i think my problem with the particularly lib solutions to climate change is that they're so lazy yet convoluted and ultimately just ... bad

cars emit carbon fumes. so we will create a bunch of electric cars instead which are made of batteries made from slave labour minerals and wear down the roads much quicker and catch fire and explode a lot. instead of just investing in more bike & public transportation and carbon recapture schemes to make up for car emissions

cows produce methane gas. so we are going to try to completely shift away from animal proteins, push crops grown by third world slaves, and try to make fake meat and bug protein a "viable option". instead of just banning factory farming and supporting a greater number of local farm communities that desperately need it

coal and oil aren't renewable energy sources. so we are going to set aside miles and miles of land for solar and wind farms which require massive amounts of upkeep and will eventually break at which point the materials are garbage and we have to start all over again, wasting valuable earth minerals. instead of just investing in nuclear energy, incredibly clean and very very long term

i'm sure i don't need to go on

they claim to be the "progressive" party but they are not. they are not progressing society, and they are not supporting the downtrodden. none of their solutions to climate change, or the myriad other problems we face in the modern day, prioritize uplifting communities that have been left behind, nor investing in (good, beneficial) technological advancements. they willfully ignore any new tech that is counter to the aesthetics of their movement, and only seek to give meagre support to the communities that blindly follow them. it's outrageous and frankly pathetic

the fellowship in a college dorm

a/n.... uhhHHH this is a thing..... i have nothing to say in my defense. have fun 💛

warnings: mentions of alcohol and weed i guess? but literally just mentions.

Aragorn + Boromir: they actually bicker a surprising amount, but they’re the only ones allowed to talk shit about each other // every other night they accidentally end up talking until like 2 a.m. and having a heart-to-heart // neither of them likes cleaning but they will definitely grumpily do it when it’s their turn // Aragorn makes tea a lot and he has a collection with various tea flavors // also he is outside a lot so he isn’t even in the room that much and on the outside Boromir is like hell yes 😎😏 but actually he’s like 😔😔😔 // Boromir wants to have a pet but it’s not allowed so he feeds birds or stray cats outside // Aragorn will eat whatever is in the fridge, no matter how old, and miraculously never get sick // Boromir’s guilty pleasure are long showers // Faramir is the lil brother who studies abroad but likes to come visit and then he crashes in their room but he lowkey hates the mess and he gives the room a deep clean every single time // in return Boromir and Aragorn take him to cool places and buy him food and they act responsible when Faramir gets wasted (he is a total lightweight) // their room is right underneath Merry and Pippin and they often wonder WHAT is happening upstairs🤨 // generally they’re very decent neighbors to have except for when Faramir comes to visit, then they get up to shenanigans because they wanna be those Super Cool Big Brothers who do all sorts of “forbidden” things with the lil bro and living it up 🤪// surprisingly (or not??) Boromir is the one who always organizes things like ‘the secret santa’ for the dorm squad also he is the designated “bring the bluetooth speaker” guy // Aragorn likes to make and build DIY stuff + Boromir is prone to accidentally breaking things = bad combo // however it will usually get smoothed over with a beer or two, which is usually how they solve their lil conflicts 🍻

