hes 19, with unlimited power, and he ain’t got a gf. the only time we see him interact with any women his own age is when he’s rejecting like 7 of them rapid fire. he pretends to date pacha in a gag that lasts like 10 solid minutes. listen to me god damnit
Okay, but just in case anyone is coming to tumblr dot com for my hot takes on 20+ year old kids’ movies: Kuzco super WAS gay (or at least coded as such) and of course, I didn’t get it until I watched it as a gay grownup.
He is played obviously camp and dramatic, for a start, and there is the aforementioned “hate your hair/not likely/yikes yikes yikes/let me guess you have a great personality” summary dismissal of all his potential brides. Then he spends dinner asking Yzma about Kronk (“so he seems nice? He’s what, in his late twenties?”) and otherwise being slightly obsessed with him.
Then there is the whole Adventure of Doom with Pacha, him being ever huffy about the Kiss of Life, and then the restaurant gag where Kuzco takes to playing Pacha’s fake wife and dressing up in ladies’ clothing with great gusto (reinforced by the waitress’ “bless you for coming out in public” remark when Pacha says they’re on their honeymoon). Then when he is finally de-llamafied, we don’t see him paired off with the obligatory girl from the lineup earlier, as might otherwise be expected in a Disney movie. Instead he is still single, but goes to found family it up with Pacha, Chica, Kronk, etc, which dare we remark is a very queer trope.
In short, I have no idea how a Disney movie with no white people (all the characters are Indigenous/people of color), a gay king, cross-dressing jokes, and the most offbeat plot of all time actually ever got made (can you imagine the Family Friendly Mouse doing that today? Let us also talk about Kronk because he is a brilliant deconstruction of both toxic masculinity and the musclebound henchman stereotype.) Other than that this was the Chaos Hour of animated movies in the late 90s/early 2000s, and yes.
So yes. There you have it. I will not be taking criticism at this time.
In response to the question “How did a movie like this get made at all much less by fucking Disney?” there was a recent Vulture article that outlines the whole shit show of a history behind this film according to everyone (writers, directors, VAs, Stings) involved. The gist of the story is that they fucked up making a whole, true-to-form Disney musical that never came to see the light of day SO BADLY that Disney switched directors, locked the writer’s room, and didn’t review a single script until weeks after the film was in theaters.
Please, read this article if you have some time. This story is wild, and involves directors being pitted against each other Bake-Off style and a shockingly intimate documentary created by the wife of Sting who, himself was heartbroken by the decimation of the songs he wrote for the film including cutting a fantastic Yzma villain song sung by Eartha Kitt that is SO DAMN GOOD but would not ever have fit the more nailed-down Yzma we would eventually come to know and love. It’s so catchy though, I’m doubling up on calls to action but please listen now:
holy shit read the article. it’s worth it and completely batshit
I’m so glad that this happened. It’s a phenomenal film.
Controversial opinion (somehow) but it should be illegal for schools to assign homework on the high holidays.
No but really, I cannot put into words how fundamentally wrong it is that public schools can assign things over incredibly meaningful holidays like Yom Kippur.
Last year was a vivid example, and also one of the worst fasts I’ve ever done. My history teacher assigned us a full paper, insisting that it was reasonable since we had the entire day to do it. As one of the few practicing Jews in my class, I immediately objected because not only was that unfair, it was actually impossible to do without serious harm to my own health.
Because Yom Kippur started that very night with a solid two hours of services. I would go home, eat dinner (at like 4:30 because you have to do it before services), change, and then be at synagogue. Services would go until at least 8 o’clock, which meant I would get home around 9.
See any time for homework in there?
Now, pretend you’re me for a moment here. Services tomorrow morning start at 9, and you usually want to get there earlier unless you’re willing to end up in an overflow room. So staying up late to do it isn’t an option if you want more than four hours of sleep.
Now, it depends on how religious you are, and you can pick and choose, but there’s services more or less throughout the entire day on Yom Kippur. If you want to attend, which should absolutely be an option without compromising yourself academically, then you’ll be there until break the fast comes.
That’s right! You’ve been fasting all day, because that is an absolutely key part of Yom Kippur. (If you are under age thirteen, are pregnant, or are sick you are exempt but otherwise fasting is expected.) There are many reasons—reminding yourself of your mortality, to remember the sufferings of others—but ultimately it’s not an opt-out kind of thing.
But when can you break the fast exactly? It actually varies! Because it’s meant to be done one hour after sundown (25 hours total), but that’s a little different each year. It’s usually around 8 pm, which would be when services end for the day.
Now you can eat! Let’s aim low and give it half an hour to get home from services, and then another hour and a half to actually break the fast.
It’s 10 o’clock. You’ve only just eaten and your stomach probably hurts, because stuffing yourself after a fast can be really bad for your health. You’re back home for the first time all day.
You still have a paper to write.
How is that fair? If I’ve just gotten off of a fast, having spent all day immersed in religion and contemplating my own mortality, I’m not gonna be in a place to do any kind of work, academic or not.
And even if I’d had breaks in services (I can’t stay still all day, so I usually head home for a few hours in the middle), I was still fasting. When I’m hungry I have trouble working, for obvious reasons. And in this case the issue isn’t access, but the fact that I am prohibited from eating anything. Depending on how seriously you take it, you might not even have had water today. I fast with water after nearly passing out from dehydration during a fast for Tisha B’Av, but not everyone does! If you haven’t had anything to eat or drink, it’ll be incredibly difficult to focus on writing anything.
