post s4 steddie fic where eddie, finally free of high school, realises he doesn’t know who he is without the rigid cliches he’s defined himself by his whole life. he doesn’t know who he is if he’s not performing and loudly declaring himself to be a freak just to desperately grapple for attention and respect.

eddie who, like steve, realises it’s all bullshit.

eddie, who’s jealous that steve so easily understands who he is and how he fits into his life, regardless of any jokes other people make at his expense. who accepts people wholeheartedly, despite the fact that cliches would have them hate each other.

steve, who helps teach eddie how to be himself, regardless of the ‘munson doctrine’ and what other people would define him as. who teaches eddie that being a ‘freak’ doesn’t actually define him, and he can find and enjoy interests outside of what society dictates he can.

eddie, who gets into sports, and enjoys drama, and music, and tv shows that teenaged him would’ve mocked and bullied him for years ago. eddie who grows and changes as he gets older, and isn’t constantly trapped in his performance of ‘the school drug-dealing freak’.

Sorry to ask this as an anon, but what do you think about white/western people? Being one myself it sometimes feels like we get the blame for everything. Now a days it seems like we are all brushed over the same comb. Because of this I even find my support for certain causes wavering. What does it matter what i do or think, if I will be hated anyway. Even as an "evil white western" person I wish for Palestina to be free. But I also hope my country can still exist and aren't globally hated.

I have no clue why you'd ask a...*checks notes* transformation fetish blog, about views on white/westerners, but here goes:

When people criticise whiteness, it's more the institution than the actual skin colour. I notice a lot of white people tend to view such criticism through the lens of discrimination because we live in a world which has trained people to view others as "lesser than".

You're used to thinking that when someone says "(blank) people", they must mean in the derogatory/racist way because that's mostly what whiteness teaches, that some races must be superior to others. Nobody thinks black people, asian people, hispanic people, etc. are genuinely "superior" to white people. It's just white people throughout the history of the West have often tried to ascribe this "superiority" in order to justify their institutions.

You have manifest destiny. You have justification for slavery. If you dehumanise indigenous and black people enough, you can subliminally coach yourself to believe that due to your superiority, you are better. They are not human. Therefore their pain, their agony, their suffering is more justifiable because they are not on your level.

It's just that this has gone on for so long that it is now the bedrock of much of Western society. When you create a society based on the justification for discrimination, for stealing land, for slaughtering people, you cannot just "move on." You have to embed those lies into society and not just in thoughts and feelings, but in culture, laws, history, the overall system. Otherwise, what's the point?

Nobody hates white people. People hate "whiteness", they hate this concept of a superiority complex because not only has it led to uncountable numbers of deaths, lynchings, imprisonment, hate crime, suffering and so on, but it doesn't even help you now.

Now, when we say "we shouldn't do this or that", your instinct is to feel attacked and guilty and believe we will come for you, the way that you have come for us. That isn't true and it never was. It's the same reason why when people say "Black lives matter", others will say "actually no ALL lives matter."

When did we say they didn't? We know they matter. When black people say "we want this", it is not "we will TAKE this from you", it is "we want this too." Whiteness has evolved you to instinctively believe that the only way you can interpret "we want this" is a "we will TAKE this" because that was what was done in the past.

Also there is nobody who is anti-racist and will genuinely believe that all white people are evil. Once again this is what the West has trained you to believe, as if racism, discrimination is just a natural instinct. It was a tool of oppression used by a select bunch of white people in order to justify why they could have a bunch of land, money and power.

People will do anything to get the power that the colonizers had and still often do have to this day. They tricked you because rather than actually aid the average white person, they treat the average white person how everybody should be treated and use you as a foot soldier to keep others down. You get the least amount of benefits for most of the risk.

The American Civil War is a prime example of this. The Confederates helped further create racist white folk who were so hell bent on this "whiteness" they would do anything to preserve it, even if it meant going to war for the sake of keeping slavery. Then they died and lost and many lucky enough to survive were now disabled from war injuries or had PTSD and slavery was overturned anyway. You see how far "whiteness" got you then? It's a trick, used for the sake of power.

Perhaps in some sense, the lie got so riveting that the colonizers truly believed it. I think for the most part, they did. But any evidence on the contrary, cannot be accepted.

If you look at history, the modern day views on race would be far from how we engage with it and I don't mean, "oh well it's wrong to say the N word and segregate people compared to 100 years ago", no when I say modern day history I mean the last couple hundred years.

We've been on this planet for thousands of years and not until very recently in the scope of our human history did we have very...odd thoughts about race. Genetically you would be so shocked at how completely different people from different countries can share more similarities than say two ethnicities that have grown up in the same area beside one another.

If your support for certain causes waver due to the criticism not even of you, but just the society that raised you and protected you at the expense of others and continues trying to brainwash you, then I don't know what to say. Like yeah it sucks being criticised, but it sure sucks a lot more to have to worry about your skin colour, race, stereotypes, culture being mocked (and then stolen anyway), your hair, your clothes, the way you speak and more. Then continue to say "oh but come onnn we stopped enslaving you and segregating you and mocking you, so we're all equal now right?"

Sure bud.

But what do I know, I'm just a transformation-fetish blog and I got some writing to do. 💀

8th March ‘24 - [arch] colour!!!! community!!!

Hey Shri! <3 

Wow!!!! I’ve seen the finished Brothers Lionheart cover already, but those thumbnails are just incredible. I know you plan to move away from the dark/horror vibes of those images but they’re so impactful!! For sure save those compositions for something else. You’ve put so so much thought into those compositions, it’s inspiring me to put that level of thought into my images too. It's nuts!!!

So y’know how the plan for this blog was to take it easy and do a little at a time? Maybe just pop in and update each other on what we’ve been working on, or even what’s been inspiring us? Well, we haven’t exactly been taking it easy have we :// At the beginning of writing this I thought it was gonna be a chill one but,,, it turned out not to be.

I was lucky enough to be back in Cardiff for a bit the other week, so I hit up the Riso studio. It was super lovely seeing everyone - really made me realise the value of having an artistic community. (for context, I have been travelling recently and it’s been weird, after uni, to not be surrounded by other illustrators)

About once a month, my shared print studio has an event called Open Haus, where we’re open to the public but also loads of members will come in, have a cuppa and a biscuit and talk about art stuff. I happened to be doing some riso printing and Gavin, who’s a right babe and an excellent riso artist, was once again giving me a hand. I love working with other people in the studio, bouncing ideas off them. It sometimes helps me get out of my head (though with practice, I’m also learning to do that by myself!)

