#note from curator: i've been really enjoying this show

[melancholicstation]

my rfk (kennedy) archive list for january

kay! i've decided that every month ill look into my archives and compile my favourite videos of bobby or any other kennedy's if they particularly strike my fancy that month/videos i've been ruminating and curating here like a mother bird does for her children! they will all be equipped with links so you can seek the video out on your own terms as well! enjoy.

note that most of these are from the internet archive, which i highly suggest looking into and donating if you can especially in times like the ones we are rapidly approaching, specifically with the ushering in of the new trump administration in late january. oh, and while i'm on my soap box buy physical media!

A&E biography of Robert kennedy.

beautiful, bellissimo candids of bobby all the way from his mccarthy days up until the last campaign. simply lovely. she's lengthy but she's worth it!

Sen. Robert Kennedy Campaign 1968: Stockton, Lodi, San Francisco (1968)

filming his arrival into the californian airport, stockton, this compilation features sweet, yet subtle and easy to miss moments of the campaign. I, for one, particularly enjoy the innocent display of girlhood that was so evergreen in the 1968 campaign. just wonderful to see. really does remind me of the hope present in the harris and walz campaign around october last year.

Robert Kennedy in Sacramento (1967)

shows bobby giving a speech at the greek theatre (which is utterly breathtaking by the way, i'll provide pictures below, and definitely fuels the greek tragedian parallels for me personally)

Robert F. Kennedy DNC Speech (1964)

an absolute must watch to understand the true and clear change in the senator. you can almost see him going through that rebirth—that reptilian shedding of the "ruthless" skin he was forced to armour himself with to protect his brother (and by extension, his campaign) from any and all harm. it all seems to be catching up to him in that one very moment. haunting. stomach turning. bonus points if you watch the speech with televangelism by ethel cain on loop.

thank you for reading, and feel comfortable to suggest a specific era/type of bobby media you'd like me to research into and curate.

[miso-sopas]

Hi so got any ninjago x reader recs? Ever since reading Wisps, it has affected my brain chemistry and now i crave for more ninjago x reader content but im picky when finding fics, so got any recommendations?

Hello there! I had fun sorting out my bookmarks and history so recommending fics might be a thing in the future?

Just to note, I am not sure how to really curate your taste so most of these are what I essentially enjoyed reading and been a fan of so forgive me if some (or all 😭 no hard feelings though) aren't your thing.

Let's see...

Honestly Wisps is the *best* so far in my opinion! I don't know if this is pure coincidental but I am also hunting for some ninjago fics to feel emotions again lmao! And I tried my best in remembering what I've read or interested in so hope these are all ok for you!

+ Second best in my opinion is the 'Infinity Series' by Joos according to their quotev because at ao3 it's orphaned [ao3; quotev book 1 & book 2 ]

Unfortunately, the author has stopped updating this fic but going back at it was really enjoyable like in the Wisps. The summary according to the first installment 'Infinite Serenity';

"[Name] has died and became reincarnated in a childhood TV show of hers. She is raised as the adopted daughter of Sensei Wu, training as the Master of Infinity. Once the plot of the show really gets going, a being resurfaces from her. They claim to have revived her and can help her unlock the memories from her previous life. Now, [Name] must rely on this being to help protect Ninjago, and discovers how her past connects with her present." TW: Suicide, self harm, child abuse, some gore and swearing (please pay attention to the tags)

Please please heed the trigger warning, I don't remember much from the content but I definitely recall the author tackling those tags in a respectful way. The love interests are Kai, Nya, Jay, Cole, Morro and platonic with Master Wu and her cousin Lloyd Garmadon. Again, second best recommended fic in my opinion.

+ Next one, this is not one series but user Circus4APsycho8 (they have ao3 and tumblr) in my opinion have the best x reader one-shots from the fandom! My all-time favorite work of theirs is 'Secret Someone' [Highschool AU! Lloyd Garmadon x reader]- this one is really sweet ❣️

Here's these links for their ao3 works and their tumblr ninjago masterlist. All simple yet sweet, I love their writing style.

+ The next one is purely Lloyd Garmadon x Female Reader titled 'Butterfly Effect' by samsea at ao3. I think they're still updating and I am a big fan of hero x civilian pairings and just they're cute and in love.

Summary: "If it was up to Y/n L/n, she would read the summer away, lost in history books and adventure novels, finding excitement in their written words. Meeting Lloyd Garmadon changed her plans. Suddenly, Y/n is living a life she'd only read about; summer romances and cotton candy dates. Perhaps this was a new normal she could get used to. But she's been fated - prophesied - to be with the Green Ninja. And where there's a green ninja, trouble usually follows." Warnings: "The butterfly effect has mature themes such as gore, violence, toxic friendships, sexual themes (no smut) and cussing. the butterfly effect is not intended for younger viewers. Trigger warnings will be placed on chapters as they are needed. if you have any questions or issues please contact me."

Again, heed the warnings but the writing and atmosphere overall is really sweet and for some reason all cuddly and sunny. IDK but maybe I am always soft for Lloyd lmao.

+ If you're up to reading only x reader head cannons then I recommend user mouschiwrites here in tumblr. Their requests are closed now but the head cannons they made are cute and entertaining, like I can definitely see this character doing that y'know. Here's their ninjago masterlist

+ Here's some honorable mentions, I believe they deserve some love too!

In the Shadow (Various love interests) by RoseRain at Quotev

Legend of the Lightspirit (Various love interests) by softie at Quotev

Actually, while finishing my school projects I'm also checking out from another user snazzilystoopid's ninjago recommendation. So far, I am enjoying their second recommended which is 'Element of Wishes' by yourfavoritecloud at quotev BUT this one is an Character x OC one so if it's not up to your alley they have few recommendations. Honestly, I am up to anything as long as it entertained my monkey brain.

Sorry for the long post! Hope these works are okay for your taste but the closest fic that gives off the same vibes as Wisps is the Infinite series. And these are all by my own opinions and the fics I remembered catching my eye. I am very much open to other recommendations or shout-outs.

Side note, there's not much Ninjago fics out there that I might let my monkey brain loose and create one myself LOOOL.

Again, thank you for asking ( I feel honored for being asked by this, I'm a fanfic nerd 🤓)

[attapullman]

Alright, I need to get this off my chest so that my blood pressure goes down and I can drink my morning coffee.

I have seen so many complaints lately about your favourite writer not posting enough or you don't have enough fics to read or you don't read anyone except the handful of writers you like.

STOP

There is so much content on this site and the writers you're exposed to are really just a tip of an iceberg. Every day I find new fics in my For you from writers I've never heard of. There is an increasing number of fics that have 63 notes and so no one reads them, but they are the most incredible reads. You love that one writer, yes, but have you expanded past the four you looked at before deciding only that writer was worth your time?

My TBR is always insanely long because I'm constantly finding something new. Even if the writing style isn't my particular favourite, the ideas and world building absolutely blows my mind. Longer fics, drabbles, even just responses to asks that show the characters in a way I am enamored with.

Instead of complaining that the exact thing you want to read isn't out yet, take some time to explore. See new ideas and styles you haven't been exposed to. You don't have to love it to not give it a try. If we all only read Jane Austen, we wouldn't get to enjoy millions of other novels that bring us joy.

Off my soap box now, but look outside that circle of curated content. It may not be for you, but at least you gave it a try and stopped complaining about something so insanely trivial.

[phoenixwrites]

How do you keep yourself from feeling down about your haters/anti your ships?

There’s these (literally) 5 girls who think they’re the queens of my current small fandom and their hate is starting to get to me even though I try to let it roll off my back.

How do you do it, Phoenix?🥺 How do you keep the Plastics from ruining your fandoms and ships?

Oh goodness, Sass, I'm so sorry. I've been in my fair share of fandom dramas (the worst being last summer) and it's never an easy thing to deal with.

I want to gently correct you, though. The hate DOES get to me. Last summer, there were anons in my inbox telling me I deserved to be sexually assaulted as a child because I support dark fic writers. There were anons calling me a pedophile. There is a 600 note reblog going around the Stranger Things fandom claiming I was a pedophile. I was suicidal at that point, because it was triggering as hell.

But at the same time, I refused to give up MY tumblr space because of bullies. This is my blog. I've had it since 2011, it has been a space of freeverse, of gossip, of art, and of joy. I will not change that for the satisfaction of a few teenagers who think TikTok is activism.

I got through it a few ways.

Turn off anons. I am a stubborn bitch and I only turned my anon off once during that period, right after someone told me I deserved being assaulted at seven years old. I turned it off for one night then turned it right back on, because I hated limiting access to my lovely anons because of bullies--same reason I haven't privatized my AO3 account, even though AI very likely will steal my work. I hate the thought of some anon who reads my fics for comfort being denied access to them. But that's my thing. Turning off anon is the best way to shut off their power to hurt you. If you don't want to turn off anon, delete their messages. I am CHOOSY about which anons I answer. They are reaching out to me, on MY blog, it's my decision whether I deign to answer them or not. If I'm in the right mood for it, I might be trolly and snarky. If they're sweet, I love to hear from them. But I delete just as many as I answer.

