#narrative.

[meistoshi]

they told you not to look down

you never had vertigos, but now, now you're on top of the world. everyone's under you. no more worries. no more problems. you're at the top, and it's great. you can help everyone from here. it's great.

the sun is scorching hot. the nights are the coldest. a gust of wind, you'd go down, down, down. an infinite fall.

but it's okay. because everyone will come to save you now if you fell, right?

. . . right . . . ?

the fall itself's not the thing that scares him, never has been. it's always what gets left above. if there's nothing above, if everything is down, down, down ...

oh, he could learn to embrace it.

oh, he could learn to love the fall.

oh, he could learn to crave it.

because it means there's another climb to be made. the pinnacle is breathtaking, it's everything he wants, has wanted, could ever want. but having it is only half as satisfactory as those last grueling steps to the top, no matter the prize.

the apotheosis is almost sobering.

everyone always told him he needs to slow down. now there's nowhere to go. so he's stopped. it's great.

there's a long way down. there's nowhere to go. there's only one way to go.

a nation has watched him purposefully leap off a very literal tower, in a fit of heroics, in a trajectory towards a very literal ground of, what was it, concrete ?? asphalt ?? he was caught then. a gust of wind, he'll be caught again. he's been caught at lower heights. someone's always caught him. if he doesn't fight the momentum of this infinite fall, he'll be caught again.

what's the harm in not watching his step, here, at the apex of everything ?? he made it here once.

& oh, he loves it here.

but the climb was heady, & the detox from it makes him ever - so easy ... to ... just ...

[pokemastoshi]

SATOSHI  AKIYOSHI  +  THE  JOURNEY.

red choral diamond spray, the mountain goats   //   endless summer, nate pritts   //   rain shadows, andy goldsworthy   //   the greek tragedy i’ll never write, elisabeth hewer, elisabethhewer   //   little fires everywhere, celeste ng   //   journey with dante, mahtem shiferraw   //    colorful orange magenta storm clouds at sunset, keith webber jr.   //   such a loser, garfunkel & oates   //   a game of thrones, george r. r. martin   //   road to hell ii, hadestown.

[swordince]

king & prince, father & son, randor & adam.

deerskin, robin mckinley // woodtangle, mary ruefle // heartburn, nora ephron // filmnoirsbian // war of the foxes (ii), richard siken // the father tamer, eileen granfors // vanishing acts, jodi picoult // giovanni’s room, james baldwin

[titleofpersonage-p01]

[daincrediblegg]

OK THIS IS NOT A FUCKING DRILL EVERYONE FUCKING REPEAT AFTER ME. THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL DO WHEN YOU WATCH MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL THIS YEAR:

You will navigate to the page on disney plus (and it has to be here. Unless someone has actually uploaded the REAL movie anywhere else you cannot get it elsewhere)

BUT YOU WILL NOT HIT PLAY. You won’t do it. Because it’s NOT THE REAL VERSION OF THE FILM AND DISNEY IS FUCKING LYING TO YOU AS IT ALWAYS DOES

You will scroll down HERE. To EXTRAS instead. You MUST GO HERE. This is non -negotiable

THEN YOU WILL SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE EXTRAS AND YOU WILL THEN HIT PLAY ON THIS BAD BOY: THE FULL LENGTH VERSION

And you will watch it. And you will thank me for having been so blind and led astray by that stupid fucking mouse. You’re welcome.

[podcastwizard]

because here's the thing here's the thing the question was not "would you be more surprised to run into a fairy or a walrus" the question was "would you be more surprised to find a fairy or a walrus AT YOUR DOOR" and while no, i do not believe in fairies and would be surprised to know they EXIST i would NOT be surprised to find one at my door. HOWEVER, if a WALRUS shows up at my door i have to contend with the fact that a walrus somehow made it to my apartment specifically and knocked on my door for god knows what reason. i would be more surprised to know that a fairy EXISTS, of course, but NOT that they're at my door, do you get me?

[ink-the-artist]

Love the contrast between the Americans’ “Apollo” and the Soviets’ “Sputnik.” You got the Americans naming their rocket after a Greek god trying to communicate the grandness and importance of this rocket. And you got the Soviets naming their rocket “fellow traveler.” Like a friend you go on an  adventure with together. This rocket is our little friend lol 

[mag200]

one thing about orpheus and eurydice is you guys are all like “i’m different i wouldnt turn to look at her” because you are all familiar with the story of orpheus and eurydice. but orpheus wasnt familiar with the story because he was in it lol.

