āPalestinian artist Abeer Jibrilās daughter dances ballet while Abeer Jibril is painting at home in Gaza City on Oct. 12, 2021. All Jibrilās recent paintings describe a little girl dancing ballet amidst barbed wire, bombs and bullets, to reveal the difficult conditions that people in Gaza Strip are experiencing.ā
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Beaded cloisonnƩ hermit crab by Amy Kopperude.
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thoughts on media?
Great question thank you. We have to stop it
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PLEASE does anyone have that one fanart of bruce with sharp vampire teeth, it changed me carnally but i canāt find it again šššššššš IF ANYBODY KNOWS THE TUMBLR ACC TOO!!! i would appreciate it so much
extra info: it wasnāt bloody i donāt think, he was Possibly shirtless, just had his big ole vamp jaws open
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day 15 & 16: music & blood
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Maizula nation please where r u
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you call this place "wall greens" yet its walls... are not green? how very pecuilar...
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Yes Iām an Azula apologistāshe deserved better; she deserved therapy and love and support and patience š«¶
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Circle Member of the Week: Valentine Morgenstern
āMundanes see as through a glass, darkly, but Shadowhunters - we see face-to-face. We know the truth of evil, and know that while it walks among us, it is not of us. What does not belong to our world must not be allowed to take root here, to grow like a poisonous flower and extinguish all life.ā - City of Ashes
Comment who youād like to see next week!
Rant below
So this is just a little project I decided to embark on, mainly for my own enjoyment, but I thought some of you might like to see it as well. Iāve had these quotes sitting around and I wanted to do something with them and I got a little off target but oh well. Iām gonna try to post one once a week. My photoshop skills are a bit rusty so these take me a while to make and I have finals coming up but this seems way more important. I will be doing one of these for every major circle member. It seemed only natural to do Valentine first but let me know who you wanna see next and Iāll try to make it happen!
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i wanted to invite a conversation about this because itās genuinely been bothering me for a long time. and i in fact wasnāt immune to it either and am just now realizing this is the power of cinematic brainwashing.
but like, tgm is so many bad things. sexist, racist, ageist, to scratch the tip of the iceberg. token characters that meet the bare minimum for diversity, and sidelined women - iād even say exploited women. a narrative that is so egocentric that itās miraculous that some characters manage to hold their own instead of being swept under the charismatic magnetism of the reckless bad boy character who can get away with murder because deep down, heās regretful, and he has a good heart.
what a shallow representation of the military, and what a disservice to those who were inspired to join because they thought the real life experience would mirror even a fraction of what is presented on screen. the reality is that there was never a competition to win a top gun trophy, and in fact today you have to pay 5$ at the top gun school if you even mention the film. that speaks for itself.
tom cruise being a huge part of the production process has made it impossible for me not to hold him responsible for the choices that have been made. to even subtitle the sequel movie with āMaverickā, the same protagonist as in the first one, comes across as insanely egotistical - and honestly a testament to how mavās story manages to drown out the autonomy and validity of other characters. iāll explain this terms of ice, penny, carole, and charlie. youāll notice how iām gonna be bringing up three women.
ice-
i donāt care that val kilmer gave the okay on using his cancer as a plot point. i care that cancer was not only used as a plot point, but treated like this ^
āiām dying. you have bigger problems.ā
the original script seems to peel back the layers of tgmās intended messaging, so iām using several examples. this is what is being communicated. i honestly donāt know what else to add. in or out of context, this is incredibly disturbing - and that itās played as a self-aware quip from ice, even more so. the bond of wingmen goes both ways, and i just didnāt see thatā¦ if anything, that aspect leaned so heavily on the first film (the photo of them smiling at each other) that it just proves my point. it took iceās death for mav to get up off his ass and do something to keep his career afloat besides get a cop-out from the compacflt. ice in the first movie was a compelling antagonist and voice of reason - now heās mostly relegated to the role of babysitter, denying mavās character the growth of accountability by simply erasing his poor choices with a phone call.
itās why the darkstar scene pisses me off. to stop at mach 10 would have been fine, but to push it just for the sake of it is ridiculous. the fact that earlier mav states āi know what happens to everyone else if i donātā in regards to his decision only makes this screw-up more laughable, because to me itās the very contradiction of maverick: his intentions do not balance with his actions. costing the military millions of dollars in a few seconds somehow balances with his heartfelt desire to protect the interests of its workforce.
penny-
shortly before, during, and after this screenshot, i counted a total of 6 times that penny made it clear she would not appreciate mavās advances. regardless, mav goes on to say āyou look goodā. this flirtation happens before mav is even aware of her marital status, as he asks amelia āwhereās your dad?ā in a later sceneā¦ whichā¦ dear god.