I explained all of this to my teacher, and she instead said I could just turn it in late. She also said I’d still be marked down for late work, so how is that any help?
I did that paper the day after. It was a day late, a few points off, but I held it against my teacher for months. Not because of the grade itself, but because she put me in that situation to begin with.
I should have been allowed to observe Yom Kippur. I should have been able to spend the day thinking and reflecting on my mistakes and contemplating my own life. That’s literally what the holiday is for. But instead I spent the whole time with that stupid grade in the back of my head.
Even on what is arguably the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, I still wasn’t given a break.
Separation of church and state my ass.
ALSOOO wanna hop in and mention that orthodox jews literally CANNOT PUT PEN TO PAPER OR USE ELECTRONICS on high holy days. It would literally be 100% impossible for them (me lol) to do any sort of assignment on Yom Kipur regardless of mental health or time allowance. It’s just that simple.
The most funny thing is that when the eldritch monster wakes up in this bewildered amnesiacs head he’s all sweet and gentle and patient and uses compliments for the desired effect. Because like yeah, he needs this random guy to do his bidding because if he doesn’t he’ll be powerless and also die. Yes John’s being manipulative here, it’s a matter of survival, but he could have tried to control Arthur using fear. Instead he uses gentleness, he understands it’s the path of least resistance. This is before they even know eachother, before they’ve been through hell together, before John even truly learns the value of kindness his first instinct when faced with the uncertainty of mortality is to be kind. As a result the two are able to immediatley get to solving the mystery and work to remedy their mutual situation as a team. John is impressed by Arthur’s resourcefulness and wit. He witnessed Arthur’s openess and capacity for empathy, even for monsters. They become friends even if it was only a manipulation at the start.
Meanwhile, when Yellow calls Arthur friend, Arthur is like fuck no. He finds that threatening for some reason. Arthur, when he wants to control new amnesiac John? His best friend who he’s been through everything with? He insults him. He tells him about how he’s a super evil piece of shit demon. He threatens him with death and banishment and torture and is just doing his best to be the biggest meanest bossiest dick he can possibly be.
Part of this is because Arthur is far far too genuine and emotionally impulsive to play dumb and manipulate with kindness but c'mon. He can’t chill out long enough to have some empathy for his confused friend like a real human being? The first thing he does is use Yellow as an emotional punching bag for his own sense of loss. Yellow is in this state because Arthur put him there, totally by choice. This is so ruthless. He tries to make Yellow afraid of him. Of course Yellow goes on the defensive, and then Arthur calls him pathetic and monstrous for doing so. (But Yellow pretending he knows what John is talking about regarding the King because he doesn’t want to seem ignorant omfg). Arthur talks about how he’s changed John into something more human while not realizing he himself has been changing and the person he has become is a total selfish emotionally constipated asshole who uses power and fear as a tool.
Arthur tells Yellow about how he’s such a smart cool investigator that he defeated a god. Then he proceeds to get attacked by wolves, insult a bar full of violent men, vomit all over some guy, and pass out in a dangerous location.
Yellow gets to see Arthur is not only an ass but also a hapless idiot.
Really making a great impression on your new headmate.
‘Love’ was this word in your brain kind of synonymous with ‘mutually assured destruction’. It was the excuse your mother gave for why you were meant to fall asleep to the sound of her screaming and crying most nights, the thuds and breaking glass, your suitcase always packed and your mind running escape plans.
Romance isn’t something you ever really felt comfortable with, despite a persistent low-humming loneliness and a soppy heart. You felt like there was theoretically someone out there, but they seemed like they’d have to be such a weirdly specific bundle of things - and even if you found them you’d started to hate yourself so much you couldn’t imagine them ever reciprocating. You stop even considering it, I guess. Years ago.
Then.. You meet this person. And you get this weird pull in your gut, like the video game UI signalling to the player they’re on the right path. But your brain is on edge and your life is in pieces and you misread their sincerity as everything /but/ that, and it almost takes too long to see who they really are. You have to salvage your friendship from the mess that unfolded. But things work out. Better than that, even. Maybe the bad stuff even ended up bringing you closer together. Life is weird.
You decide to get on a plane for the first time, fly halfway around the world. Everything feels strange and kind of magic (but goofy and awkward and human) and you feel alive for the first time in years. So you get to have your first kiss at 26, with someone who understands. And you fall asleep night after night all limbs tangled, their face gently illuminated by the yellow glow of their Super Mario lamp, and feel this completely different type of happiness and awe at someone else’s existence.
I know, life doesn’t have happy endings. Two people don’t meet and fall in love and.. that’s that, that’s the whole thing sorted, everything will be grand and good forever. There’ll be bills and crappy dayjobs and all the costs of travel and paperwork and health issues and family stuff and countless other things that might go wrong, and things we both already deal with, and not to mention the world is a mess right now, too. But knowing this amazing person would be by your side through all of that makes it feel worthwhile, gives it direction and purpose and warmth like there wasn’t before.
And my brain still wants to catastrophize – what if? All these ways caring about someone might hurt. All these ways I’ve seen other people get hurt. But when someone makes your life so much richer and calmer with their presence, and inspires you to want to try harder and be better and kinder, because you see how hard they work and how much of their heart they put into their creative work and their relationships? When someone gives you those moments where you can’t help but grin like a huge dork just at the sight of their beautiful face? Those worries melt away. There’s no other choice.