Legolas + Gimli: the LIGHTEST sleeper sharing a dorm with the one who snores like a truck and cannot be woken up, if not by a nuclear attack // Legolas immediately invested in ear plugs and he just lays down looking at the ceiling for hours on end while Gimli happily sleeps // Legolas tries to have aesthetically pleasing decorations and he definitely has quite a few plants on his side of the room, but he really. loves. stickers. so his aesthetic goes out the window pretty quickly, and suddenly there’s stickers everywhere // Gimli has posters of like, rock and metal bands on the walls and one pinboard dedicated exclusively to concert & festival tickets // he also likes to play loud music with open windows and sometimes Legolas wants to STRANGLE him, but eventually he realizes he will miss it when the semester is over (and he will miss the snoring too)  🥺🥺🥺// strands of fallen hair everywhere. everywhere. // also both of them have lots of hair products, but obviously for very different hair types so… chaos ensues if they accidentally switch them (accidentally? Merry and Pippin have entered the chat.👀) // Gimli eats all of Legolas’ leftovers // Legolas 100% asks super weird questions at like 3 in the morning and he most definitely has a 13 step skincare routine // once he was doing skincare in the middle of the night, because he can study well at night and then he needs to unwind, and fsr Gimli woke up and was scared shitless by Legolas in a face mask // Legolas lounges around in tights and always ALWAYS has a witty comment for any situation or person // out of everyone, they’re the pair of roommates with the biggest differences, but they bully each other affectionately the most and they bond A LOT over secretly talking shit about others; however, nobody else in the 500 mile radius isn’t allowed to say a single bad thing about their friends // Gimli will drink straight outta the carton/bottle/whatever, while Legolas uses fancy thrifted champagne glasses to drink WATER✨

Merry + Pippin: their room is the designated hangout place // more often than not there’s at least one more person in the room just chilling // also they got The Weed…so maybe that’s why?? ☘️☘️ // literally never a quiet moment // the room is a mess but it’s never dirty! it’s just organized chaos and both of them always know where everything is // posters, random trinkets, a collection of random bottle caps or something like that // Merry has fairy lights and quite a few books and he’s used to completely tuning out Pippin’s random rambling while reading/studying // Pippin sings in the shower (basically canon actually) and loses track of time and suddenly the whole floor is complaining about not having warm water // they go over to hang with Boromir when Aragorn is off to who knows where // they wear each other’s clothes almost always and have a pretty much shared wardrobe at this point // accidentally almost burned down or flooded the room more than once but they REALLY like scented candles!! // Merry has some miserable old acoustic guitar and thinks he is A Musician and Songwriter™ (everyone except Sam is like no <3) // pre-drinks before going out are ALWAYS in their room and then others accidentally leave some of their stuff there; the following week Pippin just appears in a band tshirt (of a band he doesn’t even know) that might have belonged to Gimli at some point… 🤫// when Pippin talks gibberish in his sleep, Merry records it and plays it during hangouts // Merry, Frodo and Legolas have a mini book club but a wildly different taste in books // when Pippin goes to someone else’s room, he will point at things on the shelves/walls and ask a hundred ‘and where’s that from’s’ 👀// so many times something (better than someone!) accidentally fell through the window and then Aragorn or Boromir caught it downstairs // they would really like a pet but they can’t so once Pippin caught a butterfly in a jar as a pet substitute, but felt too bad and released it almost immediately🥺 // Merry likes to play therapist for others but… take his advice at your own risk

Frodo + Sam: literally the quietest room ever, others sometimes wonder if they’re alive // of course Sam has as many plants on the windowsill as possible // Frodo has a nice little book collection and some old maps as wall decor and also he likes collecting nice stuff like postcards or magnets  // they have an air humidifier and scented candles and it’s the coziest room for sleeping 😌😌😌// so their friends will gladly crash there for a nap, especially after an exam or a party // also they have some nice herbal soaps // obligatory classical/instrumental music for studying // Sam obviously uses the common kitchen the most, and he always makes too much of everything and then feeds his friends, and even leaves some leftovers in the kitchen so that others from the building can freely take it 💖// Sam and Aragorn are those that are called when something needs a quick fix, like a leaking tap in the bathroom or sth // Frodo is one of those people that are like, resident advice giver, but Legolas is surprisingly nosy?? so he will just drop by (with an obligatory snack) to listen to whoever is spilling their woes to Frodo // neither Sam nor Frodo really have the heart to yell at Merry and Pippin when they’re being too wild, but ONCE it was just too much and it was during exam season, and they enlisted Gimli to help them pull a prank in which he pretended to be a security guard threatening to throw out Merry and Pippin 😈// Gimli has a really soft spot for these two idk, he’ll be like “if anyone EVER bullies you-” // Sam falls fatally in love with someone every other week and he will literally sit by the window and sigh and stare into the distance while Frodo is trying not to die laughing // they have a little projector that they bring for movie nights // Frodo made a groupchat for all of them… resulting in even more tomfoolery <3

