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it's funny, I was talking to someone last night who didn't really know what an illustrator was. so when I introduced myself as one, he gave a speech that would've probably gone over well with a gallery artist, but which was precision-tailored to make any illustrator within a 50 mile radius go into eyes-glowing-red kill mode.

his speech was about how there is a difference between craft and art, and how people can practice craft (as in, skillfully execute a painting) without it having any artistic merit.

so I'm someone who gets paid to paint waffles for restaurant menus and dinosaurs for museums exhibits, and AHHHHHH! AHHHHHHH! you can't make art without it being something something you've made. does that make sense? like every illustrator I know has an individual way of approaching any given imagery that is informed by a lifetime of inspiration, and of passive intake of culture, and of the specific mistakes they make because of whatever their particular mass of grey matter deems as important thing to render or unimportant, just fuck it up.

I can make something that is informed by both a century of Canadian print-making and by my own particular neurosis, and it can also be commissioned commercial imagery that I regurgitate without care because I want to pay my mortgage. everything is art, nothing isn't art, art is something sticky and impossible to shake off of you.

anyway he got very wide-eyed and said "I'm sorry if I offended you," so today I feel a bit bad for having gotten so, uh.... excited.

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one time i told a guy with a huge punisher decal on his car that i loved the punisher but that i'm too scared to have any of his merch because in the current political climate i wouldn't want people to think i support killing police and the man had. no response whatsoever. he was smiling and completely frozen in place. i'd never seen anyone bluescreen that hard

do with this information what you will

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if a sword is like an extension of the wielder. and a sword can be said to have its own identity. then can a sword not feel grief and sorrow at being forced to clash with its opponent forged in the same crucible but forced to turn against it. can a sword not cry out in the screech of metal on metal from the pain of betrayal.

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Baird's tapir Tapirus bairdii

With yellow-headed caracara Daptrius chimachima

Observed by infinitaselva, CC BY-NC

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good read for teachers.

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This machine kills AI

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🔹 Saying that it's okay to write or read about dark and taboo topics but only when they're portrayed in a certain way is still censorship.

🔹 Wanting to ban or forbid media that you believe portrays a negative topic in a positive light, by glorifying, romanticizing, or fetishizing it is still censorship.

🔹 There is no objective metric to decide if a story is portraying a negative topic the 'right' way.

🔹 Just because a piece of fiction doesn't explicitly condemn or portray an evil action in a bad light in the text doesn't mean the author thinks its good or is trying to persuade the audience that it is good.

🔹 Survivors of trauma will not always write fiction about their trauma in a way that seems 'right' or 'normal' to you.

🔹 Banning fiction because it portrays dark, taboo topics in a way you consider gross or disgusting is still censorship.

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my friend events this week:

I reached out to an old high school friend after 12 years of not speaking, only to find that she's in Greece doing a phd on psychiatric euthanasia. I confessed to being ignorant about the topic, so she emailed me 19 research papers and said "this will be a good start"

I asked another friend to provide a professional reference for me as part of a grant application. she agreed to, on the condition that I log into neopets, collect the daily free item, and transfer it to her account

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I promise you your outlook on life will be so much better if you occassionally take the time to be as impressed by things as you would if you'd never seen them before in your life.

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The Woodland Park Zoo had a spring event this past weekend, which I had to hit up for the fun enrichment. My favorite of all is the maned wolves - who you rarely ever get such a good chance to see!

One moment, they're elegant and ethereal. Then there's enrichment, and you realize they're just long-legged stinky goofballs [affectionate].

Meet Rosario (with tail) and Urso (tail-less).

Elegant, ethereal, unreal:

Ridiculous, adorable, dogs-running-fox-software:

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client call

client : doctor, my cat won’t eat after i feed her the pills. Can i stop giving her pills?

me: the prescribed pills don’t have such side effects. it’s only one day left, i suggest that you keep giving her until tomorrow. However if she’s having bad appetite i suggest you bring her in for further examinations

client: but she has good appetite! she’s eating normally!

me:…

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There are people in my life who have told me "I believe the rapture will happen in my lifetime." But they also agonize over their retirement plans.

I also had a person in my life who have told me "I believe the rapture will happen in my lifetime" and that person sold their house and moved into the desert and died trying to fast like in some Bible story.

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Andalusia - Lisa Marie Basile / Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn / Runs in the Family - Amanda Palmer / unknown / Hate To Feel - Alice In Chains / The Lion In Winter - James Goldman / Letter To My Rage: An Evolution - Lidia Yuknavitch / Rupi Kaur / The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera / Amanda Palmer / Blud, "Glutton" - Rachel McKibbens / Medusa With the Head of Perseus, ‘Wound From the Mouth of a Wound’ - Torrin A. Greathouse / Easier Than Lying - Halsey / Playing God - Paramore / Nancy Lee / On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong / Enough - Suzanne Buffam / Antigone (Sophocles / trans. Anne Carson) / Family Tree (Intro) - Ethel Cain / Kellin / In The Blood - John Mayer / Antigonick - Anne Carson / The Chronology of Water - Lidia Yuknavitch / Untitled, Jasmin R. / When Doves Cry - Prince / I AM ANGRY BECAUSE OF MY FATHER - Halsey / Courtney Love prays to Oregon - Clementine Von Radics / unknown / Cradle - Paris Paloma

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