~
To echo something @destiny-smasher said: this all happened because we played this little French video game with these two characters we fell in love with and related with, and a dissatisfying ending that kept us creating fan content afterwards. That story pushed me to realise you can’t live your life worrying about the future, trying to second guess what might go wrong, being too scared to embrace the present. That story, and it’s fandom, got me through one of the lowest points of my life. That story brought me and @destiny-smashertogether. I don’t think there’s a way to sufficiently say thank you for that. To dontnod. To any of you.
Millions of people continue to suffer from exhaustion, cognitive problems and other long-lasting symptoms after a coronavirus infection. The exact causes of the illness, known as long Covid, are not known. But new research offers clues, describing the toll the illness takes on the body and why it can be so debilitating.
Diagnosing Long Covid
Patients with severe Covid may wind up in hospitals or on ventilators until their symptoms resolve. Damage to the body from severe Covid — pneumonia, low oxygen, inflammation — typically shows up on traditional diagnostic tests.
Long Covid is different: A chronic illness with a wide variety of symptoms, many of which are not explainable using conventional lab tests. Difficulties in detecting the illness have led some doctors to dismiss patients, or to misdiagnose their symptoms as psychosomatic. But researchers looking more deeply at long Covid patients have found visible dysfunction throughout the body.
Studies estimate that perhaps 10 to 30 percent of people infected with the coronavirus may develop long-term symptoms. It’s unclear why some people develop long Covid and others don’t, but four factors appear to increase the risk: high levels of viral RNA early during an infection, the presence of certain autoantibodies, the reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus and having Type 2 diabetes.
The Immune System
“Dang, why am I always so sick?”— Messiah Rodriguez, 17
Long Covid patients appear to have disruptedimmune systems compared to post-Covid patients who fully recover. Many researchers believe chronic immune dysfunction after a coronavirus infection may set off a chain of symptoms throughout the body.
One possibility is that the body is still fighting remnants of the coronavirus. Researchers found that the virus spreads widely during an initial infection, and that viral genetic material can remain embedded in tissues — in the intestines, lymph nodes and elsewhere — for many months.
Figure: Coronavirus RNA is visible in different body tissues at 500x magnification. Daniel Chertow et al., preprint via Research Square
Ongoing studies are trying to determine if these viral reservoirs cause inflammation in surrounding tissues, which could lead to brain fog, gastrointestinal problems and other symptoms.
Figure: Coronavirus components persist in one patient’s small intestine, 92 days after the start of their Covid symptoms. Christian Gaebler et al., Nature
Researchers have also found evidence that Covid may trigger a lasting and damaging autoimmune response. Studies have found surprisingly high levels of autoantibodies, which mistakenly attack a patient’s own tissues, many months after an initial infection.
A third possibility is that the initial viral infection triggers chronic inflammation, possibly by reactivating other viruses in the patient’s body that are normally dormant. The reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus, which infects most people when they are young, might help predict whether a person will develop long Covid, one study found.
Inside the intricate world of the immune system, these explanations may coexist. And just as different long Covid patients may have different symptoms, they may also have different immune problems, too. Identifying the problems that are central to each patient’s illness will be critical for guiding treatment, said Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale.
For instance, a patient with autoantibodies might benefit from immunosuppressive medication, while a patient with remnants of the Covid virus should receive antivirals, Dr. Iwasaki said. “Depending on what each person has, the treatment would be quite different.”
The Circulatory System
“Something as simple as climbing on a ladder all of a sudden became a mountain.”— Eddie Palacios, 50
Many long Covid patients struggle with physical activity long after their initial infection, and experience a relapse of symptoms if they exercise. Initial studies suggest that dysfunction in the circulatory system might impair the flow of oxygen to muscles and other tissues, limiting aerobic capacity and causing severe fatigue.
Inone study, patients with long-lasting Covid symptoms had unexpected responses to riding a bike. Despite having apparently normal hearts and lungs, their muscles were only able to extract a portion of the normal amount of oxygen from small blood vessels as they pedaled, markedly reducing their exercise capacity.
One possible culprit: Chronic inflammation may damage nerve fibers that help control circulation, a condition called small fiber neuropathy. The damaged fibers, seen in skin biopsies, are associated with dysautonomia, a malfunction of automatic functions like heart rate, breathing and digestion that is very common in long Covid patients.
Figure: Chronic inflammation in long Covid patients may damage small nerve fibers. Peter Novak et al., Annals of Neurology
These findings demonstrate that people with long Covid are suffering systemic physical problems, rather than just being anxious or out of shape, said Dr. David M. Systrom, an exercise physiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who helped conduct the bike study.
“You can’t make up small fiber neuropathy by skin biopsy. That isn’t in somebody’s head,” Dr. Systrom said. “You can’t make up poor oxygen extraction to this degree. All of these are objective measures of disease.”
South African researchers found another circulation problem: Microscopic blood clots. Tiny clots that form during an initial Covid infection will typically break down naturally, but might persist in long Covid patients. These clots could block the tiny capillaries that carry oxygen to tissues throughout the body.
Figure: Platelets in the blood can become hyperactivated in Covid and long Covid patients, contributing to microclots. Etheresia Pretorius et al., Cardiovascular Diabetology
Inflammatory substances called cytokines, which are often elevated in long Covid patients, may injure the mitochondria that power the body’s cells, making them less able to use oxygen. Walls of blood vessels may also become inflamed, limiting the uptake of oxygen.
