shoutout to those already struggling within the first days of the new year. this does NOT dictate on how your year is going to be. stuff you're going through may not disappear overnight and that's normal. you'll get there and what's important is that you take it easy

I don't understand how gow youtubers that post these “whAt iS gOiNg to HaPpEn iN tHe NexT gAmE???” vids just completely ignore Atreus. They are even more in denial about Kratos stepping down from the mc role than me about Heimdall kicking the bucket, it’s crazy. That one guy deadass went “Well maybe Atreus will die and that will lead to Kratos going to another pantheon” MISS MA’AM ATREUS HAS BEEN SET UP TO GO ON THE JOURNEY TO A DIFFERENT LAND WHILE KRATOS IS HELPING SETTLE THE MATTERS IN THE 9 REALMS??

Cannot fucking believe that HBO Max cancelled S3 of OFMD but is fully planning to make a second season of TLOU based on part II like how can you throw away such a good story then turn around and pledge so much to a bad one 😭

WHERE ARE HER EYES

AND ANOTHER THING about barbie classification is that it is so personal!! someone who is a barbie to me may be a ken to you. we are reading the subtext through a different lens you have the red half of the 3d glasses and i have the blue and we are both reading the same thing but I'm seeing barbie and you're not. and that's okay. bc i wouldn't expect you to see the same thing as me through a different lens. please stop yelling at me about Marceline

Shamelessly piggybacking off of this post...

Once you start trying to see the uncomfortable, ugly, difficult, visceral stuff as something that isn't inherently unnecessary and to be avoided... the way you interact with art blooms in wonderful ways.

From art that infuriates, to films that hurt, to suffocating darkfic... There is art that needs you to feel bad about it. You can't understand it unless you can feel bad about it and not stop there. The feeling bad is part of the message that the art is trying to convey. If you can't feel bad about a piece of art without running away, you are missing so much. And what you're missing is meaningful.

I'm absolutely not a believer, but Immersion (Piss Christ) is one of my favorite pieces. It's a photo of a small plastic crucifix in a glass container of urine. It's colorful, surreal, and beautiful. It's challenging. It calls forth so much truth about conviction and divinity and modern cultural Christianity. If I were a believer, I would keep a copy in my wallet to remind me.

And ppl who can't stand to feel bad about it hate it so much.

It's gross. Urine is gross. We don't like gross things associated with ppl we hold in high regard, let alone our gods or prophets. It's such a familiar icon. One that many wear and hang on their walls with pride. And it's completely surrounded by something gross. That's uncomfortable.

For ppl who can't feel bad, that's it. That's all it is. Discomfort. The piece is asking questions that they can't hear bc they feel bad and run away. Until they're able to sit in the discomfort and listen, they won't experience the piece.

I'm not saying everyone has to love that photograph. I'm saying that it's important to be able to engage with art that isn't sweet and pleasant. There's value in seeing discomfort as something to get your attention and prompt investigation, not something to be avoided at all costs. Bc it does cost.

:)

i got rickrolled today but it didn't work because i have adblocker installed, so youtube just told me i violated the terms of service. yesterday i was trying to edit a picture as a joke for my girlfriend, and google made me check a box to prove i'm human because i wasn't "searching normally".

it isn't just that capitalism is killing fun and whimsy, it is that any element of entertainment or joy is being fed upon by this mosquito body, one that will suck you dry at any vulnerability.

do you want to meet new friends in your city? download this app, visit our website, sign up for our email list. pay for this class on making a terrarium, on candlemaking, on cooking. it will be 90 dollars a session. you can go to group fitness, but only under our specific gym membership. solve the puzzle, sign up for our puzzle-of-the-month-club. what is a club if not just a paid opportunity - you are all paying for the same thing, which makes you a community.

but you're like me, i know it - you're careful, you try the library meetings and the stuff at the local school and all of that. the problem is that you kind of want really specific opportunities that used to exist. you are so grateful for libraries and the publicly-funded things: they are, however, an exception - and everything they have, they've fought tooth-and-nail to protect. you read a headline about how in many other states, libraries have virtually nothing left.