penny also says āit always ends the same with us, so letās not start this timeā, indicating this is a repeated pattern in which her boundaries werenāt respected and moreover, the relationship ended up failing. yet this is framed as the main romance of tgm, a wonderful and nostalgic callback to the original that ends as stereotypically as possible.
i love penny. sheās witty, caring, independent, and of course stunning. so i find her treatment in tgm a disservice to what started out as a rich and compelling character. she later ends up mavās shoulder to cry on, more or less, comforting him after losing his wingman and his position as instructor. the song āhold my handā is thematically suited for penny, playing in the background at the bar and in the notes of the score during her scenes - even musically, she is turned into a source of consolation first, and her own woman second. sheās his prize at the end of the film, falling for the promise āiām never gonna leave you againā, which i donāt buy for a second. they fly into the sunset, presumably signifying a new horizon for their relationship - but i feel so dissatisfied with this arc for her and think she deserved much better.
that mav gets away with this behavior is something iād like to see more people reflect on. it seems to be a pattern with male protagonists, in which case the function of male and protagonist in hollywood cinema needs an examination.
carole-
top gun (1986):
this is an especially crude exploitation to me. not only is carole the one consoling a young maverick (if a full-fledged 24 year old can be called young, in light of the tendency people have to dismiss his choices in ā86) after his mistake costs her own husband his lifeā¦ but her stance, even following a tragedy of that magnitude, didnāt change. goose would have flown anyway, and she knows that well enough - on top of that, itās easy to see she would have supported him.
it came as a surprise to me that she wouldnāt in turn support her own son, who is clearly committed to a career as a pilot. in the end, i see a cheap narrative device that contradicts caroleās character, undermines her strength as a wife and mother, both in order to serve the interests of the plot. maverick in tgm needs a viable reason to hide a secret, to be tortured by his own consequences, to put further strain on his tension with bradley. there were plenty of other ways to do it, but the fact that it was this leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
charlie-
itās my understanding that tom cruiseās personal reason (his excuse) for not bringing back charlie was that he didnāt like how their relationship ended. if thereās any source confirming or denying this, iād appreciate a link.
anyways. yeah. this isā¦ a huge problem with hollywood at large, which kelly mcgillis understands, but iāll break it down. thereās a simpler reason this pisses me off more than anything. tgmās entire subject matter is about repairing relationships. penny benjamin was dredged out of obscurity to do it. maverick and roosterās grudge of 30+ years was used to do it. icemanās character, as warped as he feels, is another way the film made this its theme. but charlie is out of the question?
that val kilmer could be asked to return, and make an insane amount of money for each second heās on screen, but such an opportunity is never given to kelly mcgillis, who herself centers on the 1986 poster, speaks volumes to me. tom cruise even planted his foot when it came to reprising iceman, saying he wouldnāt do this movie without val in it.
itās worth mentioning that viper and slider were also present at iceās funeral, but this scene was cut out. for a film thatās quite heavy-handed with its nostalgic callbacks, this was an odd decision. until realizing, as my friend put it, that even iceās death couldnāt be about him, whether it had brought in his own teacher or his rio - his goose. it had to revolve around mav, to catalyze a turning point for him in the plot.
alsoā¦ a shoutout to the erasure of sarah kazansky, pretty much everywhere. that also tells me a lot.
ā¦
this was just a dissection of the various character portrayals (or absences) in tgm that have bothered me since forever. this isnāt even going into how tgm accomplishes everything that propaganda sets out to do. combinations of stunning visuals, soaring music composed by masters like hans zimmer, the charismatic power of a cast packed with starsā¦ all play a role in the blinding awesomeness of tgm, which has taken me this long to break away from.
consider the white/poc duos in the film: maverick and hondo, hangman and coyote, cyclone and warlock. who has more lines? who plays a greater role? why is that?
i donāt see this as real diversity. it masquerades as inclusion, which i find worse. and to cast an actor of asian descent, and give him the callsign yale? ā¦ wow.
framing is powerful. its influence in cinematography is unmatched. a story is being constructed and told not only through dialogue, but sound, visuals, editingā¦ really, nothing can be dismissed as insignificant. iām not asking for a scholarly interrogation of all media you consume, though, that would be so excellent, and so healthyā¦ but i am trying to raise these questions in the community, of what gets lost when a main character is so overwhelmingly main. when someone like tc has so much control over the decision-making process, since itās sort of a running joke that maverick is a tc self-insert. my focus isnāt the inclusions, but the exclusions.
and finally, since iāve unfortunately spent a lot of life writing this postā¦ itās interesting to me that many viewers in hindsight seem to see top gun 1986 so differently. as kids, they sided with mav over the antagonist. an older audience returning to the first film now seem to side with iceman, seeing him as the rational one attempting to raise important points. i wonder if this will be the case with top gun: maverick in the future. in which case, iām excited to see more cyclone fans. heās my favorite characterā¦ unsurprisingly.
oh. one last thing.