Whatever the cause, low oxygen levels may contribute to long Covid’s most common symptom, severe fatigue. Some long Covid patients meet the criteria for ME/CFS (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome), which often starts after a viral infection. Researchers have found that ME/CFS patients also suffer from a lack of oxygen triggered by circulatory problems. That puts enormous strain on the body’s metabolism and makes simple activities feel like strenuous exercise.
The Brain
“I approach a red light, my brain knows that it’s red, but it’s not reacting to the rest of my body to put my foot on the brake. Do you understand how terrifying that is?”— Samantha Lewis, 34
Even people with mild cases of Covid can experience sustained cognitive impairments, including reduced attention, memory and word-finding. Possible long-term neurological problems from Covid constitute “a major public health crisis,” according to Dr. Avindra Nath, the clinical director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Researchers found a wide range of dysfunction in the brains of long Covid patients. Although it is unclear how often the virus directly penetrates the brain, even mild infections appear to cause significant brain inflammation, according to the researchers, who included Dr. Nath, Dr. Iwasaki and Dr. Michelle Monje, a neurologist at Stanford.
Infections may trigger the over-activation of immune cells called microglia in a way that appears similar to the process that can contribute to cognitive problems in aging and some neurodegenerative diseases.
Figure: Microglia are activated in the brain of a Covid patient, contributing to brain inflammation. Anthony Fernández-Castañeda et al., preprint via bioRxiv. Photos: Myoung-Hwa Lee
Another research group found that long Covid may significantly reduce the amount of blood that reaches the brain, a finding that has was also seen in patients with a related chronic condition, ME/CFS, before the pandemic.
The Lungs
“I couldn’t breathe. It literally felt like someone was sitting on my chest.”— Angelica Baez, 23
Shortness of breath is a frequent symptom of long Covid. But common lung tests — including chest X-rays, CT scans and functional tests — often come back normal.
Using specialized M.R.I. scans, a team of British researchers found preliminary evidence of lung damage in a small group of long Covid patients who had never been hospitalized. Detailed scans of their lung function indicated that most of the patients took up oxygen less efficiently than healthy people did, even if the structure of their lungs appeared to be normal.
The researchers cautioned that a larger group of patients will be needed to confirm the findings. If the results hold up, possible explanations for the observed shortness of breath include microclots in lung tissues or a thickening of the blood-air barrier that regulates the uptake of oxygen in the lungs.
Living With Long Covid
“It’s really not something you can push through.”— Dr. Abigail Bosk
Many hospitals now offer post-Covid clinics or recovery programs, which bring together doctors with experience treating long Covid patients. Given the number of patients, some doctors and programs have long waits for appointments. It can help to plan ahead and try multiple options.
— Americans with long Covid may qualify for disability benefits, although without conclusive medical results, many people face roadblocks.
— Three leading researchers into long Covid often share information about the latest findings on Twitter: Dr. Amy Proal, a microbiologist at PolyBio Research Institute; Dr. David Putrino, the director of rehabilitation innovation for the Mount Sinai Health System; and Dr. Iwasaki, the Yale immunologist.
—Health Rising covers the latest research into long Covid, ME/CFS and other chronic illnesses in detail.
— Gez Medinger, a video producer, interviews some prominent researchers into long Covid on YouTube.
— A video interview with Dr. Svetlana Blitshteyn, a neurologist and the director of the Dysautonomia Clinic, offers advice for treatment and an overview of current research into autonomic disorders.
— A detailed guide to understanding, treating and living with orthostatic intolerance is available from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
Source: by Josh Keller(The New York Times). Illustration by Violet Frances for Bryan Christie Design. Produced by Jonathan Corum. Additional reporting by Pam Belluck and Amanda Morris.
Initially, I had preplanned this post in light of the upcoming Jewish holiday of Pesach (in English, Passover), which begins at sundown on April 10th, 2017. In the 1920′s and 1930′s, Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters began excavation work of the Roman city of Dura Europos, located in modern day Syria.
As an archaeological site, Dura Europos provided a early archaeologists with an amazing view into the expanses of the Roman Empire, and the great diversity which existed within this city. The city has provided endless fascinating discoveries: it gives us our earliest found example of Chemical Warfare between the Sassanids and the Romans in 265 CE, as well as the earliest found example of a Christian Church, and the earliest found example of a Jewish Synagogue at the site, where inscriptions inform us that in 244 CE, a Jewish leader of the local community enlarged and refurbished the synagogue.
The frescoes beautifully illustrate a variety of scenes from the Jewish Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), including scenes following Moses’ life in the Book of Exodus. Above are two fresco scenes: the first depicts the infancy of Moses, and his rescue from the Nile, before the wife of the Pharaoh hands her adopted son to Moses’ real mother, who then serves as his Hebrew nursemaid. The second is a later scene which moves from left to right.
The scene begins with Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, then transitions, showing Moses raising his staff as the parted seas crash down upon Egyptian armies, before the scene ends with Moses and the Israelites standing together under the outstretched hands of God, having successfully survived their flight from Egypt.
And this is where this planned post took another course – I could not write about the history of Dura Europos without discussing the present of Dura Europos, and the state of Syria. Due to ISIL/Daesh activity, Dura Europos has been one of many archaeological or historical sites attacked. As a historian who works with artistic and archaeological material, I understand that the destruction of our past is a dangerous thing, and that destroying heritage and culture (especially of minority religions) is a part of terrorism.