Get off the internet. The internet is my space where I can zone out and do whatever I want. Sometimes that means watching a carefully curated selection of TV shows while writing fanfic. Sometimes it means doing TV show meta. Sometimes it's just goofing off. But the internet is chocolate, it's a lovely sweet treat. But if you have nothing but chocolate, you will get sick. Take walks. Go outside. Forget online drama (it's never that serious), enjoy your offline friends, snuggle your furry friends, go out for a cup of coffee and read a book.

Curate your experience. If you see someone with an absolutely RANCID take--like how Eddie wasn't flirting outrageously with Chrissy (sure jan) or Neal was a rapist, whatever. Don't engage, don't comment, don't reblog. BLOCK THOSE BITCHES. Block the people who make you feel weird. Block someone who used to be in your fandom but has moved onto reblogging something that annoys you. Block, block, block. Or use tumblr savior assiduously. When it was really bad in Hellcheer land, I watched Smallville and blogged about it until I felt ready to play in Hellcheer again.

At the end of last summer, the hate started dying off for a couple of reasons.

One, school was starting (yes, I do believe the majority of these bitchy anons are bored children, they ALWAYS have an uptick during school breaks).

Two, I got a book deal. I was too thrilled with my success and though they tried to threaten me, it didn't have much of a sting. My publisher and agent don't give a shit about the latest fandom drama. My editor LOVES horror and darklit.

Three, I fell in love. I have an incredibly wonderful partner who is a writer too (for television! I used to write fanfic for a show he worked on! :D). Autumn was an incredibly wonderful season of joy for me (minus my then-work troubles) which bled into a romantic winter, a challenging spring, and now it's becoming a lovely summer.

I had a bunch of lovely things happen to me that made me realize that the internet is actually quite small. It doesn't matter if STEDDIELOVER69 hates me or believes I'm a pedophile. What matters is that there are plenty of other folks who love reading my work, who like hearing my thoughts, who enjoy my VQ gossip, and those are the people I want to engage with.

Those folks don't know you and the joy you experience every day. Keep that joy close to your heart, as closely as they keep their own bitterness and cruelty.

You'll be all right, love. I promise it gets better.

[dreadsuitsamus]

Quiet Night In | Kensei Muguruma x Reader |

author's note: this is a little dabble into the bodyguard idea i had a couple weeks ago!

pairing: kensei muguruma x fem!reader

warnings: bodyguard au, bodyguard kensei, socialite reader, no smut but very suggestive at the end, MINORS DNI

"I thought I told you to dress casually, Kensei." The party is loud, the bass booming and the drunks singing— and he's not having a good time, judging by the bulging vein throbbing at his temple and the way his jaw looks screwed shut and particularly sharp tonight.

Kensei's silver brows are knitted together tightly and his eyes are closed as he leans against the wall, one boot-clad foot propped up against it as his large, muscled arms cross over his broad chest. "I am."

"You look like a drill sergeant!" You tug at the hem of his tank top with a tsk on your tongue, shaking your head at your dear bodyguard's inability to relax. He's got a night off at a luxurious party with food, drinks, women and more all around him, and he's sulking in the corner like he's on duty.

"I was."

You huff and cross your arms, scowling at the large man. He's never been a chatty type, not at all, but these two-word responses are annoying. "I don't think I've ever seen you with this big of a stick up your ass."

It's hardly possible, but that vein bulges against his hot skin even more as you pluck his every last nerve. "I'm only here at your request, brat! If you really think this is how I relax, you're as dumb as that guy that tried hitting on you earlier."

"You saw that?" Embarrassment flushes your cheeks with heat. He's been sulking in the corner for an hour and had his eyes closed the entire time. How on earth could he have known about that man's poor attempt at flirting??

"I see everything. Like that your shoe is untied."

A soft gasp passes between your lips, but as you catch the glimpse of the pretty pink nail polish on your toes just as Kensei starts to laugh, heat creeps up the back of your neck and you swat at his large bicep. "Asshole."

He shrugs, unbothered by your embarrassment or the way you strike him. Your touch is largely soft and he thinks babies have hit him harder. "Gotta make some fun for myself somehow."

"So your idea of fun is teasing me instead of boozing, dancing and enjoying the people around you?" Your life as a socialite is pretty much just that; you've been curated to enjoy this type of scene all your life, and the idea of something else, something far less exciting and social being fun is just odd.

"That's one of them." Kensei's fingers flex tightly around his arms, his eyes still frustratingly closed, and you take the time to hum appreciatively at how good he looks in a tank top. Normally he's dressed in a suit when he's on duty and faithfully by your side to protect you, and even now as he's meant to be off the clock, it seems he'd rather make himself available as your bodyguard still, even without pay.

He can be a bit of a jerk, but you've truly never had a better guard.

"Tell me what a fun night is for you, Kensei. I'm intrigued now."

"I'd rather show you." And it seems his back can be non-surgically removed from the wall as he pushes off, opening his warm eyes that often betray all his secrets of mirth and hurt despite the stony mask he wears.

Two of Kensei's fingers poke your forehead, knocking you just enough off balance to make your stiletto wobble and have Kensei laugh as you grip his strong forearm to steady yourself. "See what happens when you wear stupid shoes?"

"As long as I have you around to lean on, I won't fall. And besides, these shoes make my ass look fantastic."

Tch, Kensei thinks to himself as he ignores the burning warmth around his heart and walks out to the car with your arm wrapped securely in his, you don't need the shoes for that.

Kensei's apartment is much nicer than you expected, not due to any sort of financial status but rather in the way he doesn't seem like he knows what the color chartreuse actually is. A penthouse is also not at all what you thought he'd be living in, but the view of the city lights from the sectional on the balcony is dazzling as he prepares two glasses of wine inside.

"Not bad for a bodyguard, mm?" Kensei says over the rim of his glass once you've taken hold on your own. Your eyes meet for a moment as you take in the wine's fragrance, humming with approval at your bodyguard's taste.

"It's definitely not what I expected." You tip the glass and experience the wine's flavor, though your senses aren't truly tuned in to the glass. No, it's your eyes that demand every functioning brain cell you possess, and they're quite liking the way Kensei's strong fingers hold the stem of the glass so carefully and with an air of sophistication you haven't quite seen from him before. He was a high ranking officer in the military at one point, after all, and you suspect he's had his fair share of galas and dinners to attend and be presentable for. "Though you've always defied any ideas I ever had of you."

Kensei's lips curl into a bit of a smirk, one of his brows arching curiously. He takes the chance to have some more of his wine instead of responding, though the gears in his mind turn as he attempts fathoming your original ideals of him.

He loves being defiant.

"So is this it?" You hum before another pull of wine, your tongue swiping the length of your lower lip as your expectant gaze finds Kensei.

"Just about." He does, however, lean over to flick on a little radio that belts out slow jazz, which is yet another thing you didn't expect from him. You've seen him work out before, you've worked out with him several times, and it's heavy metal as expected during the grind. Something smooth and yet still powerful and even sexy… It somehow makes all the sense in the world, yet you never thought the two dots would connect.

"Hmm… It's not exactly exciting."

"You underestimate the power of the point." Kensei's warm-colored eyes roll and the way he slowly twirls the little volume knob between his fingers has a threatening haze lingering at the back of your mind that forces a light grazing of your teeth over your glossed lip. "Have you never taken time to relax?"

"There is no time to relax, Kensei. You should know! You're always with me, everywhere I go." The tight straps of your sexy heels start to ache, your poor feet ready to burst out of the stylish stilettos. And you indulge yourself, quickly tugging the leather from the loops and freeing yourself with a great sigh of relief. "There. That's relaxing for me." Your painted toes wiggle, though the strain in your calves doesn't ease up.

"And yet I bet if you got up right now, you'd fall right back down with a cramp."

"Beauty is pain." Kensei finds the way you shrug off such a stupid saying mildly infuriating, and as such he takes hold of your ankle, his strong fingers tugging your toned leg with ease to sprawl over his lap. Your squeak, not of protest but rather surprise, is quickly shushed as your guard squeezes various parts of your leg, finding the whole thing to be oddly tense. Though he supposes he's never had to accompany you to any spa, so perhaps it's not so unusual. You're quite the workaholic, despite his typical views of what 'work' is and your lifestyle not quite aligning as the same.

"You were a few steps away from a nasty charley horse." He mutters, removing his orange fingerless gloves and feeling your smooth, hairless skin beneath his palms entirely. His thumb presses harshly against the taut muscle and you flinch, kicking lightly against his thick chest. It's nothing to him though, as if you didn't strike at all while he massages and relaxes all the pent-up tension and eases you into a near-lethargic state.

