genyyasafin

[genyyasafin]

Tolkien Reading Day is almost over, but just popping on to say that my favorite passage on this year's theme of service and sacrifice is from Gandalf in ROTK:

"It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till."

This so perfectly encapsulates the imperatives of service here in the real world. You have a responsibility to others to address the problems and evils of life. You literally owe that to the people who are yet to come, who deserve a fair shot at making their way in a world that isn't irreparably tainted by the messes that we made for them. And yet, it isn't your responsibility to fix every single problem and for all time. It's too easy to get discouraged by the immensity of how much is fucked up in the world that needs to be solved. People end up doing nothing because they quickly discover that they can't do everything.

So stop trying to find that magic, silver bullet solution. There is no way to solve everything all at once. Instead, pick something -- what you know and what's in the fields in front of you -- and make it better. Clean that earth. Another person can do the tilling, and someone else the sowing and yet another the harvesting. Someone else can complete the work, but only if you find the strength to honor your responsibility to start it.

[genyyasafin]

the default way for things to taste is good. we know this because "tasty" means something tastes good. conversely, from the words "smelly" and "noisy" we can conclude that the default way for things to smell and sound is bad. interestingly there are no corresponding adjectives for the senses of sight and touch. the inescapable conclusion is that the most ordinary object possible is invisible and intangible, produces a hideous cacophony, smells terrible, but tastes delicious. and yet this description matches no object or phenomenon known to science or human experience. so what the fuck

#mmhmmm #it’s sure something

[genyyasafin]

hiiiiiiiiiiii

Hi darling!!

#fated enemy (affectionate) #asks

[genyyasafin]

tangled, but rapunzel is desi

[genyyasafin]

Elrond: Let's maybe not swear a binding oath to keep jewelry away from an Ainu at all cost. Let's maybe. Let's maybe just like, pinky promise to do our best. Trust me on this, you don't want to swear any oaths

[genyyasafin]

okay was talking to a friend and got curious

[genyyasafin]

#OBSESSED

[genyyasafin]

thinking about clara bow and how her art defined that era but then married her husband who denied their marriage and then she never acted again and ariel who lost her voice after chasing the man she loved and how masie peters says in her song wendy "if i'm not careful, i'll wake up and we'll be married and i'll still flinch at the sound of the door" and "you could take me to neverland baby, we could live off of magic and maybes, but i know the girl that you want and it scares me, behind every lost boy, there's always a wendy" and "lose the world that you live in, pretend that it's what you wanted, it's a life i could have, i know" and "what about my wings? what about wendy?"

and i'm just feeling like the theme of the tortured poets department is going to be: what about my art? what about my voice? what about my wings, what about wendy?

[genyyasafin]

"they should be at the club" "they should be at the farmers market" "they should be at the public library" well i should be in my lovers arms but im not am i. life is full of disappointments

#fated enemy (affectionate)

[genyyasafin]

sometimes I see people calling Aziraphale selfish in an accusatory way, as if it's a flaw that needs to be smoothed out, as if it isn't a trait that is at once defiant and emancipating, as if his selfishness isn't mostly wielded in an empowering and kind way, as if it's categorically bad to want things for yourself, to enjoy them, to have and keep them, as if selfish isn't the most revolutionary thing an angel can be

[genyyasafin]

not only is my new thesaurus terrible, but it’s also terrible

#that’s atrocious

[genyyasafin]

One of the things that’s really struck me while rereading the Lord of the Rings–knowing much more about Tolkien than I did the last time I read it–is how individual a story it is.

We tend to think of it as a genre story now, I think–because it’s so good, and so unprecedented, that Tolkien accidentally inspired a whole new fantasy culture, which is kind of hilarious. Wanting to “write like Tolkien,” I think, is generally seen as “writing an Epic Fantasy Universe with invented races and geography and history and languages, world-saving quests and dragons and kings.” But… But…

Here’s the thing. I don’t think those elements are at all what make The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings so good. Because I’m realizing, as I did not realize when I was a kid, that Tolkien didn’t use those elements because they’re somehow inherently better than other things. He used them purely because they were what he liked and what he knew.

The Shire exists because he was an Englishman who partially grew up in, and loved, the British countryside, and Hobbits are born out of his very English, very traditionalist values. Tom Bombadil was one of his kids’ toys that he had already invented stories about and then incorporated into Middle-Earth. He wrote about elves and dwarves because he knew elves and dwarves from the old literature/mythology that he’d made his career. The Rohirrim are an expression of the ancient cultures he studied. There are a half-dozen invented languages in Middle-Earth because he was a linguist. The themes of war and loss and corruption were important to him, and were things he knew intimately, because of the point in history during which he lived; and all the morality of the stories, the grace and humility and hope-in-despair, was an expression of his Catholic faith. 

J. R. R. Tolkien created an incredible, beautiful, unparalleled world not specifically by writing about elves and dwarves and linguistics, but by embracing all of his strengths and loves and all the things he best understood, and writing about them with all of his skill and talent. The fact that those things happened to be elves and dwarves and linguistics is what makes Middle-Earth Middle-Earth; but it is not what makes Middle-Earth good.

What makes it good is that every element that went into it was an element J. R. R. Tolkien knew and loved and understood. He brought it out of his scholarship and hobbies and life experience and ideals, and he wrote the story no one else could have written… And did it so well that other people have been trying to write it ever since.

So… I think, if we really want to write like Tolkien (as I do), we shouldn’t specifically be trying to write like linguists, or historical experts, or veterans, or or or… We should try to write like people who’ve gathered all their favorite and most important things together, and are playing with the stuff those things are made of just for the joy of it. We need to write like ourselves.