āthe man, the myth, the legendā ā¦ the word myth has two meanings:
ā¦
happy reading.
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Eclipse posting
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i wanted to invite a conversation about this because itās genuinely been bothering me for a long time. and i in fact wasnāt immune to it either and am just now realizing this is the power of cinematic brainwashing.
but like, tgm is so many bad things. sexist, racist, ageist, to scratch the tip of the iceberg. token characters that meet the bare minimum for diversity, and sidelined women - iād even say exploited women. a narrative that is so egocentric that itās miraculous that some characters manage to hold their own instead of being swept under the charismatic magnetism of the reckless bad boy character who can get away with murder because deep down, heās regretful, and he has a good heart.
what a shallow representation of the military, and what a disservice to those who were inspired to join because they thought the real life experience would mirror even a fraction of what is presented on screen. the reality is that there was never a competition to win a top gun trophy, and in fact today you have to pay 5$ at the top gun school if you even mention the film. that speaks for itself.
tom cruise being a huge part of the production process has made it impossible for me not to hold him responsible for the choices that have been made. to even subtitle the sequel movie with āMaverickā, the same protagonist as in the first one, comes across as insanely egotistical - and honestly a testament to how mavās story manages to drown out the autonomy and validity of other characters. iāll explain this terms of ice, penny, carole, and charlie. youāll notice how iām gonna be bringing up three women.
ice-
i donāt care that val kilmer gave the okay on using his cancer as a plot point. i care that cancer was not only used as a plot point, but treated like this ^
āiām dying. you have bigger problems.ā
the original script seems to peel back the layers of tgmās intended messaging, so iām using several examples. this is what is being communicated. i honestly donāt know what else to add. in or out of context, this is incredibly disturbing - and that itās played as a self-aware quip from ice, even more so. the bond of wingmen goes both ways, and i just didnāt see thatā¦ if anything, that aspect leaned so heavily on the first film (the photo of them smiling at each other) that it just proves my point. it took iceās death for mav to get up off his ass and do something to keep his career afloat besides get a cop-out from the compacflt. ice in the first movie was a compelling antagonist and voice of reason - now heās mostly relegated to the role of babysitter, denying mavās character the growth of accountability by simply erasing his poor choices with a phone call.
itās why the darkstar scene pisses me off. to stop at mach 10 would have been fine, but to push it just for the sake of it is ridiculous. the fact that earlier mav states āi know what happens to everyone else if i donātā in regards to his decision only makes this screw-up more laughable, because to me itās the very contradiction of maverick: his intentions do not balance with his actions. costing the military millions of dollars in a few seconds somehow balances with his heartfelt desire to protect the interests of its workforce.
penny-
shortly before, during, and after this screenshot, i counted a total of 6 times that penny made it clear she would not appreciate mavās advances. regardless, mav goes on to say āyou look goodā. this flirtation happens before mav is even aware of her marital status, as he asks amelia āwhereās your dad?ā in a later sceneā¦ whichā¦ dear god.
penny also says āit always ends the same with us, so letās not start this timeā, indicating this is a repeated pattern in which her boundaries werenāt respected and moreover, the relationship ended up failing. yet this is framed as the main romance of tgm, a wonderful and nostalgic callback to the original that ends as stereotypically as possible.
i love penny. sheās witty, caring, independent, and of course stunning. so i find her treatment in tgm a disservice to what started out as a rich and compelling character. she later ends up mavās shoulder to cry on, more or less, comforting him after losing his wingman and his position as instructor. the song āhold my handā is thematically suited for penny, playing in the background at the bar and in the notes of the score during her scenes - even musically, she is turned into a source of consolation first, and her own woman second. sheās his prize at the end of the film, falling for the promise āiām never gonna leave you againā, which i donāt buy for a second. they fly into the sunset, presumably signifying a new horizon for their relationship - but i feel so dissatisfied with this arc for her and think she deserved much better.
that mav gets away with this behavior is something iād like to see more people reflect on. it seems to be a pattern with male protagonists, in which case the function of male and protagonist in hollywood cinema needs an examination.
