I am loving The Spiderwick Chronicles so far (on EP 6) and my favorite part is that almost every character thinks they are the main character of this story, and none of them are. Arthur Spiderwick, and by extension Lucinda are the MCs, and Lucinda has explicitly appointed only Jared as the protagonist--the character no one believes, the character everyone discounts, the one who is stigmatized and disempowered at every turn by everyone who claims to love him. He is fighting an impossible battle and can't trust anyone, because they are all too wrapped up in themselves to see how they are being manipulated by the villain--Mulgarath, but also their own egos. Jared is the only one who is not taking up this fight in order to placate his ego, or boost his sense of self in some way, or to run from or solve his problems, and that is why Lucinda saw him as the only truly deserving hero. The irony is that he can't do it alone--no man is an island--but he also can only trust himself.

And I LOVE the dichotomy of Jared's rise as the pure hero foiled against Simon's corruption arc. In the very first scene of episode 1 we see Jared drawing himself as the "evil twin" on the convenience store mirror, yet it is "perfect" Simon who succumbs to the lure of the villains. It's so fun to watch.

my favorite piece of modern art is Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds, over one hundred million hand-painted ceramic sunflower seeds made by dozens of craftsmen

Reblog if you think a woman can be complete without children

Y’ALL HAVE TIME TO REBLOG THIS. IT TAKES LESS THAN FIVE SECONDS.

Gaza Online is calling for direct upload of eSim QR codes from Nomad, Holafly (Israel and Egypt), Airalo, Sparks, and Numero. A detailed guide of how to purchase eSims and get QR codes for all of these apps (and desktop sites) can be found here.

See which eSims are needed here

Upload a QR code here

Donate funds instead

show, don't tell:

anticipation - bouncing legs - darting eyes - breathing deeply - useless / mindless tasks - eyes on the clock - checking and re-checking

frustration - grumbling - heavy footsteps - hot flush - narrowed eyes - pointing fingers - pacing / stomping

sadness - eyes filling up with tears - blinking quickly - hiccuped breaths - face turned away - red / burning cheeks - short sentences with gulps

happiness - smiling / cheeks hurting - animated - chest hurts from laughing - rapid movements - eye contact - quick speaking

boredom - complaining - sighing - grumbling - pacing - leg bouncing - picking at nails

fear - quick heartbeat - shaking / clammy hands - pinching self - tuck away - closing eyes - clenched hands

disappointment - no eye contact - hard swallow - clenched hands - tears, occasionally - mhm-hmm

tiredness - spacing out - eyes closing - nodding head absently - long sighs - no eye contact - grim smile

confidence - prolonged eye contact - appreciates instead of apologizing - active listening - shoulders back - micro reactions

The oldest living tree ever found was a pine named “Prometheus.” It had been alive since before the Egyptian pyramids were built. Some guy cut it down in 1964. Source

I think it’s incredibly fucked how capitalism discourages learning for learning’s sake. People will have interests they’ve spent years researching then say it’s “useless knowledge” bc it didn’t go towards a college degree and isn’t part of their job. Learning is never useless! Your brain is growing and developing throughout your whole life! People would never have epiphanies or sudden lightening strikes of creativity if they weren’t learning new things! That goes double for topics like science, politics, and history, which inform your understanding of the world you live in!

Proving a point to my boyfriend.

PLEASE REBLOG if you (male or female) believe it is perfectly okay and natural for a guy of any age to cry

A woman went viral for being turned down for a next interview for a role, she asks the recruiter what she did wrong, the recruiter tells her they were “concerned about her lack of effort in her appearance.”

She explains she wore a freshly ironed blazer with a collared top. Her nails were painted a professional beige. She got a blowout for her hair, so a professional style. She had on subdued gold earrings.

The only thing she wasn’t wearing was makeup; she states she really doesn’t wear makeup, and only had chapstick on, as her skin is sensitive. Her lawyer mother has already explained she has no legal case against the company for any type of gender-based discrimination.

Just in case anyone wants to ask why feminists still refer to the “pink tax” or rail against more and more elaborate makeup trends being pushed on girls and women.

Women being punished socially for not wearing makeup is still a feminist issue.

Describing Body Types

Now, one thing a lot of young writers I see forget (especially those who write fanfiction) is that everyone does not have the same body type. One reason I noticed this was because it was a huge writing vice of mine; I got used to everyone already knowing basically what the characters looked like when I wrote fanfiction, so I got lazy in describing people.

So, body type is important, I think, for realism in writing. Because unlike on some cartoon show, people do not fit one mold. There’s a gazillion types out there, all valid and pretty in their own way.

It contributes to the idea that there is only one good body type for either gender when you either describe everyone similarly (unless it’s some sort of dystopian future, and they’re clones or modified on purpose) or give no description of body type at all.

You don’t need to go overboard and describe every person from their chest size to their head shape to whether they have cankles. But, a general idea might help your reader visualize, and yet not force an image on them too much.

For instance, ‘Carolina was top heavy, to the point that it looked like she would tip over if she leaned forward too far,’ or ‘Jace had a practically concave chest, and skinny, bony arms. He looked like someone whose bones had tried to outgrow his skin.’

Of course, you can take this any which way; just point out the most obvious parts of your character’s body type (heart-shaped face? wide hips? stocky build?) and go from there. It’s usually good to have some idea of what your character looks like beyond colors and height.

So, go wild!

usamericans do really love making posts about parking lots. i met god in a parking lot. fighting my ex in a parking lot. it's like their main biome

to you, it’s a shitty sentence. to some random bitch 500 miles away, it’s a fire line that’ll haunt them for the next 17 years.

you don’t know how impactful your writing is because it’s been in your brain for far too long now. you’ve stared at it for hours and repeated “this sucks” over and over again to the point that you killed your capacity to feel anything about your work.

but trust me, once you get your shit out there, someone’s gonna go over that paragraph you hate and go “jesus fucking christ” and put the book down to have an existential crisis.