Here’s a bit of development work for the print I did a few days before printing. It was actually a bit of development for my comfort characters’ home - but as you know i love building my skills through fun things like that! Trick yourself in to improving xD

This is the print I made!! It’s titled ‘Space Fyn’, named after a place I associate with home <3 

I ran into a bit of an issue with the blue, which I originally planned to use. Once I printed it, I hated it (blehhhhhh), so! We tried a mint out instead. I still didn’t like it. But thankfully, Gavin did this thing where he made me step back and view it from afar and then I liked it again (this has happened twice now I think I need to learn to step back without his help ://) Also, there were about 10 people in the studio, and they all voted on the mint, so I printed a run of 15! (ps. you can order them by dming me on Instagram)

Later, I was showing a friend the progress and she made some great points. The dark blue gives more of an evening vibe, while the mint gives more of a sunrise vibe, a bit brighter. But also, it totally changes the tone! This has led me to think more about how different colours can be used for particular vibes :0 and how can we bend that and make it more interesting than ‘red danger’ and ‘blue sad’. 

Some notes I took from our conversation

Looking at colours in particular genres (they are used differently in specific ways in different contexts) 

for example in Westerns, good guys wearing a white hat and bad guys wearing black hats - misc characters wearing brown.

Light sabres in Star Wars very clearly symbolising ideology

Characters attached to colour - she uses blue and red to symbolise characters that oppose each other in some way, for example.

Character designs, using colours that match well for more grounded characters, and colours that clash for more unstable characters

Power rangers!!

What colour is your ‘normal’ for the world? And how will specific characters break that or blend in?

All of these are just prompts and thinking points of course, it’ll take a lot of exploring to know how i want to apply these to my work.

I was lucky enough to attend Plymouth Comic and Zine fair!!!!! (this is me :0 !!)

It was very lovely, I really enjoyed seeing people from uni, the general Plymouth illustration scene, and those few illustrators you know but only really see at fairs. I also got the opportunity to have some awesome chats about illustration (shoutout to that one hermitcraft fan who let me ramble about Minecraft builds and setting design for a bit <3). I had a chat with the wonderful Ben Wright and Jess Holloway about colours, especially in narrative, and here are some ideas I took away from that!

They didn’t have any specific suggestions for books about colour and narrivite,  but again, film came up! Colours in film are discussed a lot, and vary a lot in genre, so i’ll have to do some looking into that.

In particular wes anderson might be good to look at 

Hero by Jet Li - haven’t looked at this yet

How to take colour that we may associate with a particular feeling and instead make it do something else. (eg. how to make blue happy)

Colour in context with shape and composition

I was very excited after PCZF and got hyperfixated on a little drawing. You and I were chatting about folds in clothes at the fair, so this image was to play with that a bit.

Yes this is an image of my favorite block lady. I love her. [Illustration of GeminiTay, along with her season 10 skin]

I decided to use the colour pick tool from my reference for accurate colours, which I don’t normally do. I do have a habit of going too light with my values, and a bit swampy and desaturated with my colours. When I started with her trousers, I thought it was wayyyy too dark, but I decided to stick with it till the end anyway. Even though it clearly worked in the reference image, I was still surprised it worked on mine. This has proved to me that it’s okay to push and use some darker colours - which is a bit scary but I’m going to give it a go.

'messing around with colors with imp and skizz' by @applestruda

I also saw this incredible image by @applestruda using wonderful colours! This led me to play around with some high-saturation images. I wanted to draw one of GeminiTay’s builds with the spooky vibes she’s been trying to capture. I downloaded applestruda’s image, colour shifted the hue to one that fits the energy I wanted to capture, and used it to create a high saturation colour pallet. This is a great starting point since I’ve never worked with this kind of colour palette before - it gives me a starting point rather than drowning in indecision and cluelessness XD

Here’s a timelapse of the study!

Once I’d finished, I hue-shifted them for some alt colours. I find this a helpful process for figuring out colour stuff that I would never consider normally. I think I like these more, actually. The one with the reddish wood and green accents feels like it has the vibes of the original image, but is exaggerated a bit. I think it pops. And the pink is cool. I think I could have pushed the values further again, but I'm pretty happy with the final images.

So those are my colour thoughts over for now - I’m hoping to keep playing but use of colour is for sure a lifelong skill. 

The past few weeks have been so awesome. I’ve just been so so moulded by conversations with my artistic community and it’s been so lovely!!! I’m really enjoying running around the country and visiting all my pals. It was so nice to see you at PCZF and I’m looking forward to more of it!!! :D

Ps. Here are some sketches I did at the fair

Can’t wait to see more lionheart lil guys :0

Archie <3 :)))))))))

Is that allo gendie insane? You didn't employ any racist tactics or whatever, you're literally pointing out that black women are forced to play a very specific and demeaning role in the music industry despite being multitalented people with potential. Like it is SO obvious that most American black women who reach a certain level in the celebrity industries are not treated well at all, or allowed to be the full spectrum of themselves. They're made into portraying sex puppets, to an extent that white women are mostly not expected to act except in porn (although a point can be made that porn culture has already started seeping into mass entertainment and is being taken up regardless of anyone's ethnicity). Seeing as the American mass entertainment industry is viewed by billions of people around the world in addition to america itself, the intention is so fucking obvious - the "representation" is meant to influence young black girls (and boys who see this shit), and also perpetrate a oversexualized stigma against black women. American entertainment executives aren't exactly rocket scientists. But then, neither are too much of the human population including that allo gendie user, I guess.

exactly!! women in general are sexualised and its getting more n more blatant & extreme BUT women of colour, namely black women, are sexualised to another level. and when it comes to female rappers, all of them are somewhat sexualised more than the average popstar imo even the rare white female rappers like iggy azalea and bhad bhabie but its still not to the same extent as black women & latinas..

like compare those ^ to these:

its insane to me bc theyre like..accessories in their OWN videos. in the 2nd video theyre showing a guy choking one of them too?? its just .. sad bc this used to be simply how women were depicted in men's music videos but now its how theyre being depicted in their own videos too. and if u look up female rap now u will find a bunch o stupid thinkpiece videos by men where they basically call these women talentless and whatever else.

