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Mariko Kusumoto: Seascape (2021)

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Untitled, 2024 - by David Galstyan (1986), Armenian

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I think an underappreciated element of Leia's character is that even after days or weeks of ruthless interrogation interspersed with torture, she still had the presence of mind to identify a feature of the Stormtrooper who barged into her cell that she could mock.

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murano art glass pendant designed by carlo nason for mazzega, 1970s italy

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What’s your opinion on when people say that Palpatine told Anakin what he wanted to hear whereas the Jedi told Anakin want he needed to hear?

i don't think it's necessarily an incorrect statement, but i do think it needs to be addressed what end that statement is being made towards. because, yeah, to some extent, part of what palpatine does is tell anakin what he wants to hear; but that's an understatement and an oversimplification of what's happening between them during those scenes where palpatine is praising anakin.

a good chunk of the time, anakin pushes back against what palpatine tells him to think, and that's what these scenes are; palpatine asking anakin to think the way he needs anakin to think. there's a deleted scene of ROTS where palpatine is encouraging anakin to be upset that he hasn't been made a master, and anakin says, "my time will come, eventually," which reflects the fact that anakin, in spite of his petulant outburst, is pretty apologetic both to the council and to obi-wan about it afterwards. anakin has frustrations that are ambitious and arrogant, and the thing is, left to his own devices, he can curb them pretty well because he does. he apologizes and explains why he acted the way he did in the council chambers - he's already frustrated with the council, he feels slighted, he doesn't understand the decision that was made. the last time he sees obi-wan before mustafar, he apologizes again for taking obi-wan's teachings for granted, for his frustrations, and for his petulant outbursts, which are all indications that anakin, left to his own devices, can and will course-correct.

palpatine doesn't just make moves like appointing anakin to the council because he wants to appeal to anakin's lust for power - in fact, i would actually argue that that's not why he does it at all. whatever lust for power that anakin does have is overshadowed in the film by just how uncomfortable anakin is with the reality of what palpatine has done, which is; palpatine isolated him. palpatine made public overtures and public moves to make sure the council knew how friendly he was with anakin, how well he knew anakin - requesting anakin's presence at the opera, making anakin a master, that's so much less about giving anakin what he wants and so much more about making it look like that's what palpatine's doing. because anakin, who can be arrogant, getting suddenly awarded a position on the council by the chancellor makes it look like he used his Bestie Leverage, and that's exactly what everyone believes. that's exactly why anakin has to defend to obi-wan that he didn't ask for this position, that he didn't ask palpatine for this. that move? that wasn't about rewarding anakin, it was about isolating him.

and most of everything he does is about isolating anakin. i don't think anakin wants to hear, particularly, that someone that's a father to him thinks everyone around him is snubbing him, doesn't trust him, doesn't value him, and is even plotting against him. anakin does not want to hear that he shouldn't trust anyone other than palpatine. praise is only part of what palpatine's actually doing with anakin, and the praise is to earn the trust that will allow palpatine to do pretty horrible things to anakin's perception of the world and his place in it. palpatine doesn't tell anakin what he wants to hear as much as he tells anakin what he wants anakin to think, which graduates to actual orders, like in ROTS when palpatine orders anakin to do something anakin knows is wrong (he says as much) and anakin still does it. the pointed reminder after anakin kills dooku that palpatine knows that anakin's failed at being a jedi before, when he slaughtered the tuskens? that wasn't to praise or reassure anakin. that's blackmail. that's, "i've got you made."

the thing is, as much as anakin trusts and loves palpatine, i think it's actually very rare that talking with palpatine makes him feel better about himself or the world around him or the people around him, because that is the express opposite of what palpatine wants. palpatine wants anakin alone, angry, and confused, and he wants to take that version of anakin and break it unfathomably. that praise might make anakin feel good in the short term but the follow up is almost always, "pity that no one else loves you as much as i do," which is, actually, fucking crushing to hear. so, like, yeah, sometimes palpatine strokes anakin's ego, but that's always, always under the guise of making anakin easier to manipulate. so i think the idea that anakin bears responsibility for listening to the praise palpatine offered is kind of a wild idea, because, you know, that's exactly what palpatine wanted everyone around anakin to think so he could get away with seducing anakin to the dark side. that was the goal. anakin bears responsibility for the actual crimes he does, and having the audacity to be preyed upon is one of the few things anakin does for which someone else bears the responsibility.

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Hajime Sorayama (1994)

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I absolutely need AOTC!anakin laying his head on my hips and have his arms wrapped around my waist, and listen to him mumble sleepily as I play with his hair … that’s all I want right now like pls gimme that sweet boy

#aww i can be his new mom #anakin

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antonio berardi ss06

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Mia Goth for Wonderland Magazine (2013)

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18th and 19th century Polynomial fish-bodys, partly with hinged heads and mouths.

Red stones as eyes

Stahl Auctions

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andrew bush, "woman taking her time rambling south at 63 mph on the hollywood freeway near the vine street exit on a saturday afternoon," 1991, chromogenic print

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