-

i’ll be sappy for a moment and say i’m grateful for all the fun and crazy times i’ve had in my dorm life... it’s been good thanks 4 everything 🥰

✨ taglist my beloved ✨ @lotrnonsense​​​​​​ @starlady66​​​​​​ @queenmeriadoc​​ @entishramblings​​​​​​ @thesolarangel​​​​​​ @silversword7000​​​​​​ @friendofthefellowshipsnerdblog​​​​​​ @averys-place​​​​​​ @valkyriepirate​​​​​​ @emmaarenstarr​​​​​​ @noldorinpainter​​​​​​ @asianbutnotjapanese​​​​​​ @adamgetawaydriver​​​​​​ @fenharel-enaste​​​​​​ @ironmandeficiency​​​​​​      @starryeyedrogue​​ @dinofromspac3​​  @wisheduponastar​ @lady-of-imladris​ @frodo-cinnamonroll​  (i sincerely apologize for putting you through this)

As much as I don't wanna take away from the 50's aesthetic of Fallout, a part of me wonders if any other country did progress past that era, mostly for the music and cultural movements. Like, how do we know the UK wasn't in a 70's hippie and/or 80's punk reminiscent era?

Sometimes I get this little headcanon that a lot of the same songs and music genres that came out of like the 50's-90's, perhaps even to the 2010's, still exist in the Fallout universe. Maybe not every artist, understandably, but a few? But the reason that there's only 50's music is that at some point a few decades before the Great War, America quietly and gradually banned the majority of music genres and songs because they didn't fit into the 'Clean, good, family-friendly' American culture they wanted. Also, it was a move the government made to control the populace. Take away art and music and things that could add to the already existent tensions due to the Resource Wars and such, and there are fewer things to stir the pot. If people aren't inspired by music and its influence, then maybe they won't be influenced to make a stand. It was a way to control them and keep them peaceful. Bring in more songs about love from the 50's, and people start settling down like in the 50's. Want people to embrace nuclear energy and robots, even if they're potentially a radiation risk? Atom bomb, baby! Have a few party songs, a few innuendo-filled songs (The Wanderer, Rocket 69), and one or two slightly political ones (Anything Goes), and they still think they have a choice.

The reason there's only a few songs in the games isn't just because they're the ones that survived the bombs, it's also because they're the ones deemed acceptable by the government and the rest were already destroyed. When I do think about this stuff, I always imagine people smuggling holotapes of music into the US.

Maybe Sole had a couple pirated holotapes? Maybe they never will again and that sucks. The 'Wealth might not even know there's other music. Perhaps Daisy heard some? Perhaps they try to remind one another how a particular song went, or what the missing lyric they can't recall is. They bond over hating the limited amount of songs now compared to what it was. It was bad enough when the US government discreetly banned ABBA, but now there's nothing. If Sole has to hear one of those songs again and nothing else, they'll go storming old recording studios and illegal Pre-War clubs themselves to find other music.

What I'm saying is, I would find it funny if the US is stuck listening to the same 40 songs, whilst people in other countries could be popping everything they have to Dancing Queen or Barbie Girl.

I like the mental image of someone fighting for their life against raiders to Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, or fighting glowing rats to Toxic by Britney Spears. What if Fallout-verse Taylor Swift is like 90-something when the bombs drop, and is now roaming the Wastes as a Little Old Lady Ghoul and the locals dub her as 'Granny/Grandma Ghoul'.

/Joke/Shitpost/

This is a Side Order aesthetic appreciation post

Spoilers, obviously.

