"You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love...I love...I love you."

PRIDE & PREJUDICE (2005) dir. Joe Wright

“I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.” 

― Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Aspen, Colorado. Photo by Connor DeMott.

Jyn & Cassian in Rogue One | 2016

Sylvia Plath, from The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Mikaela Hamilton Photography ~ Stonehaven, Scotland

It might come as quite a shock to those who think that having a woman on the throne would mean anything for women's liberation in Westeros, but trickle down feminism is not a thing. Liberation cannot start at the top, it is a movement that must start from the bottom up, otherwise the privileged class simply creates more vectors for oppression. Power and privilege are inherently self-protecting, and a those in power, yes, including women, will tear down the less privileged before sacrificing even a tiny scrap of their own privilege or power. This is one of the main themes of ASOIAF and yet this fandom has bought into the myth of the liberating queen so wholeheartedly that people actually believe that allowing a tyrant to take the throne, so long as she's a woman tyrant, is praxis. Rhaenyra is not a liberator of women or anyone else, in fact she damages the cause of liberation much more than she helps it. Control over the dragons was bought and paid for with the blood of countless slaves, and Rhaenyra wields the tools of the oppressor expertly, threatening all who challenge her with fire and blood, a threat she delivers on before she ever crowns herself queen. Her very claim comes from the belief that the one person in charge should wield absolute power and ruthlessly defend that power with the might of dragons.

Remember who kills more of the living dragons in Fire and Blood than any one Targaryen. Set aside the silly logistics of the storming of the Dragonpit, and think about the bravery it would take to face down a dragon armed with only a pitchfork and conviction. That is where liberation begins, from the people standing in front of the dragons, not those sitting atop them.

i love you - most ardently. please do me the honour of accepting my hand. sir, i appreciate the struggle you have been through, and i am very sorry to have caused you pain. believe me, it was unconsciously done. is this your reply? yes, sir. are you...are you laughing at me? no. are you rejecting me? i'm sure that the feelings which, as you've told me have hindered your regard, will help you in overcoming it. might i ask why, with so little endeavour at civility, i am thus repulsed? and i might as well enquire why, with so evident a design of insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your better judgement.

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”

— André Gide, Autumn Leaves

masonstrehl

The best decision The Mandalorian ever made was centering their show around an archetypal masked, taciturn gunslinger who wanders from town to town never putting down roots, and then revealing that he acts that way because he’s a massively awkward introvert who uses that archetype to avoid having to socialize with people beyond the three interaction scripts he already knows. 10/10, top tier characterization, I love seeing this man outshoot a bar full of people and then get scammed by a random mechanic because he’s too polite to confront her about it. Truly a hero of our times.

"Without a code, you can only serve yourself."

“Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction -- its essence -- has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all.” 

― Isaac Asimov

Sunrise, Louise Glück

@pscentral​ event 18: adaptations

"he's stuck out there. he thinks he's totally alone and that we all gave up on him. what kind of effect does that have on a man's psychology?" he turned back to venkat. "i wonder what he's thinking right now." log entry: sol 61. how come aquaman can control whales? they're mammals! makes no sense.

THE MARTIAN + timestamp roulette