However, I also understand that it is our human duty to be concerned for humanity first, and objects second.
The story of Exodus is a story of refugees, and it therefore feels imperative to talk about the refugees of today. In this case, the story is about Syrian refugees, but in 2015, the UNCHR estimated that about 60 million people in the world are refugees, internally displaced, or seeking asylum. Syrians accounted for roughly 11 million of those people. The Syrian Jewish community has dwindled over several decades: in the 1970′s, the population of Syrian Jews was roughly 4,600 people. Over the course of about thirty years, Canadian music teacher Judy Feld Carr helped smuggle some 3,228 Syrian Jews out of Syria. By 2014, the total Jewish population of Syria was thought to be under twenty remaining people, and after a 2015 rescue operation for the Halabi family organized by Israeli Authorities and assisted by Muslim rebels in Aleppo, it is suspected the remaining number of Jews in Syria is zero, or close to it.
The refugee and humanitarian crisis of Syria is not over, however. And while no one person can fix it, each person willing to put forth the effort to help can improve the world. Or, in other words –
You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it
I know watching a humanitarian crisis anywhere in the world unfold can be overwhelming - and that we often feel like what we do doesn’t matter, or that there is no hope, or that we can’t singlehandedly fix the problems ourselves. Politics can overwhelm many people, threats of war can frighten us into complacency, and that sometimes terrifying times feel incomprehensible, even if we are the ones being affected by them. But I also know that each step gets us a little further to completing the work of making the world a better place.
The print is super duper tiny, so let me blow it up. This is a review of the book Runby Kody Kepplinger from the prominent library review magazine VOYA* aka Voices of Youth Advocates :
Agnes is legally blind, and leads such a sheltered life that she cannot even take the bus home from school or attend parties. Bo Dickinson has a drug addicted mother, an absent father, and is rumored to be the town slut. Although opposites, they become good friends through their kindness and acceptance of each other. Bo’s cousin Colt is almost a brother to her; they have grown up together and are part of the family “you steer clear of because nothing good can come of getting mixed up with that bunch.” Agnes has a different problem; her parents hover over her and limit her activities so it is impossible for her to be a normal teenager, until she begins sneaking out to go places with Bo. When Bo hatches a plan to leave town to find her father, Agnes decides to go along, thinking she and Bo will live together. They steal a car from Agnes’s family and begin their road trip, along the way visiting Colt, with whom Agnes has a sexual encounter. When Agnes discovers that Bo intends to live with her father, they separate and she gets in touch with her parents, leaving Bo to a disappointing meeting with her father, and an eventual return to the foster care system. The story contains many references to Bo being bisexual and an abundance of bad language, so it is recommended for mature junior and senior high readers.–Rachel Axelrod. 304p. VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, c2016.
I helpfully put in bold the part that gave me rage hives :D
This reviewer (Rachel Axelrod) and VOYA are saying the very existence of bisexual people is on par with swearing. That the very existence of bisexuality can only be shown to junior and senior high schoolers.
And this is where I need to disagree with Angie a little here because that isn’t a microagression. That is full-on biphobia folks.
And its a particular kind of biphobia that tags bisexual girls and women in a particularly pernicious way. Mature is a coded word here. Its hypersexualization – where being bisexual and being out and using the word ‘bisexual’ for bi women is considered on par with sex acts. And like I said on twitter this afternoon, you can draw a straight fucking line from this review to bisexual women being constantly sexually harassed and facing astronomically high rates of sexual violence and domestic abuse. Bisexual women and girls are not seen as peoples, we are seen as machines that dispense sex. I would expect a publication like VOYA to challenge that narrative, not reinforce it.
Also, does VOYA think that bisexual teens under grade 11 just don’t exist? Because TRUST ME they do. And they deserve to read books that reflect their inner worlds just as much as straight teens. I have NEVER seen a book review of any type claim that only juniors and seniors can know about the existence of straight people. How many people at VOYA put their eyes on this review and NO ONE noticed that?
I spend a fair amount of my time on this blog complaining, critiquing, and analyzing books that refuse to use the word bisexual to describe their characters. And while I haven’t read Run(though I put it on hold at my library today), all accounts are that the bisexual character Bo actually uses the word bisexual several times. But instead of celebratingthat as an important YA development, VOYA seems to think it needs a goddamn content warning.
Oh but just wait.
It gets better.
It gets so much better.
You might be thinking that perhaps this book just had a lot of steamy bisexual sex scenes and this is just a case of poor wording.
NOPE
In this reviewers mind, the actual HAVING of heterosexual sex doesn’t make this book in appropriate for younger readers, but the very EXISTENCE of a bisexual character would. You don’t need to warn against actual sex but you choose to slap a ‘here be monsters’ on the map if there are bisexuals?
There is nothing to that but base and blatant biphobia.
Librarians and booksellers use magazines like VOYA because they can’t read every book. Now we have VOYA telling entire swaths of professionals that this book (and by extension bisexual people) are somehow inherently inappropriate. VOYA has a reputation among librarians as being progressive, less enmeshed with book publishers, and more focused on intellectual freedom than other review sources (PW, Kirkus, LJ, SLJ). Their name is actually Voices of Youth Advocates. We trust their reviews to advocate for youth.