Your eyelids grow heavy as a nice breeze washes over, the ease Kensei's working into your muscles beginning to develop an uneasy wetness between your thighs. Sleeping with your bodyguard is a no, surely, but the urge to defy such a boundary is only fueled by just how good his hands make you feel. Swallowing thickly, you allow a deep few breaths before you even dare to speak.

"So where did you learn to be so good with your hands?"

"Natural born talent." Hot palms graze the length of your leg, stopping just short of your rather small dress. The hammering of his heart in his chest is heavy as the scent of your pretty perfume blows his way, wrapping his head in a haze of wanting to feel more and more of your silky skin under his hands, his chest, his mouth…

Damn it, Muguruma! This is so low of you! Kensei's inner monologue demands of him, urging him to stop touching you and stop thinking about getting you naked, and to stop getting hard, little by little as you hum and groan and shift further into the cushions and that little black dress exposes just a little bit more of your glowing, pretty skin…

"Can you do this one too?" Your neglected leg is hardly up a second at all before he's wrapping his hand around your calf, using the same ministrations as he had before while you hook your other leg over his strong, broad shoulders.

"Oh!" The outburst catches you by surprise as Kensei's thumb finds a particular spot that lights up your libido just as much as your muscles. Embarrassed, you turn your head and hide in the palm of your hand. "I… didn't realize how tense I was."

Kensei's will absolutely crumbles at your sound, the involuntary mewl that escaped your lips forcing a twitch out of his cock that's starting to feel quite warmed up. His deep voice is strained, nearly hoarse now as his brown eyes flick to your direction— and he's never quite fucked up like this before, as your panties call his name in a velvety tone he can actually almost hear; he's lost his goddamned mind because of you!

"Happens to the best of us." His reply comes far too late, and he's still staring at your clothed cunt, the pervert. His flushed cheeks at least have the decency to be abashed, and those sinful fingers inch up the length of your thigh, rubbing small circles into the flesh instead of sinking his teeth into it like he would prefer. "You should stretch more so this doesn't happen again."

"Hmm… Like this?" Flexibility isn't something you lack, and it's with ease that you lean forward with a smirk on those glossy lips, touching your toes and bumping the tip of your nose against the cut of his jaw. Kensei inhales sharply with a groan, the pressure of your leg pressing right onto his erection and then he snaps— before you know it, he's bent you in half with your ankles to your ears and his bulge pressed to your sopping cunt.

"I really can't fuck a client." He hisses, the thick desire on his breath tickling your neck with goosebumps. "So stop it, brat."

Your nails play with the short, silver hair on his scalp and you merely smirk back with a roll of your hips that forces a beautiful, breathtaking, slutty moan from your bodyguard.

"Well in that case, Kensei, you're fired."

Mischief pulls at Kensei's features, his smirk up to no good and those brown eyes give away every little detail as usual: he's never been fired before, and will do anything to get his job back.

[pastel-charm-14]

how to romanticize your life - a series - post 5 - romanticizing friendships

hello lovelies! i took a brief hiatus from my series because of finals week, but i'm back! i've also been working on a couple of bigger posts that have been consuming my time, so keep an eye out for those! enjoy!

the truth is, you can infuse a lil bit of magic into your friendships just by romanticizing. and all it takes is some simple, meaningful gestures to keep bonds strong and flourishing. so without further ado: here are some practical tips to help you romanticize your connections!

create meaningful traditions - establish rituals like weekly coffee dates or monthly movie nights to deepen your bond and give you both something to look forward to.

send handwritten notes - surprise your friends with heartfelt letters or cards expressing your appreciation for them. it's really simple, so try it!

plan spontaneous adventures - break out of your routine and embark on impromptu road trips, hikes, or explorations of your city. spontaneity is exciting!

celebrate milestones - mark important moments in each other's lives with thoughtful gestures or small surprises. whether it's a promotion at work or a personal achievement, showing your support makes a huge difference.

practice active listening - truly engage with your friend during conversations by listening attentively and offering genuine feedback. feeling heard and understood is really important if you want to build a deeper connection.

create a shared playlist - curate a playlist together filled with songs that remind you of special moments or inside jokes. listening to it can bring up memories and strengthen your emotional connection.

capture memories - take photos or keep a shared journal documenting your adventures and experiences together. looking back on these memories can be super nostalgic!

express gratitude - regularly express your gratitude for your friend's presence in your life. whether through words or actions, showing appreciation makes your friendship wayyy more meaningful.

[asandreolli]

On Harold Klunder's Then And Now 21 November, 2024 – 11 January, 2025 Clint Roenisch Toronto

Around 2001, Harold Klunder had what turned out to be his last solo show at Sable-Castelli, the fabled underground lair of Jared Sable. His gallery had been one of the top spaces in Canada for decades but in his senior years a cloud of inertia seemed to have formed  around Sable and many artists consequently left. He abruptly closed his gallery soon afterwards, turning off the lights on a long and storied run of post-war contemporary art dealing in Toronto. I was the curator of a regional Ontario museum at the time and I saw Harold's show on its closing Saturday. Most of the paintings had sold. But one that I liked hadn't and I asked Jared about buying it. I sheepishly said I would have to make payments. He looked at me like being poor was among the more distasteful things you could be in life, but finally agreed. I asked him when we could arrange delivery. It was almost 5pm. Jared said, just take it off the wall. I had never agreed to spend that much money on art before so I found his waving-away gesture a bit deflating. No congrats on your acquisition. No handshake. No wrapping, in fact. I walked through Yorkville with the painting under my arm and the next day sent Harold a note to tell him how pleased I was. He was flattered and very kind.

Having shown with Sable for 27 years, Harold wanted to take his time, out of respect, before showing again anywhere in Toronto. When I was about to launch CRG in 2003 I reached out to begin a conversation. Harold came by the gallery and I think part of him found the old wood floor, the big storefront window on Queen West with the sun streaming in, the high tin ceiling, all of it refreshing after Sable's polished, subterranean gallery. Harold had his first solo with me in 2004 and it went well, everything sold and we got a half-page in the Globe. I was so grateful for his trust because, really, he could have shown anywhere in Toronto. Olga's cavernous space would have been such a natural fit. But we worked well together and I enjoyed his calm, gentle company. Studio visits to Flesherton and Montreal were as immersive as his paintings were. Now twenty years have passed since that first show, Harold's paintings are in every Canadian museum, from the VAG to the National to the AGNS, and Harold, at 81, is still painting with the same compulsion as the gangly teenager he was in 1962 when he painted the earliest work in this new show, Then And Now. I am grateful that things have worked out that I can provide much more space now than I was able to then on Queen, but still it's not enough. The show is purposely overhung (something I've studiously avoided since the beginning…) but it is overhung out of reverence. Reverence for Harold's dedication, for the materiality of the paint, and for the many ways Harold puts it down. Gary Michael Dault wrote that Harold's paintings "beggar language," meaning they tend to hit the subconscious before anything verbal can be articulated. In that regard, although the vast majority of Harold's paintings are labelled Self-Portraits, they are not often meant as physical likeness, but rather as evocations of interior states of being, like CT scans of an artist's emotional life as its chapters unfold through thick and thin. The first big painting you encounter in the show is Sacred And Profane Love (Self-Portrait III) from 1985-1986. Shot through with gnarled, turbulent episodes of violent thick paint, there remains none of the sumptuous, organized calm of Titian's version from 1514. Instead comes the urgency that characterized much of CoBrA's work from 1950. With Dutch origins (like Klunder), the CoBrA group argued for "Creation before theory; that art must have roots; materialism which begins with the material; the mark as a sign of wellbeing, spontaneity, experimentation: it was the simultaneity of these elements which created CoBrA."

To the right of the love that is both sacred and profane is a large, new diptych, itself hung over top of the mural Harold painted on the wall for his 2018 show. The diptych is titled Nessun Dorma ("none shall sleep"), the famous aria from the final act of Puccini's opera Turandot. "Vanish, oh night! Set, you stars! At dawn I will win!". We can imagine the painter, up late working alone, parrying with the canvas, building up gestures on gestures, solving a riddle. This diptych with its earthy hieroglyphics, reminds me of Paul Klee. The white flashes suggest a constellation gleaming through an impenetrable night. Frank Auerbach, the British-German painter that Harold deeply admired who died November 11th, once said, It seems to me madness to wake up in the morning and do something other than paint, considering that one may not wake up the following morning.

