#An American Curios

[antimonyantigone]

Mourning Brooch American, early 1800s hair, gold RISD collection

#mourning #mourning jewelry #american art #grief #curio cabinet #1800s art

[darkwood-hollows]

booktubers: trying to reinvent magical realism into "curio fantasy"

latinos:

#bookblr #can we stop. trying to separate these influences from their post colonial Latin American roots pls and thank. #latino authors have continued stories with magical realism into modern day #and now we have people trying to micro trend it into 'curio fantasy' bleh. #boils my piss

[curiositykilledtheradiostar]

Call me cliche but I'm full of romantic longing after listening to Mitski

#what is it about Francis Forever and Best American Girl that makes your soul leave your body #I want... gf.. Or bf... I yearn for a lover to spend long nights with and stargaze.. #I'm not the moon... I'm not even a star... But late at night I'll be singing to the birds.... *sobs* #curio chatter #mitski

[dystopicjumpsuit]

hey hey hey, for the first kiss prompts-

the uncontrollable smile they break into either after or during the kiss itself with... Jesse!

happy writing <3

Thank you for the request @multi-fan-dom-madness! I got a flash of inspiration during the thotting hours, so I bring a Thanksgiving present for you. (That's totally how Thanksgiving works, right?)

A/N: Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers! May your turkey be as juicy as Jesse’s thighs.

Pairing: Jesse x Reader (GN)

Rating: T but MDNI as always

Wordcount: 720

Warnings and tags: Fluff, banter, kisses

Summary: Jesse performs "emergency field medicine."

Suggested Listening:

Masterlist | Sign up for my tag list

There’s an ARC trooper in your office. He has his back to you as he inspects your shelves full of plants, holoframes, curios, and even a few actual paper books. You don’t recognize the kama, so he’s not one of yours—though you have no doubt that the Jedi generals would lecture you for getting attached to the troopers that way. 

Good thing I’m not a Jedi.

Whoever he is, he’s a big kriffing dude. ARC troopers always look extra imposing thanks to the pauldrons, but damn, this one must have needed custom armor to accommodate those muscles. His helmet is off, and all you can see is the back of his shaved head.

“Hello,” you say. “Can I help you with something?”

Translation: Who are you, and what the kark are you doing in my office?

He turns, and you catch a glimpse of a large Republic cog tattoo.

“Jesse?!” you exclaim, rushing across the office to fling your arms around him. 

He doesn’t even stagger a little bit as you collide with him, just wraps his arms around you in a tight hug. Impulsively, you press your lips to his cheek.

“When did you get back?” you demand.

He beams at you with a smile that’s too brilliant to be contained. “About ten minutes ago. Came straight here.”

“And I was stuck in a meeting,” you say with disgust, drawing a laugh from him. 

“I haven’t been waitin’ long,” he replies.

“Well, I’ve been waiting for you forever!” you exclaim. “How long is ARC training, anyway?”

An odd expression flickers over his face, and he hesitates before he replies, “I’m not actually allowed to say. Sorry.”

“That’s all right; I’m just happy to have you back,” you grin as you lean back to admire his new armor. “Look at you, Mr. ARC Trooper! You look great.”

“That’s ‘Lieutenant ARC Trooper,’” he says with a tiny smirk.

“You got promoted? Jesse, that’s amazing!”

“Yeah, I didn’t think I’d ever make it past sergeant, either,” he jokes.

“That’s not what I meant,” you laugh, slapping his chest and immediately regretting it when your knuckles collide with the hard plastoid armor. "Ouch!"

“How was that?” he asks.

“2/10, do not recommend,” you reply, shaking your hand to ease the stinging.

“Let me see.” He takes your hand gently in his and holds it close to his face to inspect it. “I think it might be fatal.”

“Better get Kix in here before I keel over,” you say, trying to ignore the warmth of his fingers and the rough texture of his gloves on your skin.

“No time,” Jesse replies gravely. “I’ll have to perform emergency medical treatment.”

He kisses your knuckles softly, and your heart begins to hammer in your chest.

“Did they teach you that in ARC training, or did you pick it up from Kix?” you ask, trying to keep your tone light.

“It’s a top secret ARC procedure,” he replies. “Very advanced medicine. I doubt Kix has heard of it.”

“I’m so lucky you were here to kiss it better,” you say. “I’d hate to die of a scraped knuckle.”

“Funny story,” he says. “This procedure requires multiple rounds of treatment.”

Your breath stutters to a halt. “It does?”

“Mm-hmm,” he murmurs, pressing his lips to each of your knuckles individually. He grazes his thumb across them, and suddenly you forget all about the pain. 

“I think it’s working,” you say.