[muffinlevelchicanery]

[talaricula]

Things I've seen tumblr memeing about James Somerton doing à la "How did no one see how bigoted he was!" as if those things haven't been a significant part of tumblr culture for over a decade :

Presenting untrue and bordering on conspiratorial versions of (queer or otherwise marginalised) history without any sources

Completely disregarding and disrespecting any expertise on socio-cultural topics/humanities and distrusting academics and historians (incl. acting as if no academics or historians could be queer or marginalised)

Downplaying the role misogyny played in the historical oppression of queer women and concluding that queer men must have been more oppressed than queer women

Bi women are, at best, not as queer as "real" queer ppl, and at worst, simply equivalent to straight women

Despite nominal trans inclusivity, transmasculine ppl are functionally women when convenient (combined with the above, bi transmascs are functionally straight women)

Despite nominal trans inclusivity (bis), shamelessly attacking, threatening and actively endangering any trans woman who questions them or smth they find important (often by unfairly presenting her as violent or as a threat)

Having absolutely fucking wild and reductive takes about ace ppl, the oppression they face and their place in the queer community

Stating that marriage equality is an assimilationist fight while completely ignoring its direct roots in the horrifying consequences of the AIDS crisis for partners of ppl who died of AIDS

Praising western media creators from the past for queer coding even under censure and in the same breath condemning current non western media creators for being homophobic bc their representation isn't explicit enough

Blaming China for all existing homophobic censoring in western media

Assuming all queer media would be better told by western creators and by western standards

Only out queer ppl get to tell queer stories

Heavily criticising almost all queer media created by women or ppl they see as such (see above points about trans ppl) or involving/starring a significant amount of women for any perceived or real amount of "problematicness", but fawning over and praising and negating criticism of queer media created by and starring mostly or even functionally exclusively men (even when it could be argued that, you know, not involving/seriously sidelining women is a pretty clear example of misogyny which should probably be considered "problematic")

And I'm probably forgetting stuff or there's stuff I have internalised myself and don't recognise as an issue

Like idk but I feel like the takeaway from Hbomberguy and Toddintheshadow's videos should maybe be "be aware of such patterns in your communities bc they definitely exist" and not "this guy is uniquely awful" and I feel like a lot of the discussion I've seen surrounding this has been severely failing at that. Most ppl who've spent any significant amount of time on tumblr prob either have internalised at least one of those thought patterns, have had to de-internalise them, or have had to be extremely vigilant to not internalise them (which is done by, you know, seeking out other sources, which also seemed like an important takeaway from the videos)

[meistoshi]

Q. what's your underlying motif ??

A. THE  LIGHTNING  ROD. whether  it's  your  turbulent  nature,  your  flash  quick  mind,  or  the  air  of  unknown  about  you,  your  undercurrent  is  the  lightning  rod.     you  are  somewhat  unpredictable,  but  if  we  unravelled  we'd  see  you  know  exactly  what  you're  doing,  but  it's  makes  you  feel  less  vulnerable  to  pretend  it  wasn't  planned.     some  people  stay  back  from  you,  but  others  would  follow  you  cross  country,  for  the  very  same  reason.     they  don't  know  enough  about  you.     the  difference  is  in  who  wants  to  learn  more.     keep  your  golden  nature,  it's  exciting,  but  don't  be  afraid  to  admit  what  you  know.     matshona  dhliwayo  said  " lightning  strikes  but  does  not  roar " .  your  bite  will  always  be  worse  than  your  bark,  keep  that  close  to  your  chest.

[pokemastoshi]

SATOSHI  AKIYOSHI  +  RESTLESS  AMBITION.

proverbs 16:18   //   eating fire, margaret atwood   //   galatians 6:9   //   recollections of my nonexistence, rebecca solnit // the fall of icarus, jacob peter gowy   //   henry & june; a journal of love: the unexpurgated diary of anaïs nin   //   let it be clear, neptune holub   //   norwegian wood, haruki murakami   //   eros the bittersweet, anne carson // the great elsewhere, maria ines gul   //   when rome falls, yves olade   //   gabrielle aplin   //   glorious heights, montaigne   //   i cannot believe that little death, rainer maria rilke // on restlessness, carl phillips // notebook fragments, ocean vuong.

[swordince]

the five people you meet in heaven, mitch albom   //   the slippery slope, lemony snicket   //   the messenger: the story of joan of arc (1999)   //   mirrors, nikki giovanni   //   arthur miller   //   “snow and dirty rain”, crush, richard siken

[just-some-guy-joust]

some people are taking "doomed" to mean "dead". this is actually a misconception! you can be doomed even if you don't die! it's sometimes worse if you don't die!

[judas-redeemed]

yes yes characters doomed by the narrative always slap BUT what about characters saved by the narrative? characters who have already given up hope and don't know they have a happy ending? characters who believe they are a lost cause, characters who feel irredeemable, characters who think there's nothing left for them, but the narrative does provide a way out? what about the characters who don't expect anything good, who don't even remember how to wish for it anymore, who get the things they need anyway? what about the characters who actively run from being saved getting saved in a way they can't stop or control. what about being saved by the narrative!!!

[iverna]

In case anyone actually cares about this issue, some good news: 227 migrants were rescued off the Canary Islands and 294 migrants were rescued off the coast of Italy yesterday/today.

It was in the news.

Haven't seen anyone talking about it on here for some reason so I thought I'd share!