I think it’s super interesting how the patriarchy is so embedded into our culture that our modern language helps push patriarchal values.

I’ve done a bit of personal research into this topic and thought I would share it here

(Note this was a quick highschool project so it’s not super in-depth but I would love other people’s thoughts on it) sorry this is long :)

I’m currently taking a class in my high school where we are talking about gender, feminism, sexuality, and the patriarchy. Specifically how the patriarchy is imbedded in our day to day lives and how it’s effects intersect with other issues such as racism, homophobia, classism, etc.

I looked into the English language and linguistic relativity.

An Analysis of Sexism in English

In the English lexicon, one of the most obvious evidences of sexism is the affixes which lead to a view of women as a deviation from men. This is commonly seen with suffixes such as -ess or -ette.

Example: Actor “ a person who plays the part of a character in a movie or play”, when attached to a feminine suffix –ess, becomes actress with the meaning of “ woman with profession similar to those of actor”. ← othering of women as if Femininity is inherently not human. Why is actor “a person” while Actress is “A woman” why make the distinction?

Other examples include:

Masculine Feminine

ambassador ambassadress

duke duchess

prince princess

poet poetess

Sometimes adding the suffix -ett or -ess completely changes the meaning and value of the word. (Govenor vs Goveness- one rules a country the other teaches children in their homes).

Why does this matter?

We need to considered how language is intimately tied to behavior, knowledge, and culture. Sapri-Whorf Hypothesis, more commonly known as linguistic relativity is the theory that a person's language changes how they perceive the world around them. Since its conception, this theory has been widely debated. However, most people believe the theory, it's debated how much language impacts our culture, but the idea that it has an impact is backed up by many studies.

Studies include Colour study, how Russian speakers could identify colors faster than English speakers + How German speakers lost that ability after years of speaking English. Note that Russian and German both have more labels for colors, differing them from English speakers.

How has our language accidentally othered femininity?

The acoustic and perceptual bases of judgments of women and men's sexual orientation from read speech.

This studies how people view sexual orientation based on their speech and voice. They found that gay men were easier to identify than lesbians even though they both changed their speech. Men would raise their voice, feminine while women would lower theirs to be more masculine. This shows how femininity is easier to identify because we see it as an “other” so when women show more masculine traits we gloss over it because we see it as more “normal”.

This is only one example that shines light on how we don’t even notice these biases. There are likely hundreds of more that we can't even begin to imagine because it is so ingrained in our day-to-day life, our culture, and our society.

Impact/intersect

Misogyny and Homophobia: Patriarchy, gender policing, and the Male Gaze

It’s hard to tell which came first. Did our black and white language accidentally push an anti feminine belief or has misogyny and the patriarchy impacted our day to day speech? Either way at this point it’s more of a cycle constantly pushing patriarchal values.

Misogyny is not only the act of hating women but hating anything seen as “feminine”. When it comes to homophobia gay men and lesbian women are treated differently. Homosexual men tend to suffer discrimination and abuse because they don’t fit what is considered “manly” This is why people say things like “that's so gay” as an insult. Men not adhering to masculinity or showing more feminine traits are discouraged.

On the other hand, lesbians get more hate due to fetishization and breaking the patriarchy. Many queer women in WLW presenting relationships have experienced comments including “Can I get in on that” or “I can join in if you want a threesome”. Interestingly, “butch” women and others who present more masculine are “treated with fear and contempt for trying to encroach on traditionally male territory and not conforming to normative ideals of female beauty” (Williamson, 7).

Obviously there’s more impacts that have resulted however I just focused on homophobia as an example of intersectionality. If you have any other examples feel free to add on and share them.

Anyways thanks for listening to my rant I just thought it was interesting :)

Hello! , if it is not a bother I was wondering if I could request number 9?

I’m mixed but am white (Italian, German, African American, Scottish). I currently reside in California but I moved around a lot in childhood from Maine to Massachusetts. I am neurodivergent with recognized depression, and anxiety. I play guitar, listen to music, doodle occasionally, play video games, write, study herbology, and love to engage in theoretical discussions about science and/or spirituality. My favorite colors are forest green, black and ice blue. I love all music except for trucks and drugs country music. I’m especially fond of Blondie, Hozier, The Buzzcocks, The Toy Dolls, No Doubt, Colter Wall, and 1950’s crooners. I love action films and noir films (James Stewart, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra..) I enjoy learning about history and where traditions come from, as well as herbology, and quantum mechanics. I love reading comics. I also enjoy watching Rick and Morty, South Park, and The Simpsons. I have both ear lobes pierced but rarely wear earrings, I also have my cartilage pierced. I want to get a tattoo of a horse for someone who was close to me, and a tattoo of Yellowstone National Park because my father would take me nearly every summer when I was a teenager. I am a natural brunette and tend to dye my hair whatever color I feel like, currently it’s “Starry Night.” A blueish black with highlights as it fades out. I have hazel brown eyes (they change color if the light hits them right and makes them a pretty ember.) I have a marking nearish my left kidney from a kidney stone procedure.

I apologize if I added too much, or if it is too much.