He raises his other hand to your face, stroking his thumb over your lips as his fingers caress your jaw.

“Better try one more thing, just to be safe,” he says as he leans close to you, his lips a breath away from your own.

“Yeah,” you whisper. “Just to be safe.”

His lips brush against yours softly, and it feels like the galaxy stops spinning around you, because you’re finally kissing Jesse, and it’s even better than you imagined, and his lips are kriffing perfect, and he tastes suspiciously like the candy that you keep in a bowl on your desk, and you never want it to end. Eventually, though, you have to come up for air, and he cups your cheek as you rest your forehead against his.

“You know,” he whispers, his breath warm against your skin, “I’ve been waiting for you forever, too.”

#arc trooper jesse #jesse x reader #arc trooper jesse x reader #ask fic #star wars #clone wars #sw tcw fanfic #clone wars fic #dystopicjumpsuit writes

[grubloved]

i see a lot of art filled with plants, like, in the american art scene there seems to be a kind of general movement towards and appreciation of ruined structures being overtaken by nature. offices full of dead computers and leaves. walls with ivy. old factories crawling with new growth. a symbol of degrowth, of new futures that devour and reject colonial modernism, of a refutation of the tyranny over land. it's a nice sentiment.

but consistently im noticing something odd, which is that over and over the plants depicted in art are very familiar -- they're houseplants. pothos. monstera. calathea. zamioculcas. plants growing in the wrong place, at the wrong time, in the wrong climate, a mishmash of unrelated folks with far-flung origins symbolizing "natural" retaking of the modern world.

plants, specifically, that are directly tied to the legacy of colonialism. from northern africa. from southern america. from india. plants that were collected as curios during periods of direct imperialism. plants kept as trophies, plants sold at high prices. plants that are "exotic". that are beautiful. that are high-value. plants whose people got no payment for their capture.

they're the plants people in american colonial territory, who lack access to native plant community, see most often -- that is, other than "weeds". and so when these artists reach for the pure idea of plant, the concept of nature, these plants are their only blueprint. dragging with them all of the baggage of hundreds of years of empire.

it's incredible how much this changes the messaging of the image. dreams of ecological participation stained with a creeping theme of alienation from their native biosphere. the thumbprint of colonialism, clear as day. a hopeful vision of the future, kneecapped by its own symbology. hundreds of individual artists so alienated from their own ecosystems that even their fantasy of participation with nature is inextricable from colonialist trophies. trying to imagine reclaiming the world.

#it distinctly makes me sad. #and it's either that or southwestern americans fantasizing about beds of moss and soaring old growth... #birdenest #scraps book #we don't have to live alone!

[door]

Doris Lee, Curio Cabinet, 1952

Printed cotton, produced by Associated American Artists

#doris lee #textile #fabric

[dougdimmadodo]

Boat-Tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major)

Family: American Blackbird Family (Icteridae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Native to the southeastern USA, the Boat-Tailed Grackle shares much of its range with the closely related Common Grackle, but can be distinguished from its relative thanks to its larger size (Growing to be around 40cm/15.7 inches long compared to the around 32cm/12.6 inch long Common Grackle) and its considerably longer, broader tail, which is present in both sexes but more prominent in males. Found largely in coastal habitats (although they may also be found near large inland bodies of water or in human settlements where they feed on abandoned food scraps), members of this species roost in large, loosely organised flocks that may contain hundreds of individuals, and which scatter during the day to feed on seeds, fruits, insects, eggs and small vertebrates such as frogs, fishes and occasionally smaller birds before gathering back together at dusk. Boat-Tailed Grackles mate in the early spring (with a male establishing a strictly-guarded territory and producing a high-pitched mating call to invite a large number of females into it) and nest during the late spring and early summer (with several females constructing small, cup-shaped nests among dense elevated vegetation within close proximity to one another to increase the likelihood of potential predators and egg thieves being spotted, and 3-5 pale, speckled and striped eggs being laid in each nest.) Females of this species have pale brown bodies and dark brown wings, while males (such as the individual pictured above) are nearly twice the size of females and possess iridescent black feathers that reflect light in such a way that they may appear purple, blue or green if seen under bright sunlight. As is true of many grackles the males of this species are frequently mistaken for crows (with the word grackle being derived from the Latin graculus, meaning “jackdaw”, in reference to the two small species of Eurasian crows known collectively as jackdaws), but despite their superficial similarities grackles and crows are not closely related (with grackles and their fellow American Blackbirds being more closely related to the American Sparrows of the family Passerellidae.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------  

Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/9601-Quiscalus-major

(Side note: Some of the sources I’ve read about grackles seem to suggest that they’re among the most common passerine birds in North America, but I’m curios as to how true that is. I don’t suppose anyone who sees this post and lives in/has been to America can confirm or deny this?)