The visuals in Side Order are so freaking good, you guys. On the surface, everything looks extremely bright, white and sterile. But then there are so many details based around ecological disasters.

There's bleached coral outside the spire:

The Jelletons are fish skeletons with creepy dead eyes that swarm you like a mindless zombie horde, but most importantly they drip black ink that looks like an oil spill:

Not only that but their skeletons aren't made of bones. They're mostly made of plastic, which isn't biodegradable:

And then there's Overlorder, which is an octopus-shaped mass of black ink/oil with a bunch of trash floating inside it that kinda resembles a face. A big glob of trash not unlike the Great Pacific Garbage Patch:

(This is one of the least gross pics of the garbage patch I could find btw)

And it didn't make it into the final game but there's also concept art that looks like the nuclear warning architecture:

Marina confirms that she programmed the Jelletons as part of the Memverse, but her original designs were cuter before Order commandeered them, so it's safe to assume the plastic skeletons and oil-like ink aren't her doing. Order's ultimate goal is to create a perfectly clean world of stasis, and yet everything associated with it is disgusting: trash, toxic waste, and dead things.

"Frantik DM 3 is a 32-map deathmatch pack that is primarily FFA focused.

I aimed for 3-6 player FFA style gameplay, but duels work just fine in this pack also. The maps are slightly larger, and much more detailed on average than those found in the previous set, Frantik DM 2.

DoomCute was also focused on heavily - as well as creating more realistic spaces. A lot of 'advanced' features are utilized in this pack, such as 3D floors, sector-linked 3D floors, slopes, jump-pads, ACS ladders, swimmable water and no-stop teleporters.

This large 32 map DM pack is split into 7 themed episodes.

I aimed for a very diverse selection of arenas, both gameplay-wise and aesthetics-wise - the locations include:

A forge, a foundry, an igloo, a froze over lake w/ ice-fishing, a winterized re-make of Frantik DM 1's MAP27, a frozen basin, a jungle w/ tree canopy, a remote island, a swamp w/ a decaying boardwalk, a watering hole in the desert, a subterranean cave system, a giant generator, a bunker, a rundown UAC-owned factory, a hydroelectric dam, a large prison, acid-melted bases, a nukage waste refinery, a chemical production lab, a nuclear reactor, a cursed crypt, a graveyard, a besieged hellish castle, and a hell-corrupted gory base - as well as a futuristic techbase w/ an alien UFO."

Place Of No Honour

Consider this a WIP-introduction 'Lite'. Having seen God knows how many memes surrounding the whole "Long-term nuclear waste warning messages" thing, I've finally been inspired to set in stone yet another WIP within the 12 Worlds. This time, this story, whatever form it takes, will delve into the history of atomic arms in the setting, and their intersection with the geopolitical environment of the 140s-150s A.S. as seen through the decline of the old 'Pax Commonwealth'.

As you might be able to tell, that's a lot to go through.!

At the moment, I've got 'main' POV firmly in mind, and a few more potential contenders. Since, timeline wise, this is set about a decade before Swift Seas And Whirlwinds and two before The Commonwealth Calls and the rest of the Great Wars, it'll serve to give an introduction to several major players in those future conflicts, by showing them in their more junior states as a sorta 'backstory'. The 'main' Perspective mentioned would be that of Aisha Mutuku, future Field Marshal and Chief of the General Staff of the UC Army, and at the time a cavalry squadron commander in the UC's expeditionary intervention force committed to the Second Toradai War. Already, I'm imagining characters like Oxley and Ashvin, who play decisive roles in SSAW, to appear here as well.

Of course, while everyone enjoys characters, I'm here just as much for the underlying worldbuilding. This conflict, even moreso than that in SSAW, takes place in a UC far removed from some of the technologies and 'aesthetics' that I've already developed in prior WIPs, and would finally give me the kick in the ass I needed to work on this era. And of course, seeing as it will see the first detonation of an atomic weapon in the history of the 12 Worlds, the culmination of a decades long game of bluff, bluster, and statecraft designed to prevent that same eventuality, I will be having an absolute hell of a time making it all work out.