do you want to meet up with your friends afterwards? gift your friends the discord app. you can choose to go to a cafe (buy a coffee, at least), a bar (money, alcohol) or you can all stay in and catch a movie (streaming) or you can all stay in bed (rent. don't get me started) and scream (noise complaint. ticket at least).

you want to read a new book, but the book has to have 124 buzzwords from tiktok readers that are, like, weirdly horny. you can purchase this audiobook on audible! your podcast isn't on spotify, it's on its own server, pay for a different site. fuck, at least you're supporting artists you like. the art museum just raised their ticket price. once, they had a temporary exhibit that acknowledged that ~85% of their permanent art galleries were from cis white men, and that they had thousands of works by women (even famous women, like frida! georgia o'keefe!) just rotting in their basement. that exhibit lasted for 3 months and then they put everything away again.

walmart proudly supports this strip of land by the street! here are some flowers with wilting leaves. its employees have to pay out-of-pocket for their uniforms. my friend once got fined by the city because she organized a community pick-up of the riverfront, which was technically private property.

no, you cannot afford to take that dance class, neither can i. by the way - i'm a teacher. i'm absolutely not saying "educators shouldn't be paid fairly." i'm saying that when i taught classes, renting a studio went from 20 bucks an hour to 180 in the span of 6 months. no significant changes to the studio were made, except they now list the place as updated and friendly. the heat still doesn't work in the building. i have literally never seen the landlord who ignores my emails. recently they've been renting it out at night as an "unusual nightclub; a once-in-a-lifetime close-knit party." they spent some of those 180 dollars on LEDs and called it renovating. the high heels they invite in have been ruining the marley.

do you want to experience the old internet? do you want to play flash games or get back the temporary joy of club penguin? you can, you just need to pay for it. i have a weird, neurodivergent obsession with occasionally checking in to watch the downfall and NFT-ification of neopets. if i'm honest with you all - i never got into webkins, my family didn't have the money to buy me a pointless elephant. people forget that "being poor" can mean literally "if i buy you that toy, i can't afford rent."

you and i don't have time to make good food, and we don't have the budget for it. we are not gonna be able to host dinner parties, we're not made of money, kid. do you want some kind of 3rd space? a space that isn't home or work or school? you could try being online, but - what places actually exist for you? tiktok counts as social media because you see other people on it, not because they actually talk to you.

there was a local winter tradition of sledding down the hill at my school. kids would use pizza boxes and jackets and whatever worked, howling and laughing. back in september, they made a big announcement that this time, rules were changing, and everyone must pay 10 dollars to participate. when im not scared shitless, i kind of appreciate the environmental irony - it hasn't gone below 40. so much for snow & joyriding.

i saw a bulletin for a local dogwalking group and, nervous about making a good first impression, showed up early. the first guy there grimaced at me. "sorry," he said. "there's a 30-dollar buy-in fee." i thought he was joking. wait. for what? the group doesn't offer anything except friendship and people with whom to walk around the city.

he didn't know the answer. just shrugged at me. "you know," he said. "these days, everything costs money."

sorry bro i lost focus and forgot where u begin and i end i hope nothing gay happened

"please be patient with me not so long ago i was just a monkey" should always be an acceptable answer when failing at simple tasks. or any tasks

🗣️ huh?? what do you mean I haven’t posted any Link signing propaganda yet??

calling my lover "mine" but not in the way that my toothbrush or notebook are mine, mine in the way my neighborhood is mine, and also everybody else's, "mine" like mine to tend to, mine to care for, mine to love. "mine" not like possession but devotion.

tfw you’ve been tasked to murder the prince of the northern water tribe but he’s really majestic

(they make a compromise)

when we’re done with our overwhelming grief we’ll eat i guess

Undyne tries to be a good lab partner to Alphys but then Frisk shows up with some newfound skills 🐟🦖 Made with Blender!

| Music: [Track 1] [Track 2] | Watch on Youtube |