Well I’m sorry VOYA but you need to explain to me how promoting this kind of biphobia makes you a ‘youth advocate’. Or how it helps you uphold the mission statement of your publication – which reads: “Young adults have rights to free and equal access to information in print, nonprint, and electronic resources, without infringement of their intellectual freedom due to age or other restrictions.” How exactly does advocating an age restriction on a book solely because of the sexual orientation of a protagonist advance that right to free and equal access to information?
This also frustrates me to no end because we’ve all heard that mantra about how ‘diverse books don’t sell’. WELL NO SHIT THEY DON’T SELL WHEN YOU REVIEW THEM LIKE THIS! This is a textbook lesson in how to use base-level bigotry to bomb book sales. I swear to god, the next person who tells me that books with bisexual characters who actually use the word bisexual ‘just don’t sell’ is gonna get nothing but a giant squid of anger.
Right now, I’m calling on VOYA magazine and it’s Editor RoseMary Honnold to apologize to author Kody Keplinger and to the entire bisexual community. This review is offensive and it needs to be retracted. I’d also say that Rachel Axelrod needs some LGBTQ cultural competency training (with a particular emphasis on the B in there).
This is #BiWeek, the week where bisexual community celebrates our history, culture, and art. It would be a great time for VOYA to remove their foot from their mouth and apologize for this biphobic trainwreck.
- Sarah
*I know you’re really notsupposed to post content such as entire reviews up on the internet from trade publications but if VOYA doesn’t like it, then fuck it, they can C&D us.
Holy shit it just got worse.
Bisexual SFF author Tristina Wright sent this email to someone at VOYA (gonna guess the editor RoseMary Honnold but to be clear that is just my base speculation)
And this was VOYA’s utterly reprehensible response:
I am stunned. I am horrified.
This isn’t about destroying our enemies during BiWeek. It’s about VOYA making a serious mistake that isn’t aligned with their purported values or what’s best for teens.
AND VOYA locked their twitter account. What kind of BS is this?
We need to expose bigoted gatekeepers wherever they’re found. This is so shameful. How many children must we continue to allow to feel alone, wrong, and without context for who they are?
yknow ever since people realized tumblr isnt dead and have decided to flock here from twitter and tiktok ive seen a huge influx of people in fandom spaces who dont reblog anything. at all.
like, i used to have an art blog with 340 followers. not a ton but not a small amount either given how this website works with creators. and in my experience back then even the ones who only left likes still reblogged other things or at least posted their own stuff. literally the only empty blogs were clearly bots.
but on this New art blog, i’ve had so many people with fandom-specific headers and icons with actual usernames as urls and some kind of title or description, but have. Nothing. no posts. all they do is like things. and it’s always public, too. their following list and their likes list.
and honestly all it makes me think is that these people are New and also don’t know how tumblr works. how likes don’t give exposure. not even in a “oh, i know it doesn’t give exposure, but i’m still going to reblog anyways” way, but in a genuine honest to god straight up doesn’t realize tumblr likes don’t work like twitter’s.
PLEASE please if you’re from tiktok or twitter or whatever please reblog people’s art both fandom and original if you like it!! and maybe actually pad out your blog’s content in some way so people won’t potentially see you as a bot and block you.
REBLOG ARTIST’S WORK. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY THEY GET ANY ATTENTION ON THIS WEBSITE OH MY GOD. PLEASE. I BEG of you
WAIT THEY’RE REAL PEOPLE?! I’ve blocked several accounts so far because it was just “blanks space” and I assumed it was a bot.
FOLKS if you’re new, please, please, this is not like Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Reblogging is the way to go. This is how we network on here. This is how you make mutuals. This is how you share new stuff with others.
You are also:
Encouraged to add your thoughts to the post
Engage in conversation freely
Express yourself in the tags if you don’t want to write in the post
In fact, write a god damn essay in the tags - we old members will read it, I promise - the limit on tags per post is insane anyway
Reblog the same thing as many times as you like. Like every time you see it, and you want to reblog it because it brings you joy - go for it!
If you’re saying, “well, I need Chrome because I need such-and-such extension for my job”, the computer will not explode if you install another browser. Use Chrome ONLY for work tasks and use Firefox for everything else. If you’re concerned about losing your bookmarks, Firefox can import your Chrome bookmarks.
[ID: Firefox Library window. The “Import and Backup” panel is expanded, displaying the option, “Import Data from Another Browser”, which is also circled with a red MS Paint ellipse. ID end.]
For $5 a month, you can completely conceal your online activities from your ISP in a manner that isn’t just immediately monetised or turned over to the cops. No, it’s not free, it does cost money, but the money doesn’t go to line a billionaire’s pockets.
I wonder how much of this is because of work/school from home forcing people to use Chrome so all their stupid monitoring softwares and platforms can work.
This is also your reminder that you don’t have to use just one browser. You can use chrome for all the monitoring bullshit your office wants you to run and use firefox for everything else.
Be sure to add the multi account containers extension to your firefox, which allows you to be logged in to multiple accounts on the same website at the same time in the same window but in different tabs.
look on my five open tumblr accounts (not sideblogs, accounts!) ye mighty and despair.
Firefox is super good, folks. It’s good in a general “google shouldn’t own everything in the entire fucking world” sense AND in a “this is an actual good product that does lots of cool shit” sense.
ALSO make sure to add the Ublock origin extension on Firefox - I haven’t seen a youtube ad in five years and you don’t have to either.
While you’re at it, why not add the Wayback Machine extension so that if you go looking for a page that has been taken down the wayback machine will automatically offer you an archived version instead; also handy for documenting people’s shitty takes and winning arguments after they delete the original post!