Don't expect to see much on this one for a while, unless I get smacked with actual specific inspiration for worldbuilding or prose. Like I said, 'Intro'-Lite.

Guess I'll Tag @athenswrites @theprissythumbelina and @hessdalen-globe , would love to hear anything you might have to say on it.

🥩 | Winded Through Monotone, One Foot On Checkered Floor ~

🥩 | Welcome to my main blog! Call me Lloyd but you may better know me as Archer! I'm a Rocket Executive going under the codename Archer although you may also refer to me as Fletcher or Atlas! I'm a splitroject fictive currently identifying as Archer/Apollo and host of Silversun Musical Box! I tag all me specific posts with my real first name (Winston)!

🥩 | I'm a Butch Deckfluid Demiwoman Gorething who goes by Lux/She/Panic/Meatself+ pronouns! I'm semi-post transition bodily (our body's gender is Transneumasc Non-binary Two Spirit)!

🥩 | I'm a shapeshifting vampiric AI supercomputer with a nuclear reactor for organs who identifies strongly with turnstile gates, coydog mutts and deer with Chronic Wasting Disease! I also have a Honchkrow Harpy form!

🥩 | I heavily selfship myself with Executive Archer/Apollo so you're bound to see me post a lot about him + some Grimeslyshipping! He's my wife but I'm not overly possessive of him! I enjoy having fellow Archer fans interacting with me over this wet dog of a man! 💥💥💥

🥩 | Some of my favourite bands/artists are: Silversun Pickups | Depeche Mode | The Killers | Placebo | Breaking Benjamin | KMFDM | Fear Factory | Lacuna Coil | Have A Nice Life | Metric | Failure | A Perfect Circle | Autolux | Collective Soul | Stabbing Westward | Pearl Jam | Duran Duran | etc.

🥩 | My top songs are: Checkered Floor by Silversun Pickups | Working Title by Silversun Pickups | Simmer by Silversun Pickups | Wagging Tongue by Depeche Mode | Smile Like You Mean It by The Killers | Uncle Jonny by The Killers | Spirit by The Killers | Post Blue by Placebo | Infra-Red by Placebo

🥩 | My other socials:

Twitter | Toyhouse | Discord = turnstilerockets | SpaceHey | Newgrounds | deviantART | Pinterest | Bluesky

🥩 | My other blogs:

Warrior Cats | Art | Specific aesthetics | Decor

🥩 | Headmate blogs:

Emory | Proton | Lance | Andrew

Finished The Ray 1994.

Well that was certainly a comic. I could not in good conscience recommend it to anyone as their intro to DC, but also it's fascinating in that you don't actually have to have a particularly strong grasp of DC canon to follow along (aside from the constant nagging to read Justice League Task Force, and contextually understanding a lot more about the various characters Ray meets).

Poor Ray Terrill really has life trying to oppress him at every turn. His story of being an 19 year old who is working in fast food because that's all that's available, and then essentially selling out to The (evil) Man for a corporate job he doesn't really understand and trying so hard to look like he's a Proper Adult while still feeling like a kid and a fraud is actually a pretty relatable story. And then on top of that is the fact he cannot get laid, even while the story keeps throwing women at him.

Wow do I hate Happy Terrill. Somehow this man is out there winning worst dad awards against some extremely strong contenders without even trying.

(Joshua spent forty years in a nuclear missile silo?)

Joshua Terrill is actually almost the template for what I'd enjoy seeing in a Super kid (those images of him making popcorn with his powers? Adorable). Pity about, well, everything. Here's a Lost Child to bring back.

It's innovative for storytelling and a really well drawn and coloured comic, though. The art is really good (so many Kirby Dots that they based the entire comic's design around the aesthetic).

