obvious. if we all assume that someone else is going to make sure the things we care about exist and exist well, so that we don't have to do anything—chances are good they're not going to get the support they need and they, in fact, won't exist or improve. So, the counter to that is to take the steps you can to provide that support. (duh)

but I feel like there is this mindset (that is heavily class [and likely race and gender] influenced) of like....someone else will take care of it. And it's about public transit or libraries and independent bookstores and it's about voting and advocacy and community. All these important things that require maintenance and perpetual engagement—the same way that you can't just wash your dishes once in your life and never have to do them again (unless you switch to disposal dishes, but then you still have to take out the trash).

I get that there are a lot of reasons why people feel disenfranchised and fatigued but...at the end of the day, life is composed of an endless series of actions that influence what options are available to you in the future. whether it's voting or going to the library instead of amazon or taking the bus instead of an uber....like. yeah you're gonna have to keep doing it if you want to have an impact. there's no silver bullet that's going to magically land us in utopia with only perfect choices, so you're just going to have to keep choosing the best option you've got to get you that next step closer.

if there isn't a bus that takes you from doorstep to doorstep, you still take the bus that gets you closest. if the dishes are dirty, you wash them. if you want the benefits of society, you show up.

[ssaalexblake]

dw is a mid kid's sci-fi tv show and it's quality level has been mostly entirely consistent (mid, basically, with the occasional very good episode to balance out with crimes against humanity it sometimes produces) the whole reboot, and anybody acting like the Only thing going into peoples opinions of the characters are writing preferences are either Deeply naive or are trying to hide something they know people will not take kindly to.

[momobani]

P1HARMONY FIRST WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it's kind of insane of you think about it, i'm beyond proud 🥹

they've worked so hard over the past 3 years and seeing them grow and evolve and just keep getting better is a privilege.

i really hoped this would be the year of piwon and personally i got to see them live and then the album came out and now they got a first win, idk i think we're doing alright 😌

anyways, i'll be sobbing if you need me <333

bonus: look at these photos family portraits

[anglerflsh]

so how was the parade??

Do you mean Pride? I looked at the very end of it from across the street for a grand total of four minutes before going home

[alamari-chibi]

@pocket-size-cthulhu

I'm making a separate post bc I kind of sent myself down a rabbit hole. I wanna clarify that I am a Big Hozier Fan and that most country music is a different lyrical ballpark entirely bc of the nature of the genre. (If I had to describe it I'd say it's more literal and storytelling than the whole, like, in-the-woods poetry thing hozier's got going on.)

Anyway I tried to find some that have the same kind of poetry to them or at least aren't about dirt roads and, like, alcoholism. (this is very hard to do there are so many songs about drowning your sorrows in alcohol. I think maybe that's a bad thing but what do I know about songwriting)

Zach Bryan - Something in the Orange

Ryan Bingham - Wolves

Deana Carter - Strawberry Wine

Chris Stapleton - Tennessee Whiskey

Brooks and Dunn - Neon Moon

Uncle Lucius - Keep The Wolves Away

Juice Newton - Angel of the Morning

Johnny Cash - God's Gonna Cut You Down

The Band Perry - All Your Life

Lee Ann Womack - I Hope You Dance

Josh Turner - Would You Go With Me

I also have a few that I think just have generally clever lyrics that you probably won't enjoy very much if you don't like country music:

Rodney Atkins - If You're Going Through Hell

Sugarland - It Happens

Jessica Andrews - Who I Am

Billy Currington - People are crazy

Blake Shelton - Honeybee

Tim McGraw - Just to See You Smile

[daz4i]

bro i hate my country's politicians so much it's unreal

[theragamuffininitiative]

resurrecting on tumblr for five (5) minutes to confess I have once again joined a fandom that appears to consist entirely of myself and a brick, but I accidentally binged the show Irreverent this month and it's actually like....really good.

It helps that I'm a major fan of Colin Donnell and this is one of the first film projects where he really gets to show his acting chops alongside good writing. A criminal mediator from Chicago finds himself on the run after a job goes horribly wrong, landing him in a tiny town on the coast of Australia where he must impersonate their new minister in order to stay alive.

The plot has strong Music Man vibes but more crime lol. It's not a dramedy, it's a comedic thriller with a huge amount of heart, centering on a single lead character but featuring an ensemble of strong supporting characters. Whether you're religious or secular, you kinda get the idea that both the writers and the characters got all their theological knowledge from watching Jesus Christ Superstar, but it manages to be appropriately ridiculous and occasionally poignant even so.

One of the most compelling parts of the story is something Colin, who plays the criminal-turned-priest, zeroed in on during cast interviews: the charm and hook of the story relies on Paolo/Mack being able to be whoever and whatever he needs to be for whoever or whatever situation happens to be in front of him. Sometimes it changes within a scene. He's a reverend, a thief, a mentor, a scapegoat, a mastermind, a friend, an enforcer. It happens over and over, allowing Colin's acting and the show's writing to shine as he seamlessly transitions from humor to gravity, from being adorable and sweet to being downright intimidating and a threat. One of the best examples of this is when another character angrily confronts Paolo's complete lack of ability to lead the church and Paolo accepts the rather deserved tirade. Two seconds later, the other character is weeping at the end of their rope and Paolo steps in as comforter.

