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been seeing a lot of alien 1979 set photos on here recently and it made me remember when i was ten and my dad let me watch it with him. i fucking loved it and was totally fine through the initial chestburster scene, fully giggling with him at the jump scares etc, but then we got to the scene where ripley is doing ship maintenance in a cropped tank and underwear and i was for the first time in my young life overcome with such a terrifyingly potent blast of homosexual feelings that i started crying out of the kind of sheer guilt that only a ten year old catholic who thinks she's going to hell for admiring sigeourney weaver's shoulders could muster, and begged him to turn it off bc THIS SPECIFIC PART was allegedly too scary. he very kindly let it go and i spent the next decade convinced i had successfully pulled the wool over his eyes and that he was blissfully unaware that he'd been present for my religiously fraught gay awakening. anyway we went to see alien romulus together last yr and the second we got a glimpse of cailee spaeny's third act muscle tank he leans over and goes, "is your gay ass gonna cry again? bc these tickets were $17 a pop so i need you to keep it together"

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One of my controversial takes is that I kind of hate the term "rejection sensitive dysphoria" wrt adhd because it's so clearly the same thing as being anxious and insecure in relationships w trauma based disorders but people talk about it like it's just an intrinsic part of your brain that you're simply Too Sensitive & not, like, a consequence of every neurodivergent person alive being bullied as a child. Like that thing of how there aren't any non-traumatized autistic people to study

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Male writers writing female characters:

“Cassandra woke up to the rays of the sun streaming through the slats on her blinds, cascading over her naked chest. She stretched, her breasts lifting with her arms as she greeted the sun. She rolled out of bed and put on a shirt, her nipples prominently showing through the thin fabric. She breasted boobily to the stairs, and titted downwards.”

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I love that zero relationships are made stronger through conflict in avatar the last airbender. War and oppression only serve to tear relationships apart in the show. I’ve already read some great pieces on the show’s depiction of colonial family dynamics. But the friendships and romances reflect it, too. There are no brothers in arms, no romances ignited because someone is leaving tomorrow for the battlefront.

As far as romantic relationships: Sokka loses Yue and twice has to leave Suki for their duty to the greater good. Katara is too overwhelmed with the conflict to invest in a relationship with Aang, and her first romantic feelings towards a boy are transformed into betrayal when Jet lies to her in his pursuit of justice. And even Zuko twice leaves Mai to pursue his “destiny.” And that’s just the kids. The adults are similarly submerged in devastated romance. We see so many single parents throughout the series. Many have lost their partner to the fire nation army. Some have incarcerated partners like Haru’s mother. Enlistment separates partners, too. And even the most dominating force in the world, Firelord Ozai, loses his partner in his desire for power.

Friendships are similarly prevented from blossoming within a culture of domination. Azula is the most evident example, with her friendships founded on obedience rather than mutual affection blowing up in her face. Zuko, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have any friends. Those oppressed by the fire nation establish their friendships in moments of safety, when the threat of violence is temporarily absent. “Do you want to go penguin sledding with me?” That’s the beginning of a friendship. They do not become friends fighting together. That is allyship. Look at The Blue Spirit. Zuko and Aang can fight together for a common cause, but this is not the shape of friendship. Even relationships between different marginalized groups are fraught with tensions founded in the imperial violence they’ve confronted. When Aang visits the Northern Air Temple, he is distraught over the desecration of the temple by the earth kingdom refugees. The violence they’ve each faced puts them in conflict with one another rather than providing a possible sense of kinship. It’s even more complicated when it comes to befriending across the lines of the oppressor and oppressed. Despite their affinity for one another and aligned goals, Zuko and Aang cannot truly establish their friendship until the system of domination is eliminated. Friendship is a dynamic between equals, and ATLA asks whether you can actually be friends across these lines if society refuses to be equitable. Friendships and romance depend not on conflict to deepen them but an active peacefulness.

When people talk about Avatar writing relationships poorly, I think maybe consider that the relationships weren’t actually supposed to be building up in any kind of traditional way in the show. I think ATLA was precisely focused on relationships being broken and sometimes even empty because of conflict. It’s only the last episode that’s meant to show the beginnings of things, the consummation of hope. For the first time there’s the possibility for these relationships to mean something rather than almost inevitably ending in tragedy.

“Let no one mistake us for the fruit of violence—but that violence, having passed through us, failed to spoil us.” —Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

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"the early 2010s were better" no they weren't. "hey soul sister" was on the radio.

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From Woroni, 1986. 

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I feel that if I don’t repost this somewhere every year at some point, I’m living my life incorrectly.

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Sometimes I have to remind my dad that he’s a master furniture maker and most people do not possess encyclopedic knowledge of European and American furniture styles and the history of wood glue

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kids these days don't even know how good they have it. they don't even know about the final fantasy 14 artificial housing crisis

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We need to go back to using sailing ships full time like immediately. Yes it would take longer to get places but the Aesthetic is unmatched

Like there is nothing sexier hthan this

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chicago pope tweets

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getting big 45 minute vibes from this 15 minute recipe

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I think every lesbian who says she wouldn't date a bi woman is functionally on the same wavelength as men who say they would only marry a virgin

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how am i supposed to get anything done when this thing lives in my house

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Happy Pride Month!

Faust is back for the 5th time! If you want to use the flag of your choice as an avatar, they're under the cut. They're free to use as long as it's for personal use only.

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a concept: zuko waiting tables at the jasmine dragon as a well-deserved break from firelord duties, but he does not understand how he keeps getting recognized!!! he’s wearing green and everything!!! it’s inexplicable!!!

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chocolate covered strawberries 🍓