It is definitely a pity they wasted the last 4 issues on such a boring timetravel story, but it's not the worst ending I've seen: Chase got stuck with a DC One Million issue as its finale.

BobbyWorstcharic

A gender related/connected to Bobby Worst from the BRCU

This can be related to villainy, latex, disgust (whether that’s feeling disgust, being disgusting, or others reacting in disgust to you), villainous love, lust, rage, radiation/nuclear waste, genderfuckery, hedonism, amorality, his story, his aesthetics or even just a connection to his character!

The green stripes represent his villainy, his hatred for humanity, and his desire to be ‘the worst’

The black stripes represent his amorality, rage and his extreme hedonistic attitude, the black triangles representing those aspects taking over his character over time

The thin light grey stripes represents his lost and corrupted innocence

The thin white stripe represents his vulnerability and explicit queerness, as well as the strange purity of his love and friendships

{ Photo ID help?: @liom-archive @radiomogai }

[DNI radinclus, radexclus, bigots, NOMAPS/MAPs, etc]

Flag redesigns are welcome

God this Proximan site in the new "Among The Stars And Bones" season is really giving me "This is not a place of honor" vibes

The warning symbols, the large chambers, the clashing aesthetics and colours. It's possible there's multiple Proximan languages listed on the walls. It really reminds me of the different ways humans have thought to warn about long term nuclear waste storage sites. It's all warning signs trying to tell people to stay away.

Something is buried here that should not be unburied.

But of course, despite the misgivings of the human crew on this mission, something something war and capitalism

Hi Em,

Hoping you can help me figure out my MBTI and/or enneagram type or at least point me towards the right direction.

As a writer, I do a detailed sentence by sentence outline for a specific chapter I’m writing and overall rough outline for the book. In life and in writing, I can veer off the plan, but as long as I have that end goal in mind, I’m good. It’s like seeing a train light in the fog – you know it’s coming even if you can’t see it clearly yet. Writing for me is all about enemies to lovers, witty banter, power struggles and internal monologue just like my life lol. I write best when it’s episodic or shorter segments at a time. I also need feedback the interactivity from fans to keep me engaged.

With routine, I need some external push, like deadlines from work, classes, or events, to get me going. If you say by the end of the week, it will done early or on time. If you say by the 15th I procrastinate or it’s late. It’s weird how that works. I also need actionable tangible steps to things otherwise I’m lost. Cleanliness and organization are my jam, not because I love order, but because I love beauty. I trust my gut and intuition for the final say with my heart making most of the decisions. It has to feel right or I get physically ill.

Aesthetics are huge for me – I’m all about beauty, art, culture and hedonism. I love nature, animals, children, reading, solitude, the supernatural, the dark, the taboo, the mythical, spiritual, touch, excitement and adventure. Good sex, good convo, beautiful clothes, good food- 100% me. I’m into enjoying life’s pleasures, and I spend a lot of time making sure my appearance reflects who I am. It’s not about others liking me; it’s about them knowing what kind of person I am upfront and they can do what that what they will.

I believe in fate, but sometimes I get too passive, waiting for things to happen instead of making them happen. I prefer alone or with my partner vs others. I don’t like venting without having some sort of solution at the end, some sort of action. I get frustrated, and I’m like, "Ok, but what are you going to try to do about it?" Doing can be crying, talking, or just giving yourself some time to think. It just has to have an action.

I’m quietly ambitious and if I want it I get it. I hate complaining or sharing my problems, preferring to work through things on my own. But when I do reach out, it’s all about finding solutions, getting that step-by-step guide to hitting my goals. My emotions are private but I go nuclear if pushed too far. I’m not about revenge- that’s up to the universe and it takes too much patience and minute detail, which just isn’t me.