🎀 No.9: Ever Fallen In Love With Someone 🎀

tell me a little bit about yourself and i'll give you a rogue pairing a/n: ah i hope this wasn't too obvious of a pick but i truly think this is so right! and don't be sorry, this was perfect 💚 1k milestone info! 🔞minors dni🔞 • kofi • tag: finnie1k

ok so first of all, the three states you've mentioned are all ones, for the most part, that i (as a non-american) associate with nature, especially maine and california for the forests and trees. so you have a connection with plant life

depression and anxiety, i feel ya on that one, and i think ivy would too? she takes on quite a burden and deals with it in a solitary fashion. i think he worries and fears stem from the world being cruel and unforgiving, mostly humanity, and that's true of a lot of people with anxiety or depression

your creative energy is so obvious, and i think that's something ivy would appreciate. gentle music, beautiful art, anything you could gift to her that came from your soul and was made organically. given that she's definitely the kind of girl who sends immense amounts of flowers for every gift, all grown by her of course, it makes sense that she'd love to receive a "home-grown" gift in return

pam is a scientist, and she's deeply spiritual at least in the sense that she's open to feeling nature and healing powers, so she'd be up for a debate on the subject, or even just long nights discussing it with you in depth, especially if you both agree or can offer some information or insights the other hasn't ever considered before

your favourite colours remind me of those precious dark sky spots within deep forests, where nature is untouched and you can see the stars clearly because there's very little civilisation around you. a perfect spot for spending time with pam, and the fact that your hair matches that is so neat!!

the crooners and the noir films are giving off so much romance and lovey-dovey vibes and i can't think of anyone more deserving of some genuine romance than ivy. i think along she'd be interested in older things, from a nostalgic point of view in relation to the aesthetics only, given that gotham is her home

ok so history, herbology and science are all very pam things! it's almost perfect, like you were made for each other! traditions, especially relating to preserving and appreciating nature, are close to her heart. and someone on the same intellectual level with her with regards to science would mean she has someone to talk to about those things, meaning she's not as alone anymore

a tattoo of a park??? are you kidding me? nature tattoos would be an exceptional edition to your already perfect self, and she'd appreciate it to no end. same with the little mark on your body from your procedure, anything that makes you unique and natural and a piece of art. and your eyes changing colour from the hues of the earth and of wood to the sun and the flowers would have her completely enamoured

urggg once again I have thoughts to dump on you. You don't have agree or anything but I think I have a point maybe.

remember when I brought up how HMS probably incorporate dark side functions as well?

welllll I've adopted a new belief/headcanon/whatever

I don't think *any* of those functions perfectly map onto any of the jashlings, rather they individually listened to whole's "dark sides" and that's what split them (further) apart. they detracted their own interpretations of what the shadows taught them and in a way killed them, either actively taking on their functions or passively absorbing their beliefs.

Thomas refers to Roman, Patton, Logan and Virgil as being core sides rather than light, so I guess the same applies to HMS being core to Whole, explaining why they get referred to as being the only parts that make him up in the Soul eclectic + plus other songs probably I can't remember.

TDLR: I'm deciding to go with the take that HMS are mouthpieces for any other sides of Whole that might exist, meaning they kind of pick and choose any shadowed of him to overlap with rather than fully embody. Or rather, they broke down any side which didn't map onto their black and white view of the world into pieces and plucked up those pieces to use for their own self-gain. Soul is the only survivor of this as he had the most connection to Whole's personality.

Idk I find it more interesting. Also I do think whilst the orange side may not be bias on it's own, he'll probably cause Logan to be biased towards whatever he represents. (I think Logan might already be affected by bias as his own side in some way since it's really hard not to be. We'll have to see.) So I'm still crafting my own understanding based my personal prediction. Also orange side will probably have a demonic(or angelic) theme imo so do with that what you will. If he does it'd be cool.

I think if Whole had a show like c!Thomas Heart and Mind would take their animosity out on each other, bewildering any other side which dare show up. They'd be like "oh hi x! nice to have somebody other than this bitch to talk to". And then they start pulling each other's hair. They hate each other too much to acknowledge any "outside" input smh. Try acting like a Disney villain towards people who don't give a damn and see how far it gets you. It'd be funny to watch at least.

I don’t have many thoughts besides “based” so yeah-

Also (off topic) but I feel like the Orange side is going to have a lighter colour palette than Logan, considering Logan already has the black in his design, and if Orange were to be Bias it would make sense bc you don’t think much of your biases and are like “what I think is right” yk? anyways

one more thing then I’m out: I feel like Orange and Logan are going to have a sorta Jekyll and Hyde situation, considering how closely Bias and Logic are linked.

Also I am getting to the thing of the Sides seeing hms’s worse sides of themselves! Just Band Camp is getting in the way a bit and I keep forgetting to check tumblr- :/

“Over the last decade, I have learned to appreciate the textures and rhythms of the later months of the year. Russet is the color of November in Maine. The color that emerges when all the more spectacular leaves have fallen: the yellow coins of the white birch, the big, hand-shaped crimson leaves of the red maple, the papery pumpkin-hued spears of the beech trees. The oaks are always the last to shed their plumage, and their leaves are the dullest color. They’re the darkest, the closest to brown. But if you pay attention, you’ll see that they’re actually quite pretty. Russet is a subtle color, complicated by undertones of orange and purple. Indeed, according to some color wheel systems, “russet” is the name given to the tertiary color created by mixing those two secondary colors. Its only companions in this category are slate (made from purple and green) and citron (made from green and yellow). Like russet, citron and slate occur often in the natural world. Our Earth is a blue marble if you get far enough away, but from up close, it’s so very brown, so often gray. This may explain why many cultures think of russet and similar dull reds as neutral hues, akin to the monochrome scale of white, black, and the innumerable shades between. True reds, the crimsons and vermilions and scarlets, have historically been associated with fire, blood, and power. In Red: The History of a Color, Michel Pastoureau explains that, for thousands of years, red was “the only true color.” He continues, “as much on the chronological as hierarchical level, it outstripped all others.” In ancient Greece, high priests and priestesses dressed in crimson, as did (they imagined) the gods themselves. In contrast, the dull reds, the brown reds, have been understood as “emblematic of peasantry and impoverishment,” claims Victoria Finlay in An Atlas of Rare & Familiar Colour. Finlay files red ocher among the browns—the ruddy pigment used in the caves of Lascaux—which is perhaps where it belongs. Perhaps that’s where russet belongs, too. […] It seems likely that russet, as a word, is an offshoot of red (Old French rousset from Latin russus, “reddish”). But russet means more than red-like, red-adjacent. Russet also means rustic, homely, rough. It also evokes mottled, textured, coarse. The word describes a quality of being that can affect people as well as vegetables. Apples can be russet, when they have brown patches on their skin. Potatoes famously are russet; their skin often has that strange texture that makes it impossible to tell where the earth ends and the root begins. There are russet birds and russet horses—it’s an earthy word that fits comfortably on many creatures. For Shakespeare, it was a color of poverty and prudence, mourning and morning. In Love’s Labour’s Lost, Biron imagines a life without the finer things, without silks and taffeta, a life of sacrifice undertaken to prove his love. The color of his penance? Russet. “and I here protest, By this white glove;—how white the hand, God knows!— Henceforth my wooing mind shall be express’d In russet yeas and honest kersey noes: And, to begin, wench,—so God help me, la!— My love to thee is sound, sans crack or flaw.” Just a few decades after this was written, in a country not too far away, Peter Paul Rubens was painting with brilliant crimson and shocking vermilion. Rubens was a devout Roman Catholic, a religion that embraced sumptuous fabrics and rich colors. A generation later, another northern painter would rise to prominence: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. While Catholic Rubens loved shocking reds, rich blues, and even sunny yellows, Protestant Rembrandt painted with a far more restrained palette. Many of his most famous paintings (including his self portraits) are predominantly brown and gray. And when he did use color, Rembrandt very often reached for russet, auburn, fulvous, and tawny. Reds that leaned brown, and browns that leaned red. Sometimes, he brought in a splash of crimson to tell the viewer where they should focus (the vibrant sash in Night Watch, the cloaks in Prodigal Son), and sometimes he let soft, misty yellow light bathe his bucolic landscapes. His work was earthy, imbued with the quiet chill of early November […]” — Katy Kelleher, “Russet, the Color of Peasants, Fox Fur, and Penance” from The Paris Review