#Boat-Tailed Grackle #grackle #grackles #blackbird #blackbirds #icterids #icteridae #bird #birds #zoology #biology #ornithology #animal #animals #wildlife #north american wildlife

[kemetic-dreams]

Roots under Beale: The Significance of Beale Street to Memphis Hoodoo History

In the late 1800s, Robert Church, the first African-American millionaire in the South took great interest in Beale Street. After purchasing land on Beale, Church built Church Park and Auditorium exclusively for black Memphians. He also created a recreational center and an upscale hotel. Beale Street was very important to African American life in Memphis as Church wanted to create a safe haven for black Memphians where African American food, music and entertainment could be celebrated.

A community of healers, conjurers and rootworkers began to develop on Beale. Memphians knew that you could visit the right store or juke joint and find someone with the ‘gift’ to provide magical and spiritual help. Beale Street musicians like W.C. Handy began to speak of the hoodoo culture through the lyrics of their songs. Blues singer Lillie Mae Glover known as ‘Ma Rainey II’ became popular on Beale Street as not only a performer but also a conjurer. She would perform rituals and various spiritual workings for other performers on Beale, as well as random customers who knew to seek her out. One of her special abilities was the ability to make mojo hands for blues musicians. While many hands were traditionally made using roots, lodestone and a red flannel bag, Lillie Mae made hers using common ingredients like sugar, flour and a heap of coal.

It became evident that hoodoo was being practiced in downtown Memphis much to the dislike of the white community. Hoodoo and any African based religious practices were compared to savage paganism that threatened the wives and children of the white community of Memphis. Local police were put on alert regarding the threat of hoodoo and ‘voodooism’ as it was commonly referred to.

The Memphis Press-Scimitar reported:

‘The Voodoo business still thrives on Beale Street. Police, looking for a witch

doctor yesterday confiscated a half a sack full of “Stay Away Powder,”

“Easy Life Powder” and “Spanish Luck Drops” being sold to negroes at

25 cents a set. The “Stay Away” powder, supposed to jinx a love rival,

proved to be nothing stronger than flour. “Easy Life” powder appeared to

be a fine grade of ground clay. “Spanish Luck Drops” were more potent.

They were a cheap but stout perfume. All in all, police figured the 25-cent

collection cost the producers not more than a couple of cents.’

Raids on rootworkers and conjurers were quite common in the city. There is record of a number of arrests where hoodoo devotees were arrested and artifacts such as mojo bags and amulets were confiscated and in some cases destroyed in the presence of practitioners. Hoodoo was not only feared but represented empowerment for the black community, something that the times simply would not allow.

The development of a hoodoo community on Beale Street gained the notoriety of the title ‘The Black Magic District’ as many Memphians knew that one could obtain a cleansing, a black cat bone or guidance from the ancestors by visiting the right individual on Beale. In the 1940s gold miners would visit Beale Street looking for conjurers to help them spiritually locate treasure along the Mississippi River. The rising number of Memphians using Beale Street’s healers as a form of healthcare caused some Memphis physicians to become critical and voice offense against the community’s rootworkers. However as writer Keith Wailoo in has noted “Those who invoked spirits to relieve one’s rheumatism or to subdue one’s enemies would not be driven easily from the Bluff city.” Hoodoo was here to stay.

In 1876, Jewish immigrant Abraham Schwab opened one of Memphis’s most iconic businesses on Beale Street. A. Schwab began as a dry goods store offering everything from cloth overalls to blues records. Years later the store began to carry a number of hoodoo related curios. In fact at one point the store was literally bringing in shipments of over one hundred and twenty tons of hoodoo related candles. The hoodoo community in Memphis would purchase oils, candles, incense and roots from the oldest store on Beale. One of my earliest exposures to hoodoo curios came when as a child I was taken into Schwab by my parents. I remember the scent of incense and the colorful collection of candles and curios. It was a wonderland to the senses.

During the writing of A Secret History of Memphis Hoodoo: Rootworkers, Conjurers and Spirituals, I was given the opportunity to visit the store’s archives and see some of the remnants of hoodoo curios and artifacts. A number of old curios from Memphis based companies like ‘LaClyde Lucky Products’ and ‘Lucky Heart Cosmetics’ were preserved in pristine condition saved for their historical preservation. Boxes of dried rattlesnake root, John the Conqueror and assorted herbs could still be found. A member of the Schwab family shared stories of hoodoo practitioners throughout the years and the many testimonies and stories of customers from the conjure community.