So it is with Klunder, painting comes first. To the left of None Shall Sleep is a strange, desert-like work, Little Egypt (The Quest For Certainty) from 1997 - 1998. An eye, appraising and alert, looks down on a cellular scene. A cartoon pyramid, painted like Guston might, looms on the horizon across from a pink portal. In between, a band of blue-purple, like the Red Sea, defines the middle. Harold has said that he makes paintings that he wants to look at, that he hasn't seen elsewhere. This eye conjures up a primordial being, perhaps the way a sea creature eyed up the beckoning shore 365 million years ago and envisioned a new life on land. Around the corner is the small 1962 abstraction painted when Harold was 19, halfway through his art education at Central Tech in Toronto. Borduas had died in Paris just two years prior and in 1962 a posthumous retrospective that originated at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts traveled to the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Toronto. What I mean is, the atmosphere of post-war abstraction was thick in the air for the young Klunder then and it follows that he would have been enthralled by the freedom of its possibilities. But the biomorphic, Arp-like, quasi-figurative vocabulary of forms that Harold eventually became very well known for did not truly begin to surface until the early 80s (the 70s mostly given over to exploring the rising prominence of fast-drying acrylic paint).

Then And Now is anchored in the main gallery by Harold's magisterial, eighteen-foot triptych from 1986-87, Future, Present, Past (self-portrait). A blazing, molten, writhing journey that seems half oil paint, half solar flare, each panel a tectonic plate slowly crushing into its other. The many passages of bravura paint-handling reveal no hesitation, an impastoed story of time unfolding in fluid, back and forth waves of dynamic energy. Over the many decades that Harold has been painting his work has gone in and out of fashion and yet he presses on, untroubled, moving through time, true to his singular vision. A personal vision that is nevertheless tethered to a deep understanding of art history generally and of other Dutch painters in particular (Rembrandt, de Kooning, Van Gogh, Vermeer…) but also painters as varied as Rogier van der Weyden, El Greco, Leon Kossoff, Munch and Ensor. To the left of Future, Present, Past we find a quite different work, a thinly painted seven foot square oil on linen, one of a suite of four called Language And Music. The title refers to Klunder's interest in brain activity when subjected to stimuli such as the human voice and the effect of music. Made with impressive restraint, here Klunder evokes a glitchy narrative between the central figure and the architecture of the background. The painting is hung adjacent to Future, Present, Past for the manner in which Klunder presents the central figure with two after-images trailing behind it, flashes of time's arrow. The architecture framing Klunder's figure recall the tubular cages that Francis Bacon used to such strong effect in his own portrayal of figures in ambiguous settings. To the left of this painting is a masterpiece, Sun And Moon, from the mid-90s, one of Harold's strongest periods. Here the paint coalesces around a thick, black, coagulating cellular structure in the middle, an event that seems about to divide and complexify, floating over a hastily painted, brushed-in background of ochres and rusty yellows. Arshile Gorky's landscapes from 1943 come to mind (the year Klunder was born, in Deventer, The Netherlands), as do the brown winter fields of the family farm in Holland, from which the Klunders left in 1952 to come to Canada, sailing to Halifax, taking the train to Montreal where they froze and didn't speak French, to eventually re-establishing themselves on an Ontario farm, one that Harold took pains not to have to return to after completing his studies in Toronto in 1964, when Yorkville was the beatnik opposite of the posh enclave it is now. Encrusted in paint the colour of dried mud, a portrait emerges at bottom left, born of the ground. Harold once said in an interview that "painting is like tilling the earth, listening to the rhythm of the seasons, the pulse of life itself." The farm, it seems, never leaves you. And it is true that throughout Klunder's painting practice his gestures seem to have geological, biological, chrysalis-like roots, of oozing shapes on shapes, each on their way to becoming something else as the viewer allows the painting to unfold. There is a durational aspect to Harold's work: invariably there are two dates on his paintings, no matter how small the work: the year he began and the year of its completion. Harold hopes for the same dedication in his viewers: completing the painting by letting it reveal itself episodically over time.

Now we arrive at Want And Destiny from 2007 - 2009. This is a fully resolved painting, an iconic Klunder, roiling with an energy that seems to coil around an almost planetary central axis, set amid a deep, murky ground. At top left the best egg yolk sun. The painting is also notable for its alluring passages of bright green, a relatively rare colour for Klunder to deploy. Then, of course, the faces and figures coyly announce themselves after the force of the all-over abstraction relents for a moment. A totemic figure flanks each side and a strong portrait holds the centre. When this painting was shown in the window at CRG on Queen the private dealer Chris Varley came and saw it. Then he called his clients and said, I am standing in front of a painting so good it will curl your toes. You must get it, or I will.

They did.

As we get to the east wall, a very small, potent oil on burlap painted in a Brooklyn studio Harold once kept. A head is enshrouded in the weave of the background while three orbs of colour glow forth. To its left comes the big Rooted In Earth (The Sound Of The Moth), a seven-foot slab of blue-black virtuosity, the interplay of forms and colours vibrating in harmonious dialogue. Harold has said, I have a preoccupation with, in a sense, seeing the painting as a mirror, and as I look at the painting it looks at me, and there's this sense of working with something that I can intimately understand, full of secrets that other people don't know, or it's a life that I can present because I know myself differently than anybody else would know me, so there's vulnerability that appeals to me…

Finally we come to the north wall, a dark wall of four works united in their chthonic force. Chthonic meaning 'in, under or beneath the earth.' Or perhaps they are figures born at twilight, crepuscular forms. Vespertine. That which flourishes in the evening. The bluest work, at far right, reads like a fever dream, of visitations by scarlet red figures. Beside it comes Skirts Of The Forest. Here, through black masses of trees, a pagan ceremony is underway? Something is afoot. Luminous shapes abound, shadowy events. To its left, a brooding triptych, a head rearing up in the centre of each. James Campbell, who has written well and often on Harold's work, wrote: 'Merleau-Ponty said, "The painter 'brings his body with him,' says Valery. Indeed we cannot imagine how a mind could paint." This is a truism particularly where Klunder's paintings are concerned, for they are, above all, bodied spaces, phenomenal fields, matrices of corporeal performances.'

Last there remains one small, dark diptych, tucked in the northwest corner, absorbing the radiant orange heat and light coming off the monumental 1987 triptych adjacent to it. That little diptych I leave for you to engage with. We can bring to painting as much as it brings to us, receptive to its mysterious language or not, perhaps depending on the day or one's mood. When I built the gallery on St Helen's I purposely inserted an angled wall in the front space as a kind of obstacle to the approach of the main gallery in the back. Much like the ramp at the National Gallery, the idea was to give pause, to create a breathing moment between life and art, to let whatever the day outside had thus far wrought upon you be now laid down and left there, if only for the duration of the viewing to come. Everyone carries their own bag of rocks. To engage with a painting is first to be present with it, to agree to give it our attention, that most coveted and fought over thing today - our attention - and if we can do that with a painting then the moment  begins, becomes fuller, and then the reveries come next, mental digressions, recollections and connections sparked by the image before us, brought on by a painter mixing pigment and oil and laying it down on a scrap of burlap, coaxing forth realms.

Thank you for seeing this show, and thank you Harold Klunder for your work.

- CR

[unreadpoppy]

Internet 101, Fandoms and curating your online experience

I saw some stuff happening both on tumblr and on twitter (and sometimes even on instagram) regarding some fandom stuff and I wanted to make a post about, but in more of a "How to keep your peace of mind and create a healthy space" sort of post. These are just some things that I do that allow me to have a better experience on the internet as a whole, but especially on fandom spaces, and idk, I wanted to share bc navigating this sort of thing can be hard and it doesn't hurt to try and help.

One thing that I've learned very early on by people who had been on the internet for longer than me is that you do not feed the trolls. Listen. People will post shit to stir the pot, and you giving them attention is falling into their bait.

And I get it, I'm human too, I see someone talking shit and I feel the urge to give them a lenghty reply but at some point you gotta stop and think: is this worth it? like, i'm getting mad over a rando on the internet who'll probably just laugh at me. Even if we really feel like answering, it's probably always better to let it go.

And while I'm on the topic, I also want to say the following: no matter how many good arguments you have, no matter how eloquent you are, you cannot change people's minds. I've tried it and all it did was make me stressed. And especially with regards to bigots, they will not change their minds, so don't give them your time and your peace of mind because they do not care about you or your feelings. I'm a queer disabled latina woman, I get it, it sucks and it will always suck, but people will not change what they think because of lenghy ass paragraph someone on the internet sent them, so it's better to just...move on.

And by move on, I do mean do not interact in any way, shape or form. Just...scroll past it. Because it's not worth it, it truly is not, and more likely then not, even by just giving the post or person a small bit of attention, you could cause a whole situation. Do not give people clout, because then they'll get the satisfaction of both having attention AND causing such a reaction from another person.

Like, speaking from experience here, I have received a few hateful/mean spirited anons on my inbox over the years and you wanna know something? You will not find those asks on my blog because I have a 0 tolerance for hate anons. Replying to them only generates more hate anons (trust me, I've seen that happen to other people). When you show someone that you're not affected by the shit they're saying, they'll move on because you are no longer a target. This is why is so important to know when to not interact and just continue moving on.