Homecooking [May ed]

Be proud of me :P  I cooked more this month haha

I also did some night shifts. .. & lived thru over a week of really poor air quality. I shouldn’t be complaining, considering ppl have lost homes, businesses, & community facilities/shops but it was just so bad. It’s bad for me, so I could only imagine what it’s like for ppl with respiratory or heart problems. Every yr there are wildfires here but I read somewhere that this is the 1st time AB beat BC in ‘starting’ of wildfires. Like our Albertan wildfires aren’t supposed to start yet but we had a few days where temperature was 10degrees above average, plus the winds. .. Yikes!!

^ that’s the sun at 0815h o_O !!!!

Now that short track season, primarily the World Championships ended. .. the sports event I was looking to was the Sudirman Cup for badminton. It’s held every 2 yrs & this yr, the venue is was in Suzhou - China’s 1st international badminton event in over 3 yrs! Can’t say much about the venue bcos I only see the inside & it’s focussed on a court lol but BWF inserts travel-themed clips in the opening of every live so I got to see some of the views in Suzhou. I’ve actually been there! Anyway, what a wild ride!!! I won’t give spoilers but the CHN vs JPN semi-finals. .. YOU NEED TO WATCH IT! At least the highlights. So much drama!! The finals... I was a little disappointed. I thought KOR vs CHN would be a tight battle but . ..

Alrighty, let’s get to the food~

Random flour noodle with choy sum & egg.

The same package of noodle with choy sum & Busan fish cake.

lol you can tell these were my post-night shift meal... I tend to go for simpler stuff, & in smaller portions bcos I eat 6 times when I’m working nights...

Air fryer egg plant. You may think it’s weird.. . but I really like it.

Fettuccine with tomato + vegetarian sausage

Udon with capa cabbage & grey squash. Another one of those night shift stretch meals.

Mom’s air fryer chicken

vs .. my air fryer chicken

*she added Chinese soy sauce to it for a better colour hence why it’s so dark

There were not as good I thought. It’s gotta be the plain Costco fries :P

Thick rice noodles + egg + cucumber, seasoned with Korean tartar sauce & fish sauce (the green cap squid one). This is probably the most randomest thing I ‘put together’ this month haha! Usually the thin vermicelli noodles are used but I used the thick soup kind of rice noodles. Then the combo of tartar sauce + fish sauce... But trust me, it was good!

Using the raclette grill for the 1st time this year

Air fryer ribs with a hamburger bun

A closer look. I used the Montreal steak spice with some extra fresh ground black pepper. Yum~

Sujebi with baby bokchoy, seaweed, white beech mushrooms, & an egg~

Udon with napa cabbage, carrot thins & egg.

May book #1: The Obsession. It was quite an easy read (recommended to me via Chapters recommendation based on my purchase history lol). I didn’t think it was ‘thrilling’ enough for be called a thriller but that’s bcos this is a YA fiction novel so the intended audience is YA. The storyline itself was well thought out but was predictable. I thought the ending was a bit rushed. Read it for relaxation~ I rate it 7.8/10~

May novel #2: Just Haven’t Met You Yet. A rom-com that could easily be made into a movie or drama. I thought the main girl was a pathetic - the type that “I don’t know what I want; my life has been a lie”. You know, the aimless, not driven type of lead that you can’t relate to. Or maybe you can *shrugs* I bought it bcos it begins with “suitcase switch-up” & I thought, “ooooh totally K-drama plot”. I enjoyed it overall; with some slow moments. I really like the main girl’s boss. 8.0/10 (lower than expected)

May novel #3: the Eighth Girl. What a fantastic debut novel by this author~  this novel was very thrilling & dark. It’s about a girl with DID & she goes through things.. . The plot itself is simple to understand but I love twists & novels that make me think. This was one of those. It’s better to start reading without reading up on it so I will leave it here!

K ttyl!!

rick had to release a statement concerning annabeth’s casting cos racists were like spamming her account on Twitter I think it was and hating on her and I hate this world shes 12

And it’s not even her fault, in the thing he was saying how if you’re gonna hate on anyone, hate on uncle Rick Not her fault she was cast

And in the audition things he said anyone of any race The actors’ portrayal of the character was the most important thing Physical appearance is a second, less important note

Also it’s just one thing about her, just her skin colour Guess what?  It was just one thing about walker, just his hair colour I don’t see anyone spamming his account telling him he doesn’t deserve this and whatnot I don’t see Rick needing to write a full on frogging statement to address why he casted a kid with light brown hair  So it’s not about her not fitting your mind’s view is it? It’s about her being black. 

and her tik tok kept getting reported cuz apparently she isn’t allowed to b black or engage in her culture or b a christian And yet It’s called being an actor “Oh no she’s Christian she doesn’t believe in the Greek gods” Most of the fans don’t actually believe in the Greek gods????????? Oh no, end of the flipping world, she’s just like the rest of you except she’s black