Worried that Firefox is going to slow down your computer? In benchmarks, modern versions of chrome and firefox are pretty much the same speed but you can still install the auto tab discard extension ANYWAY so that it will snooze unused tabs in order to keep your computer running faster. Set it to sleep, discard, close, and store tags at your discretion!
And while you’re at it: install Firefox as your mobile browser for android and add those extensions to your mobile browser! Mobile adblock is here, baybee, save your data and enjoy a better mobile experience! And install it on iOS! iOS can’t add extensions, but at least it’s better than safari, and if you want a somewhat more private iOS browsing experience try firefox focus for iOS (which is also available on android but you can accomplish the same thing with extensions).
“I arrive at Justin’s door with my packer in my pants and my eyes watery with a combination of fear, relief and anger. Justin holds me and feels my cock, through my pants, against his thigh. “Did you wear that hoping I’d notice it,” he asks a little coyly, as if this is a new role play I’m introducing to our sex life. “No. This isn’t a game I’m playing with you. This is for me.” That night Justin and I make love. He lies on his stomach and I push my soft packing cock all over his body: up and down his spine, into the soft patch of fur between his shoulder blades, between his ass cheeks. Each moment is distinct and each moment blurs. At one point Justin is facing me. At one point I pull the tip of my soft cock out of the waistband of my boxers and touch the head of his cock with the head of mine. His cock’s pigment is darker than mine. My cock’s close to the same pale pink as my skin. Other than that, our cocks look the same. That’s when I realize that this packing cock, and my strap-on for that matter, aren’t sex toys to me. This cock is my animal body. This cock is my body. All the blood drains out of my brain and flows directly into my swollen cunt. My mind is so quiet that you could hear a pin drop in my skull. I’m out of my head and in my body. It’s a spiritual turn-on, and a point of clarity, to really see yourself for who you are. I eat Justin’s ass for a long time that night. I’m all top and he’s all bottom, not because I’m dominating him, but because I have a lot more to give; all he needs to do is receive. I have a lot to give, a lot I want to give: more physical energy, more sexual confidence to pour into my lover. I feel existentially whole in a way I hardly ever do.”
Some parts of the article that I liked even more than the above part:
“I want you to bring your harness,” Kyle texts me. He means my black, dandy, patent leather daddy strap-on harness. I appreciate the request though Kyle didn’t need to ask for it: aside from our first date, I’ve had my harness and my erect fuck-cock in my backpack every time I’ve seen him.
I’ve been waiting to fuck him since I bent him over his couch and humped his perfect ass on our first date. I tell Kyle all of this, and while it’s new information, he registers zero surprise.
“It’s my body. I bring my body when I see you,” I tell him.
“Makes sense to me,” he says nonchalantly.
….
The first time Kyle sees me with my chest bound and wearing my packer in my pants in public, he has the same nonchalance about it. My gender expression is respected, and it’s also a non-topic. He hugs me, and tells me he is exasperated about some engineering work thing from his day.
He wraps his arm around my back the way he always does, tickles my ribs the way he always does, and we talk about how good his pout-pink eyeshadow looks as we walk down the street.
….
My gender is not his fetish, and I’m not his ticket to a new world, mystique or radicalism. He never ascribes aspects of my personality to my gender. I never interrogate his pronouns against the fact that he’s happiest when he’s puttering around his loft in jersey dresses that belong in the pages of Seventeen magazine.
On the odd occasion that folks check in with Kyle about what his pronouns are, he answers, “He and him is fine, but I’m femme AF.” He tells others to use my pronouns, and when they fail to, he enforces it. And, when we’re alone together, Kyle is just Kyle. I’m just me.
….
A while ago a longtime friend (who has witnessed me move from using she/her pronouns to them/they) asked me if I now identified as trans. I told her it’s a complicated answer.
For so many of the trans people around me, there’s a trajectory. A plan. A sequence of action. Hormone replacement therapy. Top-surgery. Hysterectomy. Maybe bottom surgery. I have deep reverence for that process, the expense, the physical impact that all surgery carries. That process is also not something I’m sure I want for myself.
“It’s not F to M, it’s F to something else entirely.”
(A disclaimer – No, I am not hating upon any band or any person. I am merely saying that every past member now be treated as their own individual solo artist).
Having been a fan of Kerrang! Magazine from age eight (up until recent years), I always supported the content they put out. They gave that link from artist to reader that I so desperately yearned for – I wanted to feel closer to and know what said artist was up to. Despite the countless issues that still reside in a drawer somewhere in my house, I’ve completely lost my love and affection towards this magazine, and mainly for one particular reason; my support for Frank Iero.
I’ll delve in a little deeper, starting with the release of stomachaches. Two years ago, almost to the day (at the point of writing this) it was released and I remember avidly waiting for reviews and to see this album being welcomed with open arms by many. By this point I had drifted from said magazine, but their review of this album in particular is what really began my questioning. Half the beginning of the review discussed what members of Iero’s previous band had been up to, even including lines about one not even being on the music radar. A strange start, perhaps it will improve? Apparently not. The majority of the review discussed Iero’s past and his role in another band. The very little I found for the album tracks themselves were brief, forgettable, something I find this album to be the complete opposite of. Fine, fine, with the recent breakup I was expecting “previous MCR member” as context, but not this drabble of the band’s history and members personal lives. The unrelated information I did receive in regards to different artists was regurgitated, even in the same magazine. A disappointment to begin many.