Still on this topic but more related to fandom. People will have different opinions then you. People will have different HCs then you. People will misinterpret your favorite character. Hell, I've seen takes on my faves that honestly insult my intellect and you know what I did?

Let it go. Just scrolled past, made a mental note not to interact with that person, because again, people won't change their minds. And people are entitled to have their opinions, and enjoy characters in a different way then you do, and the best thing to do is not give them your time. Just don't. It's much better (and probably healthier) to spend your time interacting with people you like and who you can talk to then try to change a person's opinion and pottentialy instigate a fight.

For the sake of not making the same point again and again, I want to talk about blocking people, bc blocking people is the easiest way to curate your experience. There is no morality in blocking. You're not some evil bastard or a super hero because you blocked someone, so don't ascribe morality to that. Just block whoever (and whatever, because blocking tags exist) you don't want to see and move on.

Finally, my last advice is: somethings are best kept private and by private I mean get yourself some friend who you can just talk shit about to. Listen, sometimes the urge to be like "this bitch online is an idiot" is BIG and the best thing you can do about it, in a way that won't cause a fight or whatever, is to go to some friend and say "let me talk shit for a few minutes". Trust me, IT WORKS. So many times I've been tempted to say stuff, only to go to a friend and talk about the stuff and then boom, I was done. I was okay. So yeah, there's stuff that is better to be sent in a groupchat then to be posted about.

This post is longer than I intended but I feel like we should try to just have fun? This is the internet, the good part about it is that we can choose who we can engage with and what we want to say, and it's way more productive to spend your time with people that matter, that you care about and that make you happy then stressing over people who simply do not care and who will not change.

Anyways, peace out

[thereallivingded]

8 months

Nearly 8 months have passed since I blogged. Damn.

I apologize profusely if anyone was interested in my ramblings. I have zero excuses other than life got hard. Full time job. Which I hated profusely - not that I'm not going to be working full time again soon - tends to bring on crushing depression when I feel stuck in it. Which I did, and I was. When you are paid bi-weekly and you see that entire paycheck go to your cost of living.. well. It doesn't do good things to your psyche. Energy levels get low and all that extra you had energy for before gets used up with day to day survival. Getting out of bed. Getting to work. Feeding yourself. Cleaning your house. Squeezing in workout (a thing I do now).

It's not all bad I suppose. I've finally been able to interview for and obtain a position that will not only net me a raise but be closer to home. Hopefully, that should get me more free time to pursue the things I actually enjoy.

I'd like to say that in this time I've been able to tackle my backlog of Steam games. But. Well. BG3 happened. And I spent even more time in the game than I had in early access. It's maddening how much time I've sunk into Faerun. I have no regrets though.

The only thing really that's kept me from finishing my campaign - as I am in Act 3 - is my computer. I haven't upgraded the beast since 2020 or 2021-ish. And it's starting to show. My mobo is acting extraordinarily peculiar. Sometimes I'll walk away from my computer to come back a couple hours later and find it stuck in bios. Super fun. The connection to the mobo gets wiggled a little and everything pops back on. Super. However, anything heavy to run - like BG3 - tends to get very crash-y.

Again. Super.

T.T

AND. Due to my financial constraints because of the job I recently left, I was completely unable to fix this. I'm hoping with the advent of the new job, getting a few paychecks in to stabilize, I can rectify the problems. Hopefully.

I started a couple of fanfics for the first time ever. I am ridiculously shy about them. My writing skills have become so sodding rusty. The stories came to me while I was playing BG3 and I was compelled to write them down. Note now, that the frequency of updates directly reflects the time I have to invest in them. So keep that in mind.

Be gentle on me here lol!

I have been able to get some gaming done. I have ceased playing Back 4 Blood, as it became no longer supported by its dev team. A sad move really. The gaming industry as a whole has become this parasitic beast. Devs work on a game for an extremely limited amount of time and abandon it the moment it becomes less lucrative than their board of directors care for.

There is a trend towards monetization of minutiae and online play in inappropriate genres, that has become an insidious infection in the game industry. It robs us of good game development. There's this mentality of more, more, now that's just slow poison to the whole beast. It makes everything very same-y and boring.

Which is why I strive at this point in my life, to not give money to the companies which I feel are most guilty of this. The only way to make these corporations listen is to hit them in the $. As such I will probably be carefully curating any games I discuss or mention on this blog from here on. My next post will likely be discussing a visual novel I've spent some time in that I equal parts enjoyed and became frustrated with. So that's in the pipeline. Until then keep to the lights lovies. <3

[chromatic-lamina]

fic writer asks!! i’m really curious about these three:

🤲 what do YOU get out of writing?

🌈 is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

☯️ how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? How do you deal with that if you're not a social person/experience social anxiety?

thank you!! ♥️

Hello there!

🤲 what do YOU get out of writing?

Keeps me sane. I think it's something I'm good at and something I enjoy doing, so I think I should do it if I feel driven to do it. Balance is important of course. Also, I can write, with some stuff, scenarios or character studies and relationships that I'd like to see.

🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with? Let me have a look. Not really, no. For me, anyway, fanfiction is easier than original fiction. I try to write well, but I'm more likely to possibly be happy with a scene with fewer drafts than I might in original fic. I want it to be, basically, not stressful, even when I'm writing dark stuff. As a matter of fact, fanfic can be an avoidance strategy for me, so I'm more likely to write it when I'm a little stressed, than it actually stressing me. I have deleted and re-uploaded some of my dark fics (and even non-dark), a few times because I felt I didn't have enough confidence to deal with any potential backlash, and I get insecure sometimes (that was probably in response to crickets. Haha).

There are probably a number of scenes in my fics that I worked hard

at and it's good if the seams aren't showing. I don't know that anything was a struggle. I find if you're really struggling with something it's good to go on to a later scene and come back to the scene giving you trouble later (if it's a multi-chap), or write an 'and-then' draft, where you just get a big pile of prosaic sketching, really, on your page. And that's hard, cos' it can be kinda tedious, but once you've got that, you can really dive in and have fun with character, scene, dialogue, etc. I'm not discounting anyone's writing struggles. I've been there. But probably fanfiction has struck me this way.

Like, there is no such thing as a filler chapter, dudes. If you're bored with the final result, probably your readers will be too, so sometimes you've got to knuckle down, isolate, pick apart, put back together, and proceed. And nine times out of ten, I end up loving those paragraphs/ sentences / chapters. I don't think I answered the question, but there you go!

☯️ how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? How do you deal with that if you're not a social person/experience social anxiety?

Interesting question. I can only speak for myself. I joined tumblr after maybe 3 years of writing fanfic, and I wasn't on twitter or discord. I belonged to a fanfiction subreddit, but I think the sub-reddit served to make writers more nervous of social media than not.

I was pleasantly surprised. tumblr and twitter helped me to see how much of fandom occurs away from AO3 or FFN, for one (most of it). And some story links I've posted haven't done badly in notes (which, let's face it, for fanfiction is when it goes into the teens), but people have also left comments on my work saying they saw my post on twt or tumblr, and even it my post didn't get me any notes, etc., it did get me some readers who left really nice comments, which was excellent, so it served its purpose.

People must curate their own experiences. I've banked a lot of self-worth on whether I get kudos or comments, and I'll still have dips, but the thing is, that for most people (not all), getting some traction is a bit of a long slog. Like, it was probably 6 months to a year before I really connected with anyone over my fics, and lots of good stuff came well after that.

But, although I do think it's important that community members support one another if the community is to be sustainable, individuals in that community need to know what they can or can't do. And there are different personalities, so different horses for different courses. Even stuff like these ask games can sometimes do a lot. Plus, I think lots of folks in fandom have a very intense attention span of a fly. So I'd also advise not to get too attached. People come and go.

Also, I don't think it hurts to research (like, I didn't!) on the fan fiction platform before uploading. If a writer's fic is OCxOC take a look and see how the OC fics go in the fandom, and tether expectations to that. Even if someone as a reader reads outside of the box, once they become a writer, they might want to realise that if they're writing what they like to read, it's no less valuable, but it might not be as popular as the more common tropes etc.

And really, if , say, you're flooded with antis or negativity, etc., on tumblr, twitter, etc., use the block/mute button. Delete where you can, and interact with folks that you vibe with and cruise along. If the social anxiety is too high, just stick to posting fic and disengage.

Thanks for the ask!

I've answered ✨ 💫 📡 , 🤲 , 🌈 , ☯️ and I'm about to answer: 🎈💥🎀 (way-hey! They look so bright in my inbox!!). The ask is here if anyone else wants to ask!

[midnightnautilus]

oh geez this is a good idea ....

