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sophiamcdougall · 3 hours
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This may be an urban legend and I will preface this by saying that I don't even remember where I heard it, but going to bigger cities in Finland always reminds me of it nonetheless, so I'm telling you now.
There was a student group from either China or Korea - I can't recall which one, but Asian nonetheless - who were in student exchange to Finland, in Helsinki. The finnish hosts did their best to make them feel welcome, touring them around the city on the first day out and about, but they noticed the asian students seeming uneased by something. Not in a way of just being timid about being in a foreign country, but glancing at each other like something was off, and looking at each other with this air of "you're seeing it too, right?" but none of them wanted to be the first to bring it up to their finnish hosts. Both cultures are the high-context type, so they had clearly concluded that since the finns didn't point out the obvious unpromptedly, the subject might be too sensitive to talk about.
Eventually one of the exchange students decided to brave against this potential taboo, and delicately asked: "has something... Happened here?" And there was mutual surprise when the finns had no clue what they were talking about. This was pre-covid, nothing bad had happened there. And one of the exchange students - who still weren't sure whether they're breaching a taboo of something One Does Not Talk About - bravely elaborated. The streets are empty. It's eerie. They're in the central of the capital city and the streets are almost deserted. Has there been some calamity? A plague, an earthquake, have the people fled or been evacuated somewhere? Is it safe to even be here?
And they were just as baffled when the finnish hosts confirmed that no, this is a normal amount of people to see on the street on a normal day. Finland just looks like this. And for the sake of clarity, this is what Helsinki city centre looks like on a normal saturday morning at 10 am:
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Both pictures taken by me, this morning.
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sophiamcdougall · 3 hours
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you guys wanna see the most accurate and blasphemous representation of the words ‘catholic shaming’?
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sophiamcdougall · 3 hours
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sophiamcdougall · 3 hours
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Propaganda
Eartha Kitt (Anna Lucasta, St. Louis Blues)—My friend and I have a saying: NOBODY is Eartha Kitt. A thousand have tried, and they've all come up empty and will continue to do so. Everyone knows her for something: from "Santa Baby" to Yzma in Emperor's New Groove to Catwoman to making Lady Bird Johnson cry for the Vietnam War. She was a master of comedy and sex, an extremely vocal activist, and she aged like fine wine... I honestly don't know what I can say about her that hasn't already been said, so I'll stick to linking all my propaganda. Like what else do you want from me. She was iconic at everything she ever did. Literally name another. How can anyone even think of her and not want to absolutely drown?
Maggie Smith (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie)— Look, ok she's best known now for Downton Abbey and the Potter franchise, but the woman won an Oscar in 1969, so that makes her eligible in my oh so humble opinion. She starred opposite Olivier in her first major play role (which was filmed) and her wit and beauty was just the epitome of everything I wanted to be as a child
This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.
[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]
Eartha Kitt:
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"A hot vintage woman who was not just known for her voice, beauty, poise, and presence, but also her unapologetic ways of speaking about how she was mistreated in the show business as a girl who grew up on cotton fields in South Carolina in the 1930s through the 1940s coming to Broadway first and then Hollywood."
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"Have you watched her sing?? Have you seen her face?? Have you heard her talk?? How could you not fall instantly in love. She makes me incoherent with how hot she is."
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"She can ACT she can SING she can speak FOUR LANGUAGES she is a GODDESS!!! Although she is (rightfully) remembered for her singing, TV appearances (Catwoman my beloved), and later film roles, her early appearances in film are no less impressive or noteworthy!! She’s an amazing actress with so much charisma in every role. She was also blacklisted from Hollywood for 10 years for criticizing the Johnson administration/Vietnam War, so. Iconic. Also Orson Welles apparently called her “the most exciting woman in the world.”
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"She had such a stunning, remarkable appearance, like she could tear you to shreds with just a glance- but the most undeniable part of her hotness was her voice, and it makes sense that it's what most people nowadays know her for. Nothing encapsulates the sheer magnetism of her singing better than this clip of her and Nat King Cole in St. Louis Blues, she pops in at 2:49. Also I know it's post-1970 but her song that was cut from Emperor's New Groove is likely to make you feel Feelings."
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Even with as racist as Hollywood was in the 1950s and 60s, Eartha Kitt STILL managed to have a thriving career. She also once had a threesome with Paul Newman and James Dean, and called out LBJ over the Vietnam War so hard that it made First Lady Johnson cry. Eartha Kitt was talented, sexy, and a total badass activist.
