#some notes about song

[soracities]

“Ever expanding human poverty and the ongoing pillaging of the planet are justified in the name of a utopia to be guaranteed by Market Forces, when they are unregulated and allowed to operate freely; a utopia in which, in Milton Friedman's words, 'each man can vote for the colour of the tie he wants.' In any utopian vision happiness is obligatory. This means that in reality it's unobtainable. Within their utopian logic compassion is a weakness. Utopias despise the present. Utopias substitute Dogma for Hope. Dogmas are engraved; hopes flicker, by contrast, like the flame of a candle.”

John Berger, ‘Some Notes About Song (for Yasmin Hamdan)’

[wigglebox]

That’s the power oooooooof love! [x]

[retellingthehobbit]

When Winter comes, the winter wild that hill and wood shall slay; When trees shall fall and starless night devour the sunless day; When wind is in the deadly East, then in the bitter rain I'll look for thee, and call to thee; I'll come to thee again!

Together we will take the road that leads into the West, And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Flashback, warm nights.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[chiropteracupola]

He’s red and he’s white and he’s green and he’s grey / My bonny young dragon, come hither away...

Keith Windham and Nuntius, out of Luzula's stunning Flight of the Heron/Temeraire crossover fic 'The Flight of Dragons.'

[aroaceleovaldez]

figured i'd share my WIP - yknow how I keep talking about "finding the limit of how many PJO ocs one person can have" and coming up with names/divine ancestors/etc? haha. yeah. behold my romans.

This is my project to create & make references for every Roman in the legion, including filling in blanks in the cohorts. For askblog purposes, because I like consistency. And I think it's fun and makes it more interesting. Yes there is a CHB counterpart to this that is done.

I still need to make more refs - all of the labeled chars here are canon. The rest I made up. This is 5th cohort (purposefully smaller than the other cohorts) through half of 3rd (both are about 30 each since the max per cohort is 40). I also have some misc romans not included here and still need to make references for the rest of the legion & messengers/healers which I have decided is a separate category.

These all will eventually be going on my wiki for my askblog, including the other cohorts once I finish those. Yes you may ask about any of these chars, they do all have names/divine ancestors/lore/etc. I'm having fun I promise.

[theprincessandthepie]

ned stark's daughter will speak for them.

[zoeweee]

Share a kiss and then surrender when love comes

[allaganexarch]

i continue to be extremely normal about stray gods persephone

[hongjoongpresent]

What about the FAMILIES. Hiding in their HOUSES. Did you think about that??? Tell me where is the JUSTICE. Did you even consider

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

four walls playlist

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

the thing is that Kintsugi Kid is a very good example of what the band has described as SO Much (For) Stardust's combination of nihilism and hope. and it's also a good example of the frickin... Dune litany against fear type thing of acknowledging a feeling ("I spent 10 years in a bitter chemical haze and I miss the way I felt nothing") and letting it exist instead of trying to A= get rid of it or B= suppress it and like... what does the litany thing say?? let it flow through you and then only you remain?? that thing. the song ends with Pete's youngest kid screeching in joy because she gets to be a rockstar on a song (I'm not kidding. look at the Genius note.) the whole album is basically a case in this, in saying... yeah. this is the honest truth about how I'm feeling. but it isn't the end.

[transmasccofee]

Ngl I’m tempted to animate something from that one canon au where Kusuo dies with this cover

[transfemmbeatrice]

beatrice muchadoaboutnothing is a trans woman: a brief treatise

thematically, i think in a play about the social vulnerability of women, having a character be a trans woman just makes sense as a way to provide depth to that idea. specifically, i love the concept of beatrice's view of men being informed by her own experiences as a closeted trans woman (it's amazing what people will say in front of you when they think you're one of them) and as someone later facing sexism and transmisgoyny.

usually when someone does a trans reading of this play/character, they look at beatrice's famous speech about wishing she was a man and interpret her as a trans man, which is perfectly valid! but this idea started for me with the simple thought that i wanted an out and accepted trans character to play with rather than a closeted one who cannot transition, just as a matter of personal preference at that particular time and with this particular text. but then i kept thinking.

as above, the concept of beatrice reading men for filth in the context of having lived among them is great. the "oh god that i were a man" speech is extremely disparaging of men and what they claim to be vs how they actually wield their power. what she wishes is that she had the power that men have automatically in her society--felt all the more keenly because there was a time when she was able to wield that power and she gave it up to be happy, to be herself, to be free in a different way. (here is where i sometimes imagine beatrice regretting ever transitioning, believing that her own happiness and health is less important than having the power to protect hero's happiness and health, because i love angst.) but now that the worst has happened, she is reduced to begging a man for help and it's demeaning and infuriating and tragic.

i also love turning on its head the line "i cannot be a man with wishing, therefore i will die a woman with grieving." being a trans person, dealing with internalized transphobia, knowing that transitioning will put a target on your back, wishing you could just be the gender you're born as--but no amount of wishing will make her not a woman. i think she loves herself and her gender but the play is focusing on points of conflict so that's what i'm talking about here.

in a play about misogyny, the vulnerability of women, and the hypocrisy of men, a trans woman has a unique perspective on both masculinity and femininity both as genders and places in society. (in the ideal version, i think john would be a trans man to mirror this experience, but that would require him to be rewritten to have actual depth and personality and all that is a different essay). there is also just a particular kind of strength that comes from having to carve out and defend your identity in that way which i think fits her very well.

lastly, a couple of other miscellaneous things from the text that can tie in:

beatrice recounting "a double heart for his single one" meaning both "i loved him twice as much as he loved me" and "i loved him as two people: [birthname] and beatrice"

benedick insisting he wouldn't marry her even if "she were endowed with all that Adam had left him before he transgressed." Adam, not Eve. in MY illustrious opinion, this is benedick saying "i don't care HOW big her dick is i'm NOT gonna marry her."

[oldtreeinanalley]

i habe so many books i want to read

[alangdorf]

Ok so I know I’ve taken a few liberties here with gijinka-fying the Rampaging Doomers, of all characters, but hear me out: self-recognition through the other (derogatory). Not just a reminder of the part of himself he doesn’t like to acknowledge but also a near-perfect replication of him at his worst (Magolor EX, specifically). They know enough about Doomer and Ancient societies and his situation with the Crown to get right to the heart of his insecurities, which makes them really effective at bullying him. Also like. Extended family judging you for your life choices lol

Anyway, included the lines this time cause I’m really proud of the composition but a bit disappointed with how the coloring turned out. It did however help me pinpoint what I’d like to improve on, which is my coloring/shading. I think I get into details too quickly to the detriment of the piece as a whole and I also think the way I shade doesn’t have enough contrast and doesn’t take light sources into account very well. I just need to do some painting studies sometime and that will fix me, I swear