Fast forward through a few live reviews with the same beginning mention of MCR, despite the constant support growing for Frank with a solo title. That brings us to today with the recent release of Nothing Above, Nothing Below. By now, I, as well as many others supporting Frank, have expected the worst when it comes to Kerrang!, we don’t expect the focus on Frank as a separate being from MCR. We expect his name to be followed by countless mentions of said band, even in the most unrelated of sentences. Of course Kerrang! have covered the album by Death Spells, a duo made up of Frank Iero and James Dewees, something K! can’t seem to remember. The album review itself was pretty wonderful. We got descriptions of every song, the mention of MCR not even present I believe, something that’s important in this case. Death Spells are elements of both James and Frank’s creativity, powerful forces merging together to bring something to slap you in the face and make you think. It’s hardcore, it’s in-your-face, it strips you down and leaves you feeling both cleansed and filthy at the same time. The live shows are an unforgettable experience, but one wouldn’t get this from Kerrang!’s review.
Time and time again I’ve rolled my eyes at the same thing from you, Kerrang!. Whilst your twitter account previously posted and fed rumours of an MCR reunion, your magazine mourned what never was. This took up space on the front page, yet it took a fan run twitter account for me to know an article including Death Spells was present, (and me buying and searching through to know an interview surrounding Billy Talent’s new album was also there, but that’s for another time).
Issue No. 1633 is sat in front of me now, and it’s the reason I’ve come to write this. In said issue a review and poster surrounding Death Spells is included, but both are majorly disappointing, I could probably push that to disrespectful.
First, the review. Ten lines in and there it is, the “MCReunion”. This takes up one of six paragraphs. The second paragraph, you ask? Mainly a comparison between the image of MCR, and the image of Death Spells; two bands that are in no way comparable or similar, bar the two members happening to be in both. The third paragraph, ending again in a “post-My Chemical Romance output” despite this not being necessary. Yes, picky of me I know, but it helps with the fact that every single paragraph included has a mention of the old group. The last missing the name and simply resorting to “Frank’s more famous band.”
Why am I upset by the constant mention of MCR? It’s simple. Being a fan of the band I obviously know people who are not, however some of those closest to me enjoy Frank’s solo or other projects. How did they know of his different style? Me, but I cannot tell everyone to listen to him, despite how much I try. This is why it’s important for you, Kerrang!, to help. How can new fans (who dislike the previous project he has been included in) possibly discover his new music and support him? By the consistent mention of said old band, possible new fans will be deterred. If an artist broke away from a band I disliked but every review and article regarding their new music started with (and continuously included) aforementioned band, I would scrap them immediately. You may call me closed minded, but how will I be aware that this artist is different and that I may become a huge fan if my first impression is riddled with a previous project I’m not fond of? Frank works hard, it’s easy to see, he deserves respect and support as his own person with his own style.
Didn’t we mention earlier that it was a duo? Oh, James Dewees. Name mentioned once in the Death Spells review, despite being the whole other half of the band. Yes, hidden away back there he may be easy to overlook, but it’s important to realise why he’s in the shadows. He is the one who brings us the beat that fuel the shows, who controls the “splatter-stained background projections” that create the Death Spells atmosphere. An inspiring and humorous man who I, as many do, find underappreciated. Kerrang! only adding evidence to this.
That leads me onto the Death Spells poster. Great photo, but there are two people in the band. The poster above has a total of ten! On one A4 sheet! Yet this poster simply includes Frank in the centre. As a Death Spells fan, I know they will not be making regular appearances in this magazine, so I want a full band photo. Its only missing one person, a very important one. A small complaint, as I know you do posters of single members, but with the other evidence this just seems wrong. James Dewees needs to be included somewhere.
In conclusion, please don’t disrespect the memory of MCR and the future of Frank Iero. You see, we don’t want to forget this band ever happened. It was bittersweet, but now it has to be closed. You’re dragging them through the mud and creating a mockery of a band that inspired many. They had their time, now please allow the members to step into a world fully their own and continue to create and inspire.
Some watercolor paper info i came across, might be helpful to some of ya’ll who make or wanna try trad art✌
When painting the other day, i noticed the colors were making this weird texture and looked duller in saturation. I thought i was doing something wrong, but apparently its cuz the paper is older, or probably wasnt stored very well So i got my sealed, newer sheets of paper out and did some swatch tests:
Both swatches were made using the same puddle of paint and in the same way. Images were taken with phone flash and unedited (only cropped). The color used is Pthalo Blue watercolor (Van Gogh brand) which isnt supposed to have any texture.
You can see that the swatch on the older paper looks less vibrant and has a strange texture vs. the newer paper. Thats cuz the sizing has worn off. Paper sizing (based on google) aids the paper in absorbing moisture evenly, and allows the pigment to sit up on the surface where it refracts color more brightly, instead of soaking in and giving a “dull” appearance. The color then can easily be reworked due to the accessibility of the pigment remaining on the surface.
Sizing can also wear-off if paper isnt stored properly, like exposed to the elements, humid climate, being old paper in general, or a factory defect even.
You can re-apply sizing onto papers manually by buying liquid sizing from art stores, tho i think im gonna use the old papers for gouache paintings instead.
So ye, sometimes when the paintings not looking quite right, it may be the material working against you nwn"
And heres a quick doodle using up the rest of the paint puddle! Cant be wasting paint now haha