You shouldn't be driving. You have to keep driving.

You've been going on adrenaline and bits of caffeine for the past... you wanna say 36 hours? Could be more, could be less. Between work and your exams, this week has been a ragged race of meeting deadlines and showing up to work at least looking somewhat professional.

Just had a day of this to go. You try to remember your carefully curated list of sources to pull from for tomorrow's essay... and find you're at risk of closing your eyes altogether. You feel the wheel shift under your palms as you jerk back up, narrowly missing the edge of the freeway.

You gasp and grip the steering wheel tighter, looking around at the wooded area you're driving through. Can't get into another accident. Not today.

You squint in the glare of the taillights in front of you as the sun begins to set. Fighting a yawn, you blindly trail your hand across the dashboard and find the radio knob. Hopefully something will be on that'll keep you stimulated.

Classical, definitely not... the scratchy unpleasantness of static... news, some British channel about a 'Harriet Jones'... jazz (you didn't particularly like jazz)...

There was a rock song you enjoyed but couldn't remember the name of. It brightened you up though it was just about to end. The advertisements cause your fingers to continually rotate the dial.

...Here was something. A DJ with a peppy voice, stating some kind of innocuous fun facts and the traffic report. There was something about it that made you smile. That kind of vibe had been dying out for a long time - you supposed it was because no one really listened to the radio anymore. It was nice to see someone keep the tradition alive.

And that looks like a bit of stop and go on your way home, but not to worry - DJ Prismatic at 102.7 is here to get you on through your ride! We've got a lovely selection tonight, but first, a couple shoutouts to some calls I've gotten on the air...

There were some birthdays shouted out, a couple requests noted, but it was getting hard to hear. Damn reception out here. You try to keep your focus on the road as you try and tune out the static. (Not that there's anyone else out here to pull you over for inattention.) But the track button on your radio is just spinning you through stations.

AM, FM... Nothing.

Nothing?

And nothing can stop this from being a gorgeous night, even right here in the studio!

You're now back landed on 102.7, which suddenly cuts out any and all static you've heard. Makes it sound almost too quiet now. But there is still a voice breaking through the motor. It sounds... livelier, even. There's something about it.

It's probably your sleep deprivation.

I'm probably just yammering your heads off out there in radio land. But it's times like these when I want to show that I care about all the little dear hearts who tune in. See? In the glow of the moon and stars or in the hum of the speakers, it's energizing, isn't it? The feeling of being born anew, or something?

"Or something," you mumble dryly under your breath. You wish.

Though maybe I'm speaking to the wrong choir, aren't I, Josephine?

Your breath hitches in your throat and you almost put your foot on the brake. For the first time, you gaze down at the glowing blue radio display, and find the station name is fritzed out.

Goodness, at the wheel at your state? You're lucky I was here, hm? Listener?

"I don't know how you rigged this, but I'm almost to a public place and...I know the cops," you growl through hurried breaths. The road twists here... you're almost to town, you need to get to town, you've heard of people kidnapped out here---

You? A broke college student barely able to make ends meet? Don't make me LAUGH.

The air around you begins to crackle and flicker. You squint, hoping that will alleviate the blurriness you feel all around and the bile rising in your chest.

Wouldn't it be easier, nicer even! - to just stop this rat race, back and forth, back and forth? Your mind at rest, your body in stereo?

But as you stare into the distance, the light around you somehow stares back.

Eyes looming.

Gaze hungry.

For a moment you slam on the brakes and feel the car SLAM into a rockside. Your head pounds as your ears feel filled with cotton, receding in on yourself, gasping for air...

As a miasma of light and static swallows you into itself.

Radio waves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum, right? Imagine Lux changing the radio stations to flirt with you before fully revealing himself to you…

😳😳😳 anon...your mind...!!! 🙈💖💖 absolutely they are, and i never even considered Lux doing radio manipulation!! gosh, just imagine: "And who's out there right now? Why, you, of course, lovely listener! Spendin' the evening gettin' your ears tickled by my voice. Funny old thing—makes you feel like I'm right there with ya, don't it? Woah-ho, look at you squirmin'! Easy, doll, I ain't gonna bite. Not yet."

[booksandwords]

Ice Drag Queen Wedding by Tami Veldura

Series: Queenships, #1.5 Read time: 1 Day Rating: 4/5 Stars

The quote: Anyone from Tsui would claim they were daughters of the stars, severing their history with Earth in order to find enlightenment, but Artio’s people knew that a person was built by what came before them, and a history only gave them all strength. It didn’t hold anyone back. — Hendrix Kelly

Warnings: None of note.

Oh man, I have one thing to say... Hendrix's outfits are clothing p*rn and I can't even with it. I just went all grabby hands over it. Those outfits were the best things in this whole story.

Ice Drag Queen Wedding tells the story of Hendrix Kelly and Kane Carter. It's an arranged marriage, enemies to lovers plot using forced proximity well. The arranged marriage is I believe managed better than most plotlines like that I've read for a while. Hendrix consented and had a hand in the negotiation of his own marriage, Kane had the option to and just didn't. Hendrix is of the lower class (in theory at least) but has ended up with quite a generous marriage contract. Both of the had to agree to the marriage but someone was a bit busy otherwise. Both of them seem to come from matriarchal lines, I am totally here for that (*insert Welsh flag here*). The story is set around a competition, loyal crews and a holiday. I like it as a story setting. I'm not going to go into this much more for the plot and characters.

Just a couple of quotes I liked.

“He’s with his squad running simulations of us already,” she said, shaking her head. “He’s been simulating Shale for a week.” The games had only started four days ago. Hendrix laughed. “That’s because he knows we’re the only competition he has. Isobel looked over her nose at him. “More like he’s as obsessed with you as you are with him.” Hendrix put a hand to his chest in mock-outrage. “I’ll have you know that my social standing is far superior.” — Isobel is Hendrix's second in command. I really like her, the rest of their crew on Shale and Keane's crew on Basalt. This conversation shows how well the two crews and especially the captains and their seconds know each other. It's only later that Hendrix's true social standing is explained, he really isn't what he appears or presents himself as. (Isobel and Hendrix)

 It was all for show. An elegant package wrapped around his body in order to please the eye and entertain. A present he didn’t need to unwrap to enjoy. There was no practical purpose for any of it and Hendrix’s sheer joy in curating every look always seemed to give Kane a stress-tic that made his eye twitch. — Omg the outfit Hendrix is wearing here had me almost want to worship at his feet. I'm sorry he really does look like a vengeful angel. But Hendrix knows exactly how to push Kane's buttons. It's the idea of a present to himself that strikes me. (Hendrix)  

“Smart pilots fly in formation with each other, like this,” Kane moved Olivier’s hands so his ships flew side by side. “Or like this,” He added his own hand as third ship, making a triangle. “Everyone flies in the same direction so we always know we won’t run into each other.” — This is such a stunning moment to me. Olivier is seven and Kane's relative. It's a demonstration of learning and a change in priorities. I'm totally here for it. (Kane)

His eyelashes glittered with frost. His skin, dusted with silver glitter. His makeup subtle underneath, but a crown of white paint across his brow gave him the look of a queen. An ice queen, about to marry his husband. — The only way this could have been better was to change husband to something else royal. Though that would be Kane talking overly highly of himself. Also, it's a lovely sentiment and suits Hendrix to a t. (Kane)

Ice Drag Queen Wedding is set in Tami Veldura's Queenships universe, the only other book in the series to date is Perihelion published in 2015. It feels like a long time to go without writing in a series. That said while this verse seems to have very good and intelligent but dense lore that really would need to be in a novel to be properly explained and understood. Essentially it's too dense for a novella. I'm trying to figure out if the story is written with the expectation that you have read the prior book or not. It just throws information at the reader, a scifi lore that isn't unique but certainly isn't common and a bit of a web of characters.

The blurb of Ice Drag Queen Wedding is so misleading. "They're stranded on an icy moon with only one tent between them. They can't stand each other. And they're getting married in two days. [...] Hendrix and Kane's rivalry has always been heated, but stranded on the moon together, it just might ignite. There's only one bed and baby, it's getting cold outside!" (I've taken out the section on the squads which doesn't tell you much really.) That only one-bed section? One chapter halfway through the book. It's an explosive demonstration of bottled-up feelings starting from a desperate need to share body heat after someone does something spectacularly stupid. While I don't dislike what we get it isn't exactly what I expected and if I was picky about my tropes I might be more than a little disappointed.

I got this free during a single day amazon sale and I'm glad I didn't pay for it. It's not horrendous and it certainly had promise in the plot but it just doesn't manage to stick the landing. Oh, and there were some flaws in the editing. Spelling mistakes, incorrect names and maybe wrong words, just clumsy editing.

[tarotwithdanise]

A LETTER FROM YOUR PHYSICAL BODY TO YOU

a collaboration pac reading with one of the best & greatest person and reader here on this platform @alaezasmystery.

