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Exactly.

If you have to tell me how 'strong and 'feisty' you are. Then very often I'll end up seeing signs of how insecure you actually are.

The strongest people I know are the ones just getting on with it. They also tend to be quite upfront about their struggles, but simply because they're human and struggles are normal. They don't play the victim.

It's the same with flouting virtue.

Yes. There are people doing the most heinous things.

But if your idea of a fitting response is 'punching' etc.

Then I'm not impressed. You're not behaving any better than they are.

The 'Punch a Nazi' crowd is a perfect example.

Nazis have bad ideas, darn right they do.

So fight them with better ideas.

Let their views be aired in the open, don't let them hide what they are.

Show how their ideas compare against better ideas.

If someone punches you, or someone weaker. Then OK. I perfectly understand if you punch back. In fact I'll cheer you on.

But punch a person simply for having bad ideas, and you're no better than they are.

A Mindless Thug.

Again and again I am forced, quite against my will, to be reminded by the simple truth of:

If you're the person telling everyone you are good, moral, and righteous, it is very unlikely you are even one of those three traits.

And far more likely that you are complicit in, support, or outright enact evil, immoral, and unjustifiable acts against people for your own self-glorification.

And don't start with that 'All my foes are like that so *I* am the good one when..' bullshit, because nothing works that way. You are not good just because your foes are evil, this is not a cartoon and you don't become team hero by default of fighting team evil. You can be just as fucking evil as those you hate. Especially when the main difference between you and them is what you desire to achieve, not the methods you choose to enact those goals.

Hell, you can be even MORE evil than your foes, because you choose to go even further down the unrighteous path in your 'retaliation'.

You might believe that anything is justified for the 'righteous cause' but no fucko, it's not.

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rosiewitchescottage · 2 hours

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Labour is going to win the general election and then say this doesn’t go far enough.

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Of course.

Mental Health Issues can affect anyone and everyone.

Reblog if you believe men’s mental health needs to be taken more seriously

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rosiewitchescottage · 2 hours

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Actually a very good point. 👍👍👍👍👍

I don't doubt that these reproductive health disorders are complex.

But, surely, if they need studying to find treatments, shouldn't more money be going there, than into the 'cosmetic' stuff? 😳

wild how like PCOS, endometriosis, vaginismus & hell, even frequent yeast infections are “mysterious” with no well known cause and little to no decent treatment, but we have tons of supposedly well researched body fat removal methods, about 20 different kinds of breast implants, laser hair removal, and 100 different dermatologist recommended anti aging creams. we sure had the money and brainpower to cure those “diseases”

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rosiewitchescottage · 2 hours

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“Leave it to God”

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Looks intriguing. 😋😋😋

Why should a burger always have to look and taste the same?

Variety's good.

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rosiewitchescottage · 2 hours

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Every time I read or watch Lord of the Rings I can’t help but think about how Tolkien had survived one of the bloodiest, most cruel, most dirtiest and darkest wars in human history, came back and wrote this:

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

And this:

"'I wish it need not have happened in my time,' said Frodo.

'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.'"

And this:

"I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend."

And this:

“Many that live deserve death and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be so eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the wise cannot see all ends."

And this:

“True courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one.”

And clearly they were all written partly because he survived the war, because of what he’d seen and done and learned. But at the same time the unwillingness to lose faith, the courage and strength that this man had to believe in these things after going through hell! It makes the nihilists look so cheap, so uninteresting! People who’ve went through concentration camps and wars believe in humanity anyway, isn’t that proof that hope and love exist? And many, many, many of them did not return or returned broken and cruel and traumatised to the point when no faith in others was possible for them, and nobody can blame them. But there were many who refused to lose faith and hope. They have seen some of the worst that life has to offer and came back believing that we shouldn’t be eager to deal out death in judgement and should love only that which the sword defends.

No matter how many people say that humanity is horrible and undeserving of love, and life is dark and worthless, and love doesn’t exist I remember this and have hope anyway. Because there were people who have actually had all reason to believe in the worst and still believed in the good, so the good must be real. The good is real, even despite the evil, and we must trust in it.

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I'm waiting in line to borrow an audio book of Diana Wynne-Jones story, on which this is based.