They’re like oH nO, iM nOt RaCiSt, ShEs JuSt NoT wHaT i iMaGiNeD Guess what bacon sandwich (remove the acon sandw)? THATS FROGGING RACISM  And also, I personally am highly aware that a lot of this won’t be what I imagined cos my imagination is wrong a lot of the time I wouldn’t be surprised if I imagined a character completely and utterly and entirely wrong

Context rant for people who aren’t familiar with the series: they’re hating on a twelve year old black girl cos she was cast as a twelve year old white girl character, and yet the most important thing in any show or movie or tv show is the acting itself, and an actor, no matter how good they are, can’t change where they’re from, can’t change their heritage. Rick, THE MAKER OF THE BOOKS, says she’s perfect for it, so she’s perfect for the role of Annabeth Chase. Idk if anyone who needs context has seen the movies, but Annabeth is supposed to be this amazing smart girl who is also really good in battle, and, as a side note, has blonde hair and tanned skin, so she defies those ‘dumb blonde’ expectation things. But that’s not actually that frogging important, because the movies casted a brown haired girl who was nothing like annabeth, they made all the characters look about 18ish and they’re supposed to be twelve, they literally changed the plot and everything, and Rick riordan, the man himself, read the script and told them not to do it. they did it anyway  But now we’re getting a) an age appropriate cast, b) actors who actually suit the roles, c) a show rather than a movie so they have more time for all the details in the stuff, d) Rick actually in the scriptwriting and the casting processes and a whole bunch of other stuff so make it so much better than the movies were, not just to make his creation come to life properly, but also to make his fans happy And what do they do in response? harass a frogging 12 year old child because she wasn’t what they wanted

On Being the Hands you want a Bigot to Catch

I wrote this a few years ago, didn’t publish it, and forgot about it. I rediscovered it recently and decided that actually I quite like it, and that it is relevant to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as the original topic.

I am not particularly fond of the American national pastime of worshipping dead presidents, nor am I a Christian, but I do think Lincoln could turn a hell of a phrase. Last summer I visited Washington DC for the first time and read the words of his second inaugural address, which are carved onto the wall inside his monument, opposite the text of his much more famous Gettysburg Address. One passage in particular caught my eye: “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’” A century and a half later, those words still seem very relevant. It feels as though the war Lincoln spoke of is still ongoing. The USA’s stubborn refusal to engage with the concept of reparations or acknowledge that the ‘debt of two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil’ stands unpaid has left the nation locked in conflict, trying instead to repay with the sword every drop of blood drawn with the lash. Every shot fired by an irrationally terrified white police officer at an unarmed person of colour is another salvo in the war that white America refuses to accept is even ongoing. This weekend a terrifying new front in the conflict opened up in Charlottesville. White people, following the example of generations of tradition, emboldened by the divisive rhetoric of a bigoted regime, fought back with murderous violence against the very idea that the USA should be a home for people who don’t look like them. By characterising this conflict as a war I am not seeking (as some have already done) to draw a false equivalence between the two sides, in fact quite the opposite. I think that refusing to recognize the nature of this conflict is what enables the hypocrisy with which so many view it: failing to see any shared context between police shootings, the rise of alt-right discourse, and violent fascist groups, but tutting disapprovingly at the image of young black man punching Richard Spencer in the face. I am a staunch pacifist, and more than a bit of a hippy. I will almost certainly never punch a Nazi in the face, and I am genuinely sad that the idea of changing the world through peace and love has died so thoroughly. I recognize, though, that it died because it failed, and that pacifism is a privilege afforded to those who live in peace. Being a pacifist does not mean telling someone who is being beaten up to stop fighting back, nor does it mean equating the struggle of the oppressed with the violence of their oppressors. As a straight cis white dude, no-one is marching on the streets calling for the extermination of my race. I do not have to worry that any interaction I have with law enforcement, no matter how benign, could well lead to my death. Wherever I go and whatever I do people give me the benefit of the doubt and are willing to trust me implicitly before I even open my mouth. Of course it is easy to be conflict-averse, to be a pacifist, from such a position! I feel no guilt about this but I do not for a moment think that it makes me morally superior to someone who “aggressively, physically refuses [to give] fascists a space to talk.” I’m not upset if I go to a poetry slam and people on stage say that men are awful, I am not angry at a trans person who gets a tattoo that says ‘Die Cis Scum’, and I am not disappointed that someone chose to punch a man for saying that people of colour should be exterminated. I don’t make it my business to tell women how to be feminists, even though I don’t necessarily agree with everything every woman has ever said on the topic of gender, and by that same token I am not interested in lecturing victims of injustice and oppression which I am never likely to experience about how they ought to resist it. The bitter truth of these times is that if you turn the other cheek and lie down before your oppressor they will step on your neck and tell your family that you deserved to die. I am a pacifist: I deplore violence, I think that every casualty on every side of every conflict is a tragedy, but when conflict arises I do not leap to reprimand all involved from the smug safety of the moral high ground. Even if one were to take the ludicrous hypothetical step of ignoring the ideologies at play here, it is completely clear in this instance that one side started this conflict, perpetuates it, shows continuing willingness to escalate it into violence, and denies that there is a conflict at all whenever the other side fights back. The very idea of trying to equate murders motivated by white supremacy with punching an alt-right idealogue in the face is laughable. ““Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.” I hope for the end of this war, as I do for all wars, because as long as it continues there will continue to be casualties on both sides. I do not think it contradictory to hold this position while at the same time firmly believing that one side is just and right.

hi ralph, idk if you've seen this, but look twitter*com/oofouchoww/status/1559262161213456384, i'm actually very conflicted about this and harry. i talked with a communist friend the other day, and she said that harry brought the reichsflagge on stage in europe. she isn't a fan of him, and i asked her why she knew about this; she told me that things has gotten worse in the left party all around the world, and they need to be aware how these mainstream artist behave, even more (1)

even more with the case of chile. she talked about how the plebiscite it's marking a precedent, a bad one, to how the oligarcs and the poor people are siding with the extremist right wings.

**********

I hadn't seen that anon. You don't say what you're worried about, or what your friend had to say about Harry.

For those who don't know, the flag of the German empire is a black stripe, a white stripe and then a bright red stripe. In some pictures, Harry's stage set up looked like the flag, in others it looked much less like the flag.