༉ ‧ ₊ ˚ how to choose a pile? ✧ . ˚

꒰⠀from left to right ; intuitively choose the pile your mind, heart and soul desire for. if you are having trouble choosing the right pile for you, here’s some tips you can do ; (1) take a deep breath (2) close your eyes (3) ask guidance from your guides (4) finally open your eyes and you can choose the right pile for you by the guidance you ask from your guides. if you are still having trouble by choosing the right pile for you let me know because i am willing to help and guide you.

1 - 2

3 - 4

rules, disclaimer and notes ☆

Just a quick disclaimer : This reading was made for entertainment purposes only. this is obviously a general reading so takes what resonates and leave when it doesn’t, you don’t need to force your energy to read this and leave such a bad comment just to say it doesn’t resonates with you at all because the answer is very obvious! WE don’t own any these pictures i collected them from pinterest so credits to the rightful owners.

Please ignore any grammatical errors on this reading since english is not OUR first language, thank you for understanding!

Third to the last one, if you are not an avid fan of this kind of readings and not totally 100% agree about the outcome of this pac please just ignore this post and don’t engaged anymore, this pac can contains harsh, hurtful comments about you or the other person that can trigger you if possible, so kindly read at your own risk and take how it’ll resonates.

Lastly, be happy and enjoy this reading and OUR work — feedbacks, comments, likes, reblogs and follows are really appreciated by the readers.

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SOURCE AND CREDITABLE : All of the pictures are collected and downloaded from pinterest , WE don’t own any of them but credits goes to the rightful owners however reading goes and belong to us. This reading is collaboration with alaezasmystery, here's their MASTERLIST and PAID READINGS SERVICES that they offer currently.

PILE ONE

made with love by @alaezasmystery

"You've closed your eyes and ears towards all the signs and messages that I've been sending out. For example I told you certain people are not good for us,I told you some food substances or foods bring us deeper down into addition and avoidance, I even send signals when you about to loose certain things in your life ( material/money). You have been too occupied with trying to survive with all the messy responsibilities in life that you do not hear anything I've said. I know that you are in a state of contemplation right now, you want to know what is the deeper meaning of all the things happenings in your life and how to make the next choice correctly. Well I can't clearly tell that you are not looking at the answers that are currently right in front of you, it's like I am right here but you're looking for me at the whole different location. Connect back to bodily sensations and instincts for clarity, for example when you see and you light up within, pay attention and follow. I am your compass."

PILE TWO

made with love by @alaezasmystery

"Oh come on, do you know how pretty we are? We are extremely,extremely beautiful, from hair to toe. Why hating us? Go and show yourself to the world. I want more people to see us. I know you are learning to shine but you have limited yourself to such a small audience. Come on, our body needs to seen !!!! You might think that we need more patience or our action /looks/ outfits etc need to be more curated or we need to add more wow factors, but love the truth is our rawness itself is a big wow. I will tell you a secret, our beauty has a purpose,it is the key to our wish fulfillment. We have the power too attract and we can use it to our things get done. I know you have a big wisdom to share, have you thought of using beauty for it ??? Some people call this manipulation but I think they are just making an enemy out of tools they are naturally granted with, kinda stupid !!! No ??? This 8s one of your powers. Me as your physical body is not born to be confined and hidden away. I am meant to be visible and in a big way."

PILE THREE

made by danise @daninixx

Dear my universe,

You didn't know how your energy and appearance are made with galaxy, from your eyes that are look like a cluster of an explosion of stardust everytime you are looking at the mirror. Like how those stretch mark similar to the our planet called venus, embrace me like how you did from your past. I know weren't perfect but when everytime I seen you it's like I'd been watched a real fantasy movie, you seems too pretty like those people we see online and magazine. Your dark circles will be a singing melody of nebula, we know you did well for yourself and future, you did very well my love, your face is the canva for making a beautiful painting of cosmos even your pimples and acnes are alike of constellations of stars. Furthermore, your uneven and not perfectly white teeth are just like our sun. Like how you smile with everyone, it shine and shone alone that make people light their world up each day and so why would you worry? Even you have a hue color of yellowish teeth — dentist said they are normal from our genetics. Your dark spots they're the one of most beautiful part for me, they are like moon giving the darkest nights light and somehow everything else is normal, they seem like they are. We are twins, we reflecting the whole universe and baby, don't forget that even we are not the same like others, we are unique, we are the real definition of a beautiful disaster. Because in the first place we are human.

With love, galaxy

channeled song :

PILE FOUR

made by danise @daninixx

To my one true love,

I hope you are doing well even though i wanted to give up, please do take care of me. I only have you in this world, when i asking you to have sleep, bring me some foods or eve drink a glass of water please do command with me, this only for ourselves and healthiness. I am truthfully in hurt right now of how you treated me, it seems like I am a trash for you? If you can only say sorry and take care of me i would forgive you. Stop comparing yourself to others, accept me as i am, i maybe not as good like others but this build makes you different from them, you have a natural beauty and body so accept it, we are precious like diamonds and pearls. Always choose to reflect your consciousness and have a commitment to self-love, if you wanted to say no to toxins foods and yes to those healthiest as much as possible, I will be glad so. You deserve to look great, and you are worth the effort, if you think you are busy enough please have some time and space for me to take care of — I know you are comparing me to others but i wanted you to know that we are all different and authentic body shapes and kind, i love you for who you are. It's time for you and this is the right time to love each other, face your fears and listen what they wanted to say. Allow yourself to be confident also take a leap of faith with this process i know you can do it. Be gentle with me, with yourself. We are the true richness and treasure here so breathe deeply let your fabulous belly to expand and feel it greatness and it will take a lot of time but make it progress so take slow down and stop hurrying. We'll wish we had loved more, lived more and been at peace in the future.

From the best version of you.

channeled song :

｡ﾟﾟ･｡･i love end#0625

ﾟ･｡･ﾟ, I may not be online when this pac reading is posted since i really sleep early and i put this on queue however i hope and hoped hard you all enjoy and loved this pac with @alaezasmystery. We put our love, effort and time to do this so please we wanted to know your thoughts and feedbacks. Also i would like to say "thank you so much" because I had finally reached 800+ followers within two months that was one of my biggest achievement here, sending you some love and positive energy.

With love, Danise.

[moonsdancer]

Really enjoy your content defending MelJay (we need more of that) and Mel (WE NEED A LOT MORE OF THAT), but I feel as if lately you’ve sometimes been a little mean about Viktor and Jayvik. I’m a black que disabled man and I would really love to hear what you think about him and his relationship to both Jayce or Mel. I like Jayvik too, but the treatment the fandom gives to all three characters makes it very difficult to feel comfortable enjoying both ships.

It’s starting to feel like you have to choose sides between your race and sexuality.

Sorry if this was offending, I’m shit at talking and I really respect your opinion in fandom so this is meant as actual interest. I’m not tryna fight or something, just asking.

Not offensive at all, friend, and I partly get where you're coming from ❤ . I think fandom is always gonna force us to curate what we engage with and that's the sad reality.

I don’t know that I'm personally ever mean to Viktor (have been shady about jayvik and certain shippers, can't lie, but I try to keep it cute) so much as making a conscious decision not to engage at all with the loud cohort his toxic fans (or their content) who continually shit on Jayce and/or Mel in some way. I was actually super fond of and engaged with Viktor in the early days (see my early adoration for Meljayvik) but once it became apparent that Mel was a nonfactor for so many, even in the triad, and that there was no one, and I mean no one making content for and about her (or meljay and to some degree for Jayce), I reset my priorities. I only have so much time for fandom stuff.

It should be noted: Viktor isn't hurting for love, he is the most popular character in this fandom besides Silco and Jinx, by far. Jayvik is the second most popular ship by far. So to be blunt, I don't really feel like I, in my insignificant corner of the fandom, need to expend as much energy on him or the pairing (which I don't ship beyond friendship) .

We know which character has been getting unwarranted levels of hate since the show aired. We know who is continually erased, rendered invisible, reduced from the story, from her own and the wider story of the show. We know who has people wishing she would die. We know which voice actress had people trying to shit on her character in a fan event. We know who is perpetually flattened, villainized and misrepresented. We know who is getting the least art or any fan content.

The answer is Mel. Not Viktor.

So while I endlessly respect everything Viktor represents, he is still not and never will be subject to the kind casually violent disregard and misogynoir that Mel is because she is Black and a woman who also happens to be Jayce’s lover. He gets some vile ableism, but we can see the treatment of these characters is not the same and that he has privilege re: fandom due to his perceived race and gender etc. Thus for me, I've decided to pour energy into fighting for Mel because few others will bother.

All of the above ramble (sorry!) to say I hope you can find a happy space to feed what you love from the show. MJV discord if you're not in it might be a good space.