Meanwhile. I'm listening to another of her tales 'Castles in the Air'.

And I'm loving it!

Not, as I thought, the Studio Ghibli movie, of a similar name.

This is quite different.

Think 1001 Nights influence.

Abdullah sells carpets from a booth in the market.

Not the most worldly of businessmen.

He sleeps in his booth, day dreams and aside from keeping himself fed, he ploughs most of what he makes back into new stock.

His relations aren't impressed.

Then one day, a mysterious merchant offers him a threadbare old rug, that he claims is a magic carpet.

A heart's a heavy burden. HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE | 2004

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Unveil the mesmerizing "Carpet Field" in Antalya, Turkey, where summer transforms wheat fields into a vibrant tapestry of handmade carpets.

As the sun blazes, hundreds of acres are adorned with carpets woven with intricate patterns and bold hues. These works of art are not mere decorations but symbols of heritage and skilled craftsmanship.

For days, the carpets bask under the sun's embrace, undergoing a remarkable metamorphosis. Harmful bacteria and insects vanish, while the colors subtly shift, blossoming into soft, pastel tones that shimmer like a desert sunrise.

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DONATIONS URGENTLY NEEDED. KINDLY DONATE IF YOU CAN, SHARE IF YOU CAN'T AND IGNORE IF YOU ARE NOT READY TO SUPPORT!!!

Hello, I'm from Gaza City because of the war,my house was destroyed. We lost everything,my family and I did not have anything left. We left our homes in search of a safe place and we were displaced three times to different places to survive, but unfortunately there's no safe place in Gaza. My mother is very sick and she's a kidney failure patient in need of treatment outside. She suffers from LS. Help me and my family to survive. Please, your small donation can make a huge difference. A friend outside Gaza has come in to help me run the donation program so that my mother can be evacuated.

GOAL: 1500

Update:$1389/$1500

Click here to donate and share

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rosiewitchescottage · 19 hours

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ODED FEHR as Ardeth Bay The Mummy Returns (2001) dir. Stephen Sommers

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Marilyn Monroe, the quiet fighter

What strikes me in the general perception of Marilyn as an individual is how quickly it tends to lean towards this tragic, helpless figure who ended her life after years of addiction to pills or worse, a victim of some complex political conspiracy and who had to be eliminated for whatever reason (I shan’t get into this because… well it’s simply BS).

It bothers me for several reasons. Firstly because the few who were close to Marilyn have painted a very different image of her.

Arthur Miller talked about the darkness in her but he also underlined the fact that Marilyn was a fighter: “The struggle was valiant. She was a very courageous human being. She didn’t give up until the end.”(x)

Yes, Susan Strasberg can be quoted saying “Marilyn got the blues more than anyone I know”. And there is truth in this. Marilyn was known for bouts of severe depression and had attempted suicide in the past. But the context of it is often overlooked. These attempts were usually made during very distressing times in her life, notably a miscarriage. While this indeed contributes to her being perceived as someone who was chronically unhappy, this (sadly) hardly makes her exceptional as a person.

But most importantly, going through this does not make anyone tragic, helpless or weak. If anything this would suggest that strength is an absolute concept and independent of personal circumstances, which it is not.

Secondly, what is also usually highlighted in Marilyn’s life is her childhood spent in no less than 10 different foster homes and orphanage. But if you listen to the excellent 1960 interview tape where she talks about those places, it is hardly a call for sympathy that she gives. What is however never mentioned by her is the abuse she very likely suffered during this time. The traumas of her youth obviously affected her but let’s not forget that Marilyn constantly sought to improve herself. She was always reading and trying to learn about new topics. And just like she took acting, dance and singing classes, she also confronted her demons in therapy. Perhaps the debatable success of those sessions should be blamed on the infancy of psychiatry and analysis at the time, and not on the resolve of Marilyn…

Marilyn bravely exposed her traumas in therapy like she challenged herself as an actress, giving up what would have been an easy LA career to measure herself against the best at the Actors Studio in New York. She started her career being dropped by her studio, she was left on the cutting room floor of her first film, she was outrageously underpaid most of her career… but Marilyn worked and fought hard to change her fate.