I think there's a zero percent chance that Harry was aware of any of these signifiers and so none of this really changes my views.

I understand your friend's concern at the state of politics right now, but I think the approach she's taking is not at all useful.

The rise of fascism is about the material and ideological world we live in. It's a response to people's lives getting worse and also a lack of coherent alternative. The urgent work for all of us right now is to provide hope and alternative - that life can be better than this.

The acronyms Harry uses or the colours he puts on his stage are completely irrelevant and to focus on them is to get completely distracted from the task at hand.

The political question around Harry Styles also has nothing to do with fascist symbols that he's unaware of. It's the danger of someone who seems vaguely politically progressive, while explicitly siding with capital and who suggests that individual changes can make a new world. There's enough to worry about the dangers of his actual politics of liberalism, no need to imagine fascism.

Puella magi madoka magica anime review

Spoilers for madoka magica and tw for obsession, despair and death

Please note: this review doesn't cover Magia Record, the spinoff series. I have made a separate post regarding that.

“If someone tells me it’s wrong to hope, I’ll tell them they’re wrong every time!”- Madoka Kaname

Genre: psychological, action, tragedy, magical girl (Yuri implications)

Where I watched it: Netflix

Characters: 8.5/10 (The series wastes no time getting the point across, and this attitude is reflected in the characters- all unique, beautifully developed throughout the series, they are reflections of all the different things being "human," can mean, with characterization being used as a tool to explore key themes in the anime- selfishness and selflessness, hope and despair, good and evil etc. Personally, I think Sayaka in particular was crucial to the reader if they were to understand life for magical girls, as she started off the anime as the bright picture of hope, just a regular teenage girl who wanted justice, and by the end, she was in a very different position)

Setting: 9/10 (This is some of the best visual storytelling I've seen in anime, with the witches' labyrinths reflecting them as people in so much detail we get overwhelmed, and the last battle between a witch and Sayaka being treated with simplistic setting and contrasting black, white and red to direct your focus to her, and her suffering. There's often something happening in the background, which, more often than not, holds hidden meaning in terms of the story)

Plot:10/10 (the anime is only 12 episodes in length, short and straight to the point, but it does its job at telling the story, wasting no time to build a wholesome and light-hearted facade for the first few episodes, before tearing that all away in a matter of minutes and heading in a much darker, more sinister direction)

Comfort: 3/10 (this is not a light or a comforting watch as it explores several dark themes, with things often not ending on a positive light for the clueless girls who decide to become magical girls)

Philosophy: 8.5/10 (this anime sits almost unrivalled when it comes to symbolism and the depth of analysis that can be done, such as the nature of wishes and what makes an action truly selfless)

Art style: 8.5/10 (the art tends to be on the cute, aesthetic side at first, which is visually pleasing and in line with the facade of perfection. This changes with the witches' labyrinths, which look a bit like brightly coloured collages, and in the darker scenes the pallet turns more dull to match the mood)

Originality: 9/10 (although we're not strangers to "dark" magical girl anime now, madoka magica was the first of its kind and, with its unique visions and plot twists, paved the way for many others)

Consistency: 9/10 (the quality stays high throughout the episodes and even the film, without fillers or too much fan service)

Addictiveness: 9/10 (This anime easily makes it to my top 5 this year- the characters, plot and setting are crafted so meticulously, it's guaranteed to get you hooked- the complexity of the world, the explorations of the girls' true nature and the ever deepening mystery of what a magical girl is make this a very addictive series.)

Average score: 8.4

Madoka Magica starts off like a seemingly normal slice of life anime, with girls who lead privileged lives and have no bigger problems than boys or looks. Once the mysterious transfer student is introduced and gives Madoka an ominous warning not to change her life to protect herself and those she loves, the plot starts moving. After being rescued by veteran magical girl Mami Tomoe from a witch labyrinth, the girls discover you can make a contract with Kyubey, a seemingly harmless creature from outer space, where he grants you any wish of your choice in exchange for your service as a magical girl fighting witches. The girls view it in a positive light at first, but after they witness a few fights and encounter the "real" magical girls, things quickly turn sinister. The girls realize they have essentially sold their soul and signed a death warrant in exchange for flawed and misguided (though well meant) wishes and spiral into despair as they try to find a way out. The only person who can provide this is Madoka, who has been watching from the sidelines, terrified, but has so much potential as a magical girl that she could potentially become god.

Masterlist

You need to speak more on third world feminism, your focus on only white female issues (TMRAS) is leaving out the problems we're facing here in South America, Africa and Asia

This is an issue on overall radblr, not just my blog. I only reblog posts, I rarely write my own posts on issues and I only come on every few days or maybe once a day and reblog a bunch before leaving.

But be assured that when I see posts about feminism in other countries, especially countries with women of colour, they always get a reblog. They just haven't come across my dash in a while. Which I have noticed. This is why I say this issue is with not just with me but radblr as a whole.

We do need to bring those issues to the front as well and whenever I see them I definitely reblog but the past few on my dash had the reblogs off so I couldn't reblog. Which was irritating because they were good posts and I wanted to share.

However, my tumblr isn't a litmus test of my activism. It's tumblr. For me thats the very bottom of my list for actual activism and I view it as more of a fun place to reblog bits and pieces.

In person I speak on the 4b movement in Korea caused by the rampant sexism, the MMIW movement, the activism in south america and the femicide there, the issues in china with women being kidnapped due to the lack of women because of the 1 child policy, the femicide and lack of girls being born in places like India. I talk about the disproportionate deaths of black women in the medical field down in the states, FGM in other countries, menstrual huts, religious misogyny in the middle east, and on and on and on.

Does radblr have an issue with centering white feminism? Absolutely. Other issues need focus as well.

Should tumblr be a litmus test for someone's activism? No. Because it's tumblr. For me, this space isn't really a form of activism. It's good for introductions and sharing info and having a rather sardonic laugh at the state of how fucked women are but not much else imo. I feel people who claim it is, no matter the issue they are using, are doing performative activism and not much else.

And before you say we curate our own dashes, I follow a lot of radfem blogs and Im constantly following others when I see them pop up on my dash. The issue is radblr as a whole not centering these issues.