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Maggie Smith:
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sophiamcdougall · 4 hours
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sophiamcdougall · 13 hours
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EDITING AS I GO IS THE ONLY WAY I HAVE EVER WRITTEN ANYTHING AND I AM TRYING TO UNLEARN IT I AM TRYING TO DO AN ACTUAL 'FIRST DRAFT' RIGHT NOW AND IT IS SO FUCKING HARD AND MAYBE WRITING IS JUST TERRIBLE AND NO ONE SHOULD DO IT.
*through sweat, blood, and tears* YOU WILL NOT EDIT THE FIRST DRAFT AS YOU GO. YOU WILL NOT EDIT THE FIRST DRAFT AS YOU GO. YOU WILL NOT EDIT THE FIRST DRAFT. AS YOU GO.
YOU. WILL. NOT. EDIT. THAT. FIRST. DRAFT.
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sophiamcdougall · 13 hours
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Every now and then I see some text -- whether some random post or an actual article by a historian -- about how in the past, people saw sexuality as something you did, not something you were. And this is often presented as evidence of some immense difference -- difficult for modern people to get their minds around. And often this is actually treated with pecular wistfulness, like it might even be better than the concepts of identity we have now! The word "labels" may be used. In the past, they didn't hate people for being gay because they didn't have a concept of being gay! No we're not saying everyone was straight -- they didn't conceive of that, either! This tends to slide straight into the assertion that people were not gay. They were something something fucking Foucault.
Note: my problem is not with people who remind us we can never know for sure whether Specific Historical Figure X was Identity Y, which is perfectly reasonable. This is about denying the possible existence of any even hypothetical identity Y person. This is about the argument that unlike 'cystic fibrosis' or 'tectonic plates' or other modern terms for ancient realities, the emergence of the words 'gay', 'lesbian' 'bisexual' etc etc etc, fundamentally altered the very fabric of reality itself. And this has always bothered the fuck out of me. And I have said before: but "it's something you do" and "gay people do not actually exist, just humans doing gay things" are not strange and exotic artifacts of the past. They didn't go anywhere. These areentirely modern beliefs held by millions of people you can see and talk to right now. They are called homophobes.
Because while yes, yes, "born this way" is not the be all and end all of queer liberation, only the cruellest people think it is fair to bully someone for an innate trait that they cannot change. If you think that no one has an intrinsic sexuality, it is easier to instead divide people into those who are freely choosing to carry out acceptable vs unacceptable actions. People who are transgressing just for the sake of it. And then -- what else might they do? Very, very recently these people have become a little quieter about phrasing in that exact way when it comes to gay people. But they haven't gone away. So anyway: maybe this will make it easier for you to see what I mean. I just came across this, in the context of denying that trans people were involved in Stonewall:
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sophiamcdougall · 15 hours
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the way being employed keeps you from video games and other various activities is so sick. genuinely demonic
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sophiamcdougall · 23 hours
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Flying South by Clara Scintilla, 2023
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sophiamcdougall · 23 hours
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sophiamcdougall · 1 day
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sophiamcdougall · 2 days
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sophiamcdougall · 2 days
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On top of everything else I swear Microsoft Word has gone from insisting the Oxford comma is always wrong to insisting it's always right.
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sophiamcdougall · 2 days
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sophiamcdougall · 2 days
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As promised! I wrote about the illegal fanbinding that's led to writers deleting their works recently, how that connects to the current pull-to-publish wave, and what happens when the rapidly expanding sphere of fic readers starts to get disconnected from *fandom*:
The ever-increasing reach of fanfiction has inched the practice away from text-written-in-community to a more traditional author-reader relationship—and the context collapse that’s come with viral works being treated like any other romance novel has spurred clashes between different types of readers with different sets of expectations. In the past few years, fic authors across all corners of fandom have increasingly complained about shifting attitudes from readers who treat them like any other content creator, demanding the next chapter as you might demand your favorite influencer’s next video. But unlike on creative platforms like TikTok and YouTube, the fic writer doesn’t get revenue from their new installment.
We'll also talk about this in some capacity on the next episode of @fansplaining! (In contrast with today's episode, on the non-monetized, gift-economy practices of many fanbinders, whose hobby is also imperiled by the people selling and buying fic.)
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sophiamcdougall · 2 days
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Can I say something embarrassing? Will you promise not to get mad at me?
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sophiamcdougall · 2 days
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this diagram from my science textbook reads like a tumblr shitpost and i love it
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