Socially, I’m a bit of an enigma. I’ve faced bullying, which makes me cautious in social settings, despite being quite good with people one-on-one. I’m not into trends or networking; it feels inauthentic, though part of me wonders if it’s because I feel like I have nothing to offer. Talking up my achievements feels awkward; I’d rather let them speak for themselves. I’m the person who sees the talent in others and isn’t shy about pointing it out.

I have to know myself 100%- I can’t move forward without it. Once I hit a goal, I’m done and onto the next, always striving for excellence. Competition motivates me, but I’m not cutthroat. I work at my own pace, based on my mood. I’m generally calm until I’m not, and then it’s zero to a hundred. I struggle to express anger healthily, thanks to having to bottle it up when I was younger.

I’m triggered by the following: being called over-emotional, needy, lack of personal space and control, group projects, noise for the sake of noise. I worry about wasted potential and not living up to my gifts and talents. Hate being a second romantic choice option. I am intense, nicer than I look. I’m great at reading people in person because I can get a strong feel for their energy, vibes and body language. But online-social media feels like a minefield where I’m constantly misreading or attracting the wrong kind of attention.

I appreciate it, Em

Hi anon,

I am fairly confident you are a high Fi user, and I think with that in mind you are likely an Se user - the aesthetic focus is one part, but also what you said about needing interactions to stay engaged with writing (whereas I'd expect an NFP to be sufficiently hooked on the conceptual aspect) seems likely. I personally think the topics that interest someone in writing are not really dictated by MBTI, but how one approaches writing definitely is. High Se is also, generally, the best in my opinion at reading people; there's an attunement to body language. My guess here is ISFP.

The part about needing a routine to ground you/procrastination without clear deadlines is more in line with perceiving, though plenty of things (eg, ADHD) can complicate that, and going through this in order it was that followed by the comment on inauthenticity that led me to high Fi. It sounds like you're an introvert in MBTI but fairly comfortable with people, which is not unusual for feelers - I know a decent number of ISFPs and they tend to be quite personable but ultimately prefer to hang out with only a few people.

The ambition aspect is interesting though - you see this in high Se, to be fair, but much less so in the Se-auxes than with the Se-doms. I'm wondering if this is a relatively new thing, especially if you're at a point where inf Te would be starting to deepen.

folklorists make a lot out of the ubiquitous nature of certain tales and there's a decent amount of excitement over tale types being shared between cultures that have no contact, an excitement seen in the sandia laboratories report on nuclear waste warning system design as they refer to certain aesthetics as “older and deeper than culture, something that is species-wide, part of what it is to be human.” this is a lot of foolishness about our 'instinctual' reaction to certain signs. really the only thing we can consider as 'species-wide' is the planet itself -- something that has changed form many times over and will certainly change form beyond recognition 10,000, 100,000 years on. we're only separated from our folktales by centuries and we know on point of fact that we've lost the ability to comprehend all they signify.

Thoughts on Secret Invasion (episode 1):

I quite liked the AI opening credits thing. I had seen all of twitter hating on it, and had already kind of made up my mind that it was an "if you make something badly on purpose, that doesn't make it good" scenario, and then ... I liked it. (I do hope they change it every episode, because I didn't like it so much I'm going to watch it enraptured every time, or anything, if it's just the same.) This raises an interesting question: am I relatively pro-AI-art because of my anti-copyright convictions and thus more inclined to give it a chance, or do I just innately find the aesthetic more appealing than most people? If I do, is that why I'm more open to it becoming more popular than most artists?

Early on, the show establishes that MCU Russia has had dozens of Chernobyl-y nuclear accidents(??) most of which are secret(???) This is clearly intended as a paper-thin excuse to use the not!Chernobyl Exclusion Zone as a location for the show but ... what? How is it possible to have a secret Chernobyl?

Overall I was not impressed with the writing, it felt clunky.