carole-
top gun (1986):
this is an especially crude exploitation to me. not only is carole the one consoling a young maverick (if a full-fledged 24 year old can be called young, in light of the tendency people have to dismiss his choices in ā86) after his mistake costs her own husband his lifeā¦ but her stance, even following a tragedy of that magnitude, didnāt change. goose would have flown anyway, and she knows that well enough - on top of that, itās easy to see she would have supported him.
it came as a surprise to me that she wouldnāt in turn support her own son, who is clearly committed to a career as a pilot. in the end, i see a cheap narrative device that contradicts caroleās character, undermines her strength as a wife and mother, both in order to serve the interests of the plot. maverick in tgm needs a viable reason to hide a secret, to be tortured by his own consequences, to put further strain on his tension with bradley. there were plenty of other ways to do it, but the fact that it was this leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
charlie-
itās my understanding that tom cruiseās personal reason (his excuse) for not bringing back charlie was that he didnāt like how their relationship ended. if thereās any source confirming or denying this, iād appreciate a link.
anyways. yeah. this isā¦ a huge problem with hollywood at large, which kelly mcgillis understands, but iāll break it down. thereās a simpler reason this pisses me off more than anything. tgmās entire subject matter is about repairing relationships. penny benjamin was dredged out of obscurity to do it. maverick and roosterās grudge of 30+ years was used to do it. icemanās character, as warped as he feels, is another way the film made this its theme. but charlie is out of the question?
that val kilmer could be asked to return, and make an insane amount of money for each second heās on screen, but such an opportunity is never given to kelly mcgillis, who herself centers on the 1986 poster, speaks volumes to me. tom cruise even planted his foot when it came to reprising iceman, saying he wouldnāt do this movie without val in it.
itās worth mentioning that viper and slider were also present at iceās funeral, but this scene was cut out. for a film thatās quite heavy-handed with its nostalgic callbacks, this was an odd decision. until realizing, as my friend put it, that even iceās death couldnāt be about him, whether it had brought in his own teacher or his rio - his goose. it had to revolve around mav, to catalyze a turning point for him in the plot.
alsoā¦ a shoutout to the erasure of sarah kazansky, pretty much everywhere. that also tells me a lot.
ā¦
this was just a dissection of the various character portrayals (or absences) in tgm that have bothered me since forever. this isnāt even going into how tgm accomplishes everything that propaganda sets out to do. combinations of stunning visuals, soaring music composed by masters like hans zimmer, the charismatic power of a cast packed with starsā¦ all play a role in the blinding awesomeness of tgm, which has taken me this long to break away from.
consider the white/poc duos in the film: maverick and hondo, hangman and coyote, cyclone and warlock. who has more lines? who plays a greater role? why is that?
i donāt see this as real diversity. it masquerades as inclusion, which i find worse. and to cast an actor of asian descent, and give him the callsign yale? ā¦ wow.
framing is powerful. its influence in cinematography is unmatched. a story is being constructed and told not only through dialogue, but sound, visuals, editingā¦ really, nothing can be dismissed as insignificant. iām not asking for a scholarly interrogation of all media you consume, though, that would be so excellent, and so healthyā¦ but i am trying to raise these questions in the community, of what gets lost when a main character is so overwhelmingly main. when someone like tc has so much control over the decision-making process, since itās sort of a running joke that maverick is a tc self-insert. my focus isnāt the inclusions, but the exclusions.
and finally, since iāve unfortunately spent a lot of life writing this postā¦ itās interesting to me that many viewers in hindsight seem to see top gun 1986 so differently. as kids, they sided with mav over the antagonist. an older audience returning to the first film now seem to side with iceman, seeing him as the rational one attempting to raise important points. i wonder if this will be the case with top gun: maverick in the future. in which case, iām excited to see more cyclone fans. heās my favorite characterā¦ unsurprisingly.
oh. one last thing.
āthe man, the myth, the legendā ā¦ the word myth has two meanings:
ā¦
happy reading.
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Unstoppable force vs immovable object my want to talk about my AUs VS. I DONT WANNA SPOIL
Anyways whatever heres the pitch. Eye!Melanie and Stranger!Elias. Melanie and Elias' vibes are absolutely IMMACULATE methinks. Anyways they're siblings. Or were. In the 1800's. Both have been body hopping since then. They get together every 20 or so years and terrorise the populace.
Role reversal hhhhng.... Melanie founded the Institute for the Eye. The current Archivist? Sasha James no shut up it works. Sasha has been at it for too long and has seen too much to get tricked into being marked. Melanie has to find someone else to take the marks. Enters Annabelle Cane. Naive, marked by the Web, just joined the institute. Woah. Melanie now has to dispose of Sasha to get her new, better shiny archivist in place. Sasha will not fucking die.
The AU is named Stranger Danger
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