[faeriemlm]

i love your blog so much! it's the exact aesthetic and vibe i've been looking for for ages. do you have any other blogs like yours you'd recommend?

aaa thank you so much, i’m glad it corresponds to the vibe you’ve been looking for and that you enjoy it, means a lot 💕

i think it’s safe to say that most of the blogs i reblog from are recommendable!! if you want more specific ones i can make a list, but do note that not all of them are mlm (some even happen to be wlw lmao) or 100% naturecore… like, most of them dont share the same aesthetic or themes as this sideblog

in fact that’s sorta the reason i made this blog in the first place, i couldn’t find that many blogs out there that curated mlm with faecore/naturecore content in a way that suited my personal vision? so i wanted to try my hand at it! but anyways here are blogs whose content i really like and usually rb from

for general aesthetics/art/poetry and pretty words/pretty people

@cacaos @fairycosmos @bribes @weltenwellen @sparklebussy @melaninm0nster @polkadotmotmot (<- really nice content, btw these first 7 ones are the ones i rb from the most they’re my faves) @spookyshai @ozkro @lovmails (<- really great blog for love quotes) @hhbm (<- really recommend) @modelsof-color (<- great great blog) @aesthethixie @cmacaulays @prince-arthurs @magicgrotto @julykings (<- fantastic artist) @boyzandflowers (<- really recommend, there’s some nudity but always properly censored) @firstfullmoon @angejpg @givemearmstopraywith @lionfloss @mitskiluvr33

for other mlm/nblm blogs specifically:

@mlm-crossing @cupidnblm @werelobos (<- this one you really might like) @comfy-mlms @artboy-mlm @weaponmlm @princelymlm

for naturecore/faecore/goblincore/cottagecore aesthetics specifically:

@lindagoesmushrooming @geopsych @forest-faerie @roseyboy @happyheidi @matchboxbed @mossy-bog (<- also happen to be gay transmasc even though they’re in this category) @cottagefog (<- also mlm i think?) @walk-in-the-wood

there you go, sorry for tagging everyone but it’s also a way for me to show my appreciation, all these blogs on this list have really great content :D thank you again 💕

[bulletbilltime]

Ok I need to vent about "LIKES DO NOTHING" discourse because I have had Thoughts for months now.

These are just feelings without much coherent thought put into them so lmk if I get something wrong. (LONG POST WARNING)

I'm gonna start by saying that I agree with the message that's INTENDED to be spread. Letting people know that reblogs are an important and essential part of Tumblr's ecosystem is good! Tumblr not having (much of, anyway) an algorithm is an important part to emphasize to newcomers of the website. And I know *why* people prefer getting reblogs to likes on their art purely from an exposure angle: reblogs expose the art to more people, who will themselves maybe like it and reblog it to more people.

That being said, the way people act about likes is... genuinely bothersome to me. There's a really fucking weird framing of likes as literally The Worst Thing Ever. Like you're a complete and utter monster for having the gall to show appreciation for their work. And all that really does is make ppl feel guilty about how they curate their blog. "Why would they not reblog the work then, if they like it???" Well there's many reasons! They might not want to share nsfw content to their followers. They might not want to spoil their followers with fanart of the latest episode of a show. They might have specific criteria for reblogging! Maybe they have a family member following them, and they don't want to be outed for liking queer stuff! I don't think anyone particularly owes anyone an explanation for liking only.

"Why not use a side blog to reblog then, if any of the above apply?" Because that blog won't have the followers of that other blog? Why would you want someone to reblog from a dummy account, if that account has nearly nobody following them? That would be defeating the purpose of the reblog in the first place; all you'd get out of it is an extra Note, which makes it functionally indistinguishable from a like.

Now I want to focus on the one thing that annoys me the most about the framing of this discourse: the idea that people only like because they think it'll boost the engagement. This is why I think people say ridiculous stuff like "likes do nothing". Well, let me tell you something. C'mere real close.

LIKES ARE FOR LIKING THINGS.

It's in the NAME! People "like" things to show their appreciation for a piece of art/meme/etc! I highly doubt that people who only like art do so with the delusion that what they actually help the artist get more exposure, even on other social media websites. The average layperson leaves a like to show they enjoyed a post. That's it. They don't think about The Algorithm, they just see post and hit like. That's how people act on other social media websites, and I'd wager even a good chunk of "old-hat" Tumblr users do this too.

Are they in the wrong for doing that? Well I think that varies from person to person, but I personally appreciate any interaction on an art post. Sure, reblogs get more eyes on things, and that's highly valuable to get even more likes, so I absolutely do love getting reblogs, but I'm not about to get mad at every single person who likes without reblogs. I also just think that's a very unhealthy attitude to have about art in general, which leads me to my next point:

The internet as a whole just... sucks for artists. It's an annoying and unfortunate truth, but this feeling of "oh my work doesn't get nearly enough attention as I wish it did"? I've experienced it everywhere I posted content to. Whether that was DeviantArt or Twitter or w/e, it's always been the same thing. I don't tend to accrue a lot of followers for the work I do in general, and that means that my content will only get a handful of engagements, if any at all. And I know a lot of other artists face that issue, and it's because of a very simple fact: THERE IS SO MUCH ART ONLINE. Fact of the matter is, you're gonna be fighting against others for exposure, and luck is basically the only real way people can break out of that initial circle.

And on a similar lane: fanart and memes just get more interaction as a whole because they are more "shareable". Memes are just easy to share because they're funny and very accessible to most people. Fanart isn't as accessible, but it still has a potential audience if your follower base has enough fans in it, or if you're friends with ppl who like similar things to that work. But original art just doesn't have as much of a shareability. You'd think they would be more accessible by virtue of not being tied to a fandom... but because it's not tied to something people can easily search, original art gets decimated in the interactions department, unless you have a pre-existing fanbase.

I don't think this is a problem with an easy solution. And I certainly don't think shaming people is going to be the way, tbh.

But wouldn't this be all the more reason to push back and demand that people to reblog and not just like? Well... on to my next point: The Internet at large has rarely looked kindly upon those who beg for attention and interactions. People literally make fun of calls to actions on YouTube, after all. So I fear people are going to turn on people who post things like "reblogs > likes" and whatnot. I've already noticed a good amount of people beginning to get actively mad towards this sort of attitude, and passive-aggressive polls that are like "do YOU support our reblogs in blue????". I don't think this aggressive reblog shaming trend is going to end well IMO.

But reblogs are the life source of Tumblr, right? If people don't want to reblog... then won't that kill the site? Well... I guess that's the tricky spot: for artists that need commissions to make a living, there's a genuine reason for wanting art to be shared. Exposure translates to commissions for them. And if they can't get exposure, they'll have to turn towards other means of making a living. And if a lot of artists have to stop making art or leave Tumblr... then yeah that would suck for the site. Like, don't get me wrong, as annoyed as I am towards how weirdly petty these posts are, I understand why they're made. And I'm all for encouraging more support to artists, but this ain't it y'all.

So how can we promote supporting artists without shaming? Well... here's some suggestions:

Let's stop this weird culture around shaming likes. This isn't getting anywhere and it's only gonna make people turn away from interacting with art at all. Can you imagine if YouTubers started getting angry at people who don't leave a like or subscribe? Like, genuinely making passive aggressive posts and videos about them? That would be wack, right? So let's not be like that.

Second, I think that emphasizing the GOOD that reblogs can do should be encouraged. Examples: "Reblogs get more eyes on art! If you really like an artist's content, reblog it and it might lead to that artist getting more followers! If you reblog, you're doing your part in helping an artist get exposure!" People want to feel like they're doing a good thing, so help them see the good that reblogging does, rather than lecturing on the evils of not doing so.

Third... do your part! Go look for artists who don't have a lot of interactions, and reblog their work! Spending your energy interacting with fellow artists, making connections, and supporting each other's work is going to do so much more in the long run than trying to fight a losing battle with General Internet Apathy. Besides, a reblog from asspissballs69 isn't going to have nearly as much of an impact as a reblog from someone who actually has a following. Tumblr doesn't have algorithms, but follower counts do still matter even if we can't see them.

Fourth, if we wish to actually change the hearts and minds of "Serial Likers", we need to actually understand why people like in the first place. One point I can think of is that people who come in from other social media may be afraid to spam their followers with things they like. I think that's absolutely an aspect of Tumblr that doesn't really carry over as well to other websites, and putting more emphasis on that should be done. Personally, this was my biggest obstacle to embracing reblogging fanart. So I think having more empathy and understanding of the issue, and addressing concerns these people may have would go a long way in helping us make the case for reblogging.

If you've read this far, thanks for engaging with this rambly post! If you have objections to the arguments I make, feel free to reply but BE CIVIL and constructive. I *will* block people who get aggressive or read in bad faith.