Getting into spoilers:

The framing of the Skrulls as just wanting a home, feeling betrayed, portrayal of radicalization, etc, is ... I'm torn between liking it as a somewhat interesting and sympathetic motive, and feeling like it's kinda cliche and betrays some patronising and frankly reactionary attitudes towards refugees. Also, Doctor Who did it better with the Zygons. Overall, the Skrulls were the most interesting characters but whether that will remain true will depend on subsequent episodes.

Someone involved in the production knows what a dirty bomb is, and even enough to name-check cesium isotopes. Nick Fury was standing right there when the bombs went off. So... he's definitely breathed in a ton of radioactive cesium dust ... and is definitely going to die ... right? I feel like they haven't set that up enough for them to be doing a "Nick Fury's last case as he dies of radiation poisoning" thing, but also it's going to feel like a cheat if they're not.

Actually, there is one non-cheat way out of this, and that's revealing the Nick Fury we've been following as a Skrull. They made a huge deal of how he's "not the same", Skrulls would know about space tech necessary for the SABRE project, etc. It almost feels too foreshadowed, but it would transform all the rather annoyingly heavy-handed bits where they explain Fury's alleged character development to the camera into a neat enough twist that I would forgive the aforementioned heavy-handedness.

Maria Hill's death just felt like a waste. My family were cracking jokes about how she's never gotten a chance to make us care about her. Apparently Cobie Smulders has been going on in interviews about how excited she was to get to explore her character in more depth, so maybe they're going to redeem this somehow, but it certainly ended the episode on a not-so-compelling note.

'In Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” the military asks the architect of the Manhattan Project what he’ll do with Los Alamos now that the bombs have been dropped. “Give the land back to the Indians,” he says. The brass scoffs. The work at Los Alamos will only intensify. There’s no returning the poisoned land.

Jenn Shapland’s new collection of essays, “Thin Skin,” circles the metaphor of being “thin-skinned,” which she defines as meaning to “feel keenly, to perceive things that might go unseen, unnoticed, that others might prefer not to notice.” Her previous book, “My Autobiography of Carson McCullers,” was a case in point: a brilliant dual biography focused on McCullers’ true sexuality and Shapland’s coming into her own identity as a lesbian.

In the opening essay that gives this follow-up its title, Shapland turns to what she notices in New Mexico. The Manhattan Project not only gave the world nuclear war, it pushed Indigenous and Latino people out of their homes and ruined the land and water. Of nearby Santa Fe, where Shapland lives, she writes, “What capitalism offers us: a stage set on which to live our lives without knowing whom we crush. In some ways it is the ultimate colonial insult, to adopt a bastardized version of an ancient cultural lifeway as an aesthetic to draw more white people. The city itself is a lifestyle brand.”

In “Oppenheimer,” a three-hour film, the “Indians” are mentioned twice in passing. The ravages of toxic waste and the horrific aftermath of atomic war are never seen. Shapland’s book is the film “Oppenheimer” should have been, one that reflects on the Manhattan Project’s lasting impact on the world community. With a writing style that recalls the work of Eula Biss and a goal in solidarity with “Who is Wellness For?” by Fariha Róisín, Shapland opens “Thin Skin” with devastating statistics tying nuclear waste to cancer rates before turning to people, speaking with tribal leaders and even with her own parents...

“Thin Skin” asks readers to consider themselves and the world they occupy — not the future, but the present. The choices we make for this world are for ourselves. “We can leave other things behind besides children,” Shapland writes. “Other forms of longevity exist, even if they are unquantifiable.”

At one point in “The Meaning of Life,” Shapland runs into a group of women in their 60s and 70s traveling and having a ball. “When they do not have children, or the burden of someday having them, or the need to prepare their lives to have them, they are at least free to be children themselves.” The alt-right, in response to “Black Lives Matter,” says “All Lives Matter.” “Thin Skin” motivates us to act like we believe it.'

Current aesthetic: The four images on Google Maps at WIPP, the only nuclear waste repository on US soil.