It's quirky, it's well-made, it crosses more than a couple genres and does so well. It had better get a second season and the second season had better complete the story because I didn't actually think I would like it much when I put on the first episode but now I'm invested and I need the remaining questions answered. Also I need somebody to make gifsets who can make them pretty. So. Go watch it, giftset makers.

tl;dr Irreverent on Peacock is highly enjoyable. It has pros and cons but basically if you watch the trailer up there and afterward feel like you want to give it a go, you'll probably like it too.

[lesbiancolumbo]

how did you feel about the fablemans?

i went to see it with my dad and it left me with the same sort of mild irritation a lot of films spielberg had directed leave me with. i don't really know how to articulate it, it's like he learned that good and bad aren't discrete categories and decided the only way to cope with that is to never deliver an unrestrained blow. or maybe it isn't and i was just distracted during the viewing. that said the performances were good overall. something about spielberg's more realistic films just feels indecisive to me it's like he's trying to avoid expressing an opinion he can't escape. sorry for the rant btw love on earth etc etc [alex benedict voice] goodbye genius

oh my. um. for me it was like. this man has been making a film about his parent's divorce for like forty years....... and then when it comes time to do it for real he mostly just made a film about how cool it was that he was a kid who made movies.... like okay. that's fine i guess. this was the one time i actually really wanted to learn about your parents getting a divorce...... but i guess watching your oc sammy make movies and kiss the hot christian girl is also fine. like i think there's a more interesting movie in here and the more we spend time with sammy who is the least interesting of them the more i am falling asleep. but yeah i think you said it more articulately than me. i will be honest y'all. i don't really like steven spielberg lol. when i was watching this movie i was thinking about a quote from the souvenir part two, similarly about its filmmaker's coming of age and coping with that through filmmaking, and there's a scene where one character tells our protagonist, did you resist the temptation to be obvious?

anyways. steven. stevey spiels. did you resist the temptation to be obvious? we all fucking know you didn't.

[heavierthanlaila]

allah surely is the most merciful and he truly does listen to your duaas and he indeed answers all of them.

[pissfaggit]

N8GHTMARE ABOUT BRACA,?????

[soryualeksi]

Cons of working as an EMT: people you might know work on securing the local Pride protest / Christopher Street Day. :/

[cheesebearger]

yeah sure death to america and the american war machine but you all understand youre not actually doing anything by purposely setting off fireworks to trigger military vets? like i dont even get it. what does that even do. it doesnt do anything about the people they possibly hurt overseas, it doesn't help their victims, it doesn't even protest military action abroad. it's just a deliberately malicious action that serves to make someone's life less pleasant. i guess if that's what you wanna do, go you. but i just don't see how any of it does anything to combat american militarism. just seems like diet propaganda of the deed

[maddy-ferguson]

Yeah and since this doesnt only involve writers but also other production stuff, i wonder how theyre gonna start filming in may or june? Bec that would also be breaking the strike too... like idk how they are going to work around that. But anyway. My estimation is that the strike will at least take 3-4 months at the very least. So like. Yeah. 2025 release seems more likely bc the strike also involves other production staff

i can't lie to you i don't know shit about how american strikes in the entertainment industry work and i was a baby (6) and not american in 2007 but i mean yeah that season 5 is never seeing the light of day i fear

[fernsehn]

You can basically bet your life on the fact that as soon as a tv show/movie starts to deal with explicit themes and ideas of christianity, it employs the most infantile concepts and perspectives on and of those ideas.

Which is such a shame to anybody who has ever embarked on a spiritual (christian or other) path that goes beyond a childish belief system and digs deeper into mysticism etc..

Those movies/tv shows aren't "wrong"... In a way, they just copy the prevalent concept of non-believers what it means to belief in a "christian" god ...or whatever. Mostly it's a a very strict black/white belief structure that's typical for what you believe as a child. You could also argue that many who call themselves practicing christians, never go beyond that stage.

The actual more mature, more chaotic, more complex B E L I E F s are so much more interesting and complicated.

Faith in many/most cases isn't just a dumb excuse to ease yourself into accepting death LOL. I mean...yes, there are a lot of dumb christians but ...that level of idiocy is reserved for the infantile bunch with their ongoing projection of daddy issues onto god and their obsession with formalities and whatnot. Anyway...people do not only trick themselves into some shit. They all know that death will come for them. What makes them believe is a freedom in the here and now that is not fixated on the idea of paradise or ressurrection (which is a thing that noone can fully grasp in any detail) AFTER death, necessarily. A freedom rooted in a deep sense of belonging, not to a group or even a set of rules. But a belonging to the whole, to everyone and everything. ;-)