Marilyn suffered from many setbacks in life, on top of being dealt a pretty terrible hand to begin with. She had to fight harder and play tougher than the vast majority of people in the business, but a victim she would never have accepted to be. Marilyn strived to become a better actress, an emotionally stable individual.

Amy Greene puts it perhaps more explicitly: “She wasn’t a victim. I hate when people describe her as a victim. She was a young woman that was a sponge who wanted life to come in and show her what she had to do. She was ready for anything. That’s why she had such a great sense of humor. And she lived every day in the present.” (x)

She did not want to become a victim of her own life and she would refuse to be remembered as such.

So here’s to Marilyn Monroe, the quiet fighter.

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rosiewitchescottage · 19 hours

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Oscar Wilde

And alien tears will fill for him Pity's long-broken urn, For his mourners will be outcast men, And outcasts always mourn.

-Wilde's epitaph, from The Ballad of Reading Gaol

[Wilde in 1882]

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish poet, playwright, and novelist. A celebrity by modern-day standards, Wilde was a philosophical aestheticist and a flamboyantly gay society man.

Born in Dublin to an Irish nationalist poet mother and successful Irish physician father, Oscar was a middle child. Perhaps this explains everything.

In 1871, Wilde began his time at Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied classics and began making friends with other great authors and scholars. Here, he quickly made waves socially and excelled academically, and successfully joined Magdalen College, Oxford. He joined the Masons and began his involvement in the aesthetic and decadent movements. He began to live in a somewhat gender non-conforming way and graduated with a double first (the highest score) in his Bachelor's.

After his education, he began adult life as a single boarder, writing and speaking. His reviews were mixed. He was popular--a four-month tour had to be extended to a year because it sold out--and criticised--the press accused him of being an attention-seeker and a bad influence.

[Wilde in 1889]

Wilde also got married. While today he's usually called a gay man, he certainly spent time with ladies. He had a childhood sweetheart, Miss. Florence Balcombe (who married Bram Stoker, the man who wrote Dracula) and married Constance Lloyd, with whom he had two children. His first certain experience with men was Robert Ross, a 17-year-old who apparently seduced Wilde.

Wilde began a career through the entirety of the written word--magazines, short fiction, editorship, journalism, and essays. In 1890, the first version of The Picture of Dorian Gray was published. What would become a renowned novel, Dorian Gray was immediately criticized for, among other things, its clear allusions to homosexuality.

Wilde began his career as a playwright, most notably with Salome, and his satires of society, which we popular but controversial for their social message. He had sex and relationships with more men, including Reverend Canon John Gray, Lord Alfred Douglas, and numerous young rent boys. It was here that Wilde wrote The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde's most famous piece. Like many others, it involved switched identities and hiding the self from society--themes that resonate with queer audiences.

However, Lord Alfred Douglas' father, the Marquess of Queensberry had been getting mad about Wilde's dalliances with his son, as well as Wilde's relative indiscretion about such things. Their feud began to quickly escalate.

[Oscar Wilde Memorial Sculpture in Dublin, Ireland by Danny Osborne]

Queensberry accused Wilde of sodomy, Wilde accused Queensberry of libel (public lying to hurt someone's reputation). As a defence. Queensberry's lawyers had to prove the sodomy accusation was true. It was this investigation that uncovered scores of evidence--Wilde had been neither moderate nor discreet in his actions throughout his life.

Wilde was arrested, many of his lovers (whoseli actions were also made public in the trial) fled to France. There were multiple trials, and in the final one, Wilde was sentenced to two years' hard labour. Wilde was made ill by the hard work and poor treatment.

Wilde was released after his two years and died three years after. Those three years were spent in France, advocating penal reform, trying to join a Catholic retreat (and being denied), and wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol about his experiences in prison.

Wilde was buried outside Paris, but his remains have since been moved to inside the city. His tomb also contains the ashes of his lover, Robert Ross.

In 2017, Wilde received a posthumous pardon for his homosexual acts under what is informally known as the Alan Turing Law.

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rosiewitchescottage · 19 hours

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👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

How to romanticize life

Perhaps that has been talked about before (it certainly has been talked about before, but I’ve never seen it implemented towards a romanticization of life specifically).