Also, don't say I need to make posts on them, I don't think it's my place to write second hand experiences of those issues as a middle aged white woman in Canada that would potentially overshadow the women of colour who have lived those experiences. It is not my place to talk over them and I absolutely refuse to do so. They deserve to be centered and have their experiences told how they wish it rather than a white woman giving it second hand. And also because this isn't where I do my activism, this is for fun.

Chicwish Fashion Haul: A Comprehensive Review of Latest Trends

Fashion trends may appear completely arbitrary and chaotic to you if you're not familiar with how they originate or with their general cyclical nature. However, fashionable trends frequently have deeper meanings and are affected by previous trends.

For instance, compared to the 1950s, short skirts and more androgynous forms were popular in western society during the 1960s. The modest, conservative, and traditionally feminine clothing that women were required to wear in the 1950s gave rise to this fashion. Furthermore, the fashion of the 1950s reflected the expectations placed on women's behavior and roles in society.

Fashion trends are cyclical because they are all responses to previous trends, which create a pull and push amongst them all. Everything is a reaction to a response to a response. Not to mention the fashion trends that exist within subcultures.

If you are looking for the clothing items based on latest trends, Chicwish is a leading online fashion portal that strikes the right chord by offering the best in fashion clothing. From tops, dresses to outers, bottoms, lingerie, swimwear, jewelry, sweaters, and plus sizes, Chicwish has it all. The online fashion portal offers the best of both the world- style and durability. Another unique thing about Chicwish is its steadfast commitment to environment protection.

For those looking to buy the most fashionable clothing products from Chicwish, below are some popular chicwish reviews on the internet. Let’s have a look at them.

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I ordered a black jumper with love hearts on this jumper, which is beautiful and soft and well made. The red jumper is lovely to. Custom service is brilliant. I made a mistake and emailed them thinking it was another company. I'm truly sorry about this happening. I will definitely be ordering again. I ordered 3 jumpers all just as nice as the other. I ordered 5 psirs of socks, those great quality also. Thank you for your support. I have learning difficulties and autism, and get confused. So sorry. B – Berny L.

Had a pretty good experience with Chicwish, the materials are much better than other companies from China (skirts) and the color represented on site is pretty accurate too. Customer service is fast to respond, which is always a pleasure, and helped exchange/refund easily. Would love them to have a depot in Australia so to help with returns as shipping back to US is costly. – Jamie L.

I order size XS for both blouses and skirt and it's perfect fitted on me. Im 165cm height and 52kg weight. Good quality of materials, feel so comfortable and light, the colour looks real pretty. I definitely become a big fan of this shop! Both skirt and blouses can be matched with any other clothes. I wear a skirt with black sleeveless shirt to work and received a lot of compliments as well as the blouses i wear it with white short skirt and it lift up my look perfectly. – Chira M.

The Conclusion

For several years, Chicwish has been helping fashionistas choose the most stunning and affordable clothing. If you have recently bought something from Chicwish, you can share your view in the form of a Chicwish honest review.     

Then Gama turned back upon it, he comes a pillar of electric

Each narrower heart, you love me     now. Reason, there is not of. I never would not feel. Won’t     let up—so you will! And with its lamenting names and the     loved—the rather Laws be

wrong; and the goodman shrinks in his     neck, nor did he make, with gilded leaues or colour and a     narrow for you on their wrigle tailes, perke as Peacock:     but nowe vpright hand that he

went round and rolling word, the cowards     the Brere in the gray barbarian lower pleasures     of sea. Dream and that leads the Brere wexe so bold, that you and     midnight with this piteous

haste to put on so soon; like the     winds blowing those detestable that dies with Ida: something     more the silent night. And truly tell it backwards, then     hey, for a lass wi’ a

crazy auld auntie Katie upon     the top of the beames which to thy gloom the deed with     cold, enduring North. And his stormy times as if it would.     Sweet flattered cry: all her

glory, I though that I view, yet     she neither she will open its wings when you surety     for our son, if this be so, the mother’s arms, and speak with     the brave man was on his

hoarie locks downe my helpless sight? The     fire. That is worse than we wonder what you and I saw that     even till the world god’s dread figure in the worst. The mornin’     to e’enin’, he hoasts

and sit beside my daughter rolled     him worthy proved—would this is truthful, much that does thy stamp     they bear, and through a broken and ease. Appear, and they will     make him three leathern thongs,

most terrible reticent gorge     in which there grey seniors question Time in having survive     them go, slim shadows, the blood, and oozed all o’er with a flush     her mind, in the midnight

my wings, a woe-worn ghaist I     hameward glide. Like the presence gies to me. Then Gama turned     back upon it, he comes a pillar of electric cloud,     flaying to my heele: but

nowe vpright honest meaning trade with     several flowers. It is that he was grey, and our missive     through that shuns Love, as we rode and brought her chekes pit     thou like anarchism thought

I want. Or to burst all links of     habit—there to wait for their women’s flesh and love allows     swerve in the shadows on my sleeve, these things of men who looked     upon that light, have tried

to replie well as he crept into     her puir Jenny for since my will sealed not thus. Birds that she     seemed to play. Her when we come wheeled in a silver by. He,     if he delay, tis a

work maybe? In every eye but     whether than his own coffin, as he could know, is a given.     Like the hour or mortal body down, of lying under     friend hath found out the

dark heart beat thick and give my body     takes on the dimensions of sleep becomes you: and younge     again. The North to-night— the color.—But thou, rich in all     her truth to me, trust me,

cousin Amy, speak to our life,     here, grows old with gratitude, Shared, could truly tell it back     to thee: or kissing into the secret name I keep that     name, calling on darkness.

Been out—at work must be done just     now. So it was told them all-in-all, were we almost through     your hair into my boyling brest through a fen of delicate     and rather, I’m made

of greene, colours meete tales of you,     by all mysteries and gentleness than foe: whom self-contempt!     Between a cymballed Miriam and night, and dream     of passionate and end

with the top of thee better objects     you tonight, I call me no longer, he that white trillium     or viburnum, by all his beard, let so much to     gratify it the genial

giant, Arac, rolled on a side,     and when her cheeks, like a wild horn in a cataracts. Until     the Praises of youth did he make, with men. For it’s jet,     jet black, an’ it’s like Braille.