[genyyasafin]

“For the greatest crime of the poor in the eyes of the wealthy has always been to strike back. To fail to suffer in silence and instead disrupt their lives and their fantasies of a compassionate society that coincidentally set them on top. To say no.”

— Shannon Chakraborty, The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

[genyyasafin]

the way we're getting to see percy's powers evolve!!!! he just learned how to breathe underwater and trust his dad a little bit but he still doesn't have control!! he still gets wet from the water and is not really sure if he controlled the water the save annabeth or how he did because he doesn't just power up right away when he realizes he's the son of poseidon. its a journey for him to ACCEPT that identity and EVERYTHING THAT COMES WITH IT (cough cough the great prophecy cough cough "you still dont get where you fit into all this" cough cough "this is so much bigger than you realize" cough cough "youre not just SOME KID why are you so afraid of who you are")

its so cool how his power ups are the result of an emotional journey of his tumultuous relationship with his dad and also him learning to trust himself and his place in this new world!!! im so excited to see where they take this and how they build him up to eventually (spoiler!) blowing up volcanoes and making personal hurricanes

[genyyasafin]

The reason that the changes made from the book to show are so good, I feel, is because Rick is not only an executive producer but he also gave them ‘bibles’ for the characters and the plot.

They’re giving us the same plot and adventure while changing details to dive deeper into the characters and their flaws.

Another note, I absolutely love how they keep referring to the gods as ‘family’ because that’s literally what this is. It’s one big fucked up family in a big cycle of “my parents fucked me up so I’m gonna fuck you up”. The way they humanize the gods this way is so fascinating. And the way that the gods may not be emotional about anything but they’ll get heated over their parents and siblings.

The trio were cast so perfectly that it feels like I’m walking into the books. Literally can’t wait for the next few seasons 😭 I hope they spare my soul with season 2 and just release the whole thing all at once. Waiting is causing my impatience to flare up.

[genyyasafin]

actually the show is doing an incredible job of portraying percy because in every episode he’s meant to seem stupid because this is stuff annabeth and grover know already “can i ask a dumb question” but everything he says is incredibly valid and makes sense and i. something about how the fandom sees percy vs now he really is. he really is so smart.

[genyyasafin]

The scene at the start of All Hell Breaks Loose where Dean talks to Sam's corpse in that shack in the middle of nowhere is soul crushing to an incomprehensible level that the show hardly ever manages to reach again.

Firstly, what is revealed about Dean as he spills his heart open is devastating on a whole other level. Like there's grief and then there's this - it's like a piece of him has been torn out and he's left unable to literally function. It's not really a new idea in the series up to this point that Dean has centered his life around his family, in particular protecting Sam. As he starts off, he wishes so desperately that Sam didn't start asking questions about their family so Dean could preserve his innocence just a little bit longer. No doubt John put a lot of pressure on Dean to protect and look after Sam, but taking on this role was something that was all but written inside him, as he says, John didn't even have to tell him to do it, Sam was his responsibility. The tipping point in this scene is when Dean finally asks "what am I supposed to do" - how can he even begin to move beyond this? He doesn't care if the world ends anymore, doesn't care if Azazel wins and he never gets revenge. In asking this question Dean realises that he is incapable of letting go of Sam, of the responsibilities to his family he has built his life around like the grain of sand at the centre of the pearl, and of the crushing guilt that comes with 'failing' these responsibilities. The only way forwards is to force the laws of nature to bend for him and bring Sam back from the dead, no matter the cost.

Secondly, this is heart wrenching to me for Sam too. Here he is, 23 years old and lying dead on a dingy mattress in a shack in the middle of nowhere - the only escape from his dark destiny found in death. But the primary reason it seems that Dean makes this massive sacrifice to bring him back isn't because he's 23 and has so much of life he deserves to live, but because he is incapable of living under the weight of his guilt in failing him - that he is Dean's responsibility that he can't live with letting down. And this is not to say that Dean doesn't also bring him back because he loves and care for him as a person, but it's not like Dean was sitting there talking to Sam saying you didn't deserve this, we were so close to ending this, you deserved to go on to have a life that hasn't been built around and in grief and revenge, hell, you could've even gone back to university and had your happy ending. You know? It's like selling your soul for someone is a crazy batshit insane thing to do - the ultimate sacrifice. But same as with John, it seems that the reason behind it wasn't just pure love and desire for that person to live just because they didn't deserve to die. John needed Dean to be there to ensure Sam didn't go darkside - to kill him if he can't save him. In both cases it was out of love, but in this weird objectified way.

It's just so fascinating how this dynamic between the three Winchesters, love and sacrifice plays out in the early seasons. How supernatural finds selfishness at the centre of this seemingly sacrificial selfless act. The selfishness in martyrdom.

That's why this scene is just heart wrenching in my sad insane little head. Sam and Dean were crazy codependants before this but this scene marks a turn for the worst (in codependence) for them. This scene is like the solidification of Dean's belief that he is worthless and incapable of functioning without the responsibilities he holds to his family and solidifies that Sam is the little brother possession for Dean to protect and regulate until his time runs out and he's shipped off to hell - leaving him at the centre of his massacred family with all the fingers pointing in his direction. His mum was collateral damage to his anti-baptism by a demon, his Dad sold his soul for his brother's life to be the final yes or no in the decision of whether Sam deserves to live or not, and now his brother's gone and done the same for him. But hey, at least when Dean gets dragged down to hell it isn't with the weight of guilt that he failed his responsibilities.

(spoiler alert: he feels guilty for leaving Sam anyway and Sam spirals anyway).

#spn