This thought started once upon a time, when I was seeing many of those posts talking about how to romanticize life, especially when it was not romantic at all to begin with. The thing with these posts that I’ve seen (not a problem, just an observation) is that all of them talk about specific images of romance, rather than talk about how to achieve these. For example, one would talk about “strolling down a wooden area” or “wearing a specific ensemble”, but from my own experience, these actions alone are not enough to properly romanticize one’s life.

And then, after I enjoyed a particularly romantic moment myself (doing the dishes, of all things!), I sat down and wrote about it, wondering why this specific activity (which I usually find myself indifferent to) brought upon me those feelings. And then, it dawned on me.

To romanticize one’s life, it is not about a specific activity, but about the grace, the elegance, we put in any activity we do.

It is about being mindful of the action itself. About deliberate movements we do to achieve that elegance. And, at the root of it all, it is about being in the present.

Elegance is rarely achieved naturally. It is true, some people might appear to us elegant by nature, because of how they talk, how they walk, how they hold themselves, but mostly, elegance is a choice. And it comes in two easy steps.

1. Posture.

When someone brings about the image of a long commute on the bus and how wretched that makes one feels (I know, this is a time of pandemic, we avoid the bus when we can, but for the sake of the experiment, let us imagine). It requires a simple shift in posture, to elongate one’s body against the back of the seat, to bring the head a little higher, and to hold onto a phone or a book with care, as if the item is precious (as it should be). And suddenly, the ride becomes romantic. Because, at that moment, your brain shifts from your thoughts (about the ride) to your body. Take a moment to appreciate the fact that your body is now talking to you in places you usually ignore it and look out the window. You are now in a period drama.

2. Slowing down.

One particular movement I can think of that brings about either indifference or complete hatred is this one: putting on a mask before going out/going in a closed space. Well, even that singular moment can become elegant, therefore romantic, with this simple step: when one slows down their movement to put it on. It takes just a couple of seconds, no more than usual, but it demands an attention turned towards the body rather than the mind. Feeling each fingers stretching with the elastic going around the ears, softly pulling the fabric above the nose and under the chin, making those last adjustments before going in. The whole thing takes around 3 seconds. But your brain, in those 3 seconds, is able to override any thoughts you might have had then, and focused on those movements. Take a moment to appreciate hearing your body where you thought it was once quiet. The period drama you are in has multiple episodes.

There are plenty of other small ways to bring more elegance (and romanticism) in one’s life. Taking the time to pronounce our words better, reading a book and clearly hearing all the words in our head, carefully selecting which clothes to wear and feeling their material on the tips of our fingers, choosing a style of writing that is more polished than usual, no matter the language (which I did at the beginning of this post, to prove a point - writing a post on Tumblr is far from romantic, but I made it happen for me anyway and then I got bored because I’m only human and I can romanticize things only up to a point). It does not matter where you are, how much you have, the style you prefer to walk around. It is all about taking the time to feel those actions in our bodies.

Romanticizing life is akin to a meditation. For people who do not like meditating. Think about those period dramas you like (c-dramas count, they’re just as aesthetically pleasing!), think about those youtube video you can’t stop watching (thinking of Bernadette Banner here, as well as Liziqi). They all have that in common. They show us deliberate, carefully chosen images, and those images have a proper posture (no shaky cam) and every movement look somewhat slower so we can properly see what is happening on the screen.

Of course, it is entirely possible to romanticize our lives in retrospect. To think about our week and see all those times life has been romantic, despite us not trying. But true romanticism is lived in the moment. So enjoy it as it lasts.

TL;DR To romanticize something is not about doing certain activities. It is about being present in any actions we take. It is about mindfulness. It is a form of meditation for those who do not like meditating. Being in the body rather than in the mind. As romantic and pleasing as images and ideas are, it really is through the body that we experience the feeling of romanticism.

Now, go forth, and feel the romanticism of your life as it is.

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rosiewitchescottage · 19 hours

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Inktober 2021: Part (1/5)

Ongoing Illustrations of "Howl's Moving Castle" by Diana Wynne Jones.

I took a Goliath project this year and I'm glad I'm close to finishing it.

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