These are but a few of the numerous stories about rootworkers and conjurers on Beale Street that were instrumental in the history of hoodoo in Memphis. The history of hoodoo in Memphis is a story of cultural survival that needs to be told.

#memphis #beale street #rootworker #african #kemetic dreams #africans #brownskin #afrakan #afrakans #brown skin #african culture #afrakan spirituality

[the-babygirl-polls]

Babygirl Polls Lineup: Week Two

Hello everyone! Here is the lineup for the second week of the Babygirl Polls! Thanks to everyone for their submissions!

Grim Reaper (A Date with Death)

Dazai Osamu (Bungo Stray Dogs)

Lucius the Eternal (Warhammer 40k)

jerma985 (Twitch)

Knock (Nosferatu (1922))

Buggy (One Piece)

Eustass Kid (One Piece)

Amos (Rewritten)

Dr. Boris Habit (Smile For Me)

Uchiha Madara (Naruto)

Klaus (Rewritten)

Morgan "Mac" Macallister (Rewritten)

Dr. Nightshade (Rewritten)

Rosamel (Rewritten)

Hunch Curio (Mentopolis)

Augustus Sinclair (Bioshock 2)

Daniel Fucks (Mentopolis)

The Fix (Mentopolis)

Laurance Zvhal (Minecraft Diaries)

Alex Cabot (Law and Order: SVU)

Doppo Orochi (Baki the Grappler)

Dr. Josef Heiter (The Human Centipede)

Seam (Deltarune)

Norman Osborn (Spiderman (2002))

Ruby Knowby (Ash Vs. Evil Dead)

Vincent Valentine (Final Fantasy VII)

Kaoru Hakaze (Ensemble Stars)

Idia Shroud (Twisted Wonderland)

Lucifer (Obey Me)

Aziraphale (Good Omens)

Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Ghirahim (Legend of Zelda)

Flora (Winx Club)

Hayato Inui (Etsusa Bridge)

Darcy (Winx Club)

Ahzek Ahriman (Warhammer 40k)

Tsukasa Tenma (Project Sekai)

Angron (Warhammer 40k)

Chrom (Fire Emblem Awakening)

Jurgen (Warhammer 40k)

Damian Tenma (Ace Attorney)

Steve Harrington (Stranger Things)

Wei Wuxian (The Untamed)

Bucky Barnes (Marvel)

Alec Lightwood (Shadowhunters)

Ianto Jones (Torchwood)

Obi-wan Kenobi (Star Wars)

Simon Blackquill (Ace Attorney)

Louie (Pikmin)

Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney)

Kaveh (Genshin Impact)

Peter Stamatin (Pathologic)

Copycat (Venture Bros)

Macaque (Lego Monkie Kid)

Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid)

Xigbar (Kingdom Hearts)

Chuuya Nakahara (Bungo Stray Dogs)

Jean Pierre Polnareff (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

Subspace (PHIGHTING)

Karl Weissman/Charles Whiteman (Bodies)

Edward Teach (Our Flag Means Death)

Tianlang Jun (Scum Villain's Self Saving System)

Bolearis (Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

Arthur Lester (Malevolent)

Ashley Joanna Williams (Evil Dead)

Mason (Roblox)

Firebug (Town of Salem)

Willow Rosenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Loki Laufeyson (Marvel)

Vriska Serket (Homestuck)

Jennifer Check (Jennifer's Body)

Harrowhark Nonagesimus (The Locked Tomb)

Dennis Reynolds (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

Zim (Invader Zim)

Jon Arbuckle (Garfield)

Hikaru Gero (MarriageToxin)

Eichi Tenshouin (Ensemble Stars)

Tiw (My School President)

Richard Karinsky (Caroline in the City)

Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier (The Terror)

Daan (Fear and Hunger: Termina)

Joe Hills (Hermitcraft)

Feng Xin (Tian Guan Ci Fu)

Professor Hershel Layton (Professor Layton)

Seon Ahyeon (Debut or Die)

Tena Sorimura/Phantom Solitaire (Deadmount Deathplay)

Yotasuka Takahashi (Blue Period)

Nicholas D. Wolfwood (Trigun)

Park Moondae (Debut or Die)

Ulysses S. Grant (American History)

Cardinal Copia (The Band Ghost)

Raphael (Baldur's Gate 3)

Captain John Hart (Torchwood)

Narciso Anasui (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

Seteth (Fire Emblem)

Link (The Legend of Zelda)

Soren (Fire Emblem)

Roland (Library of Ruina)

Tohru Adachi (Persona 4)

Ryotaro Dojima (Persona 4)

#poll lineup #week two #the babygirl polls

[samwisethewitch]

REVIEW: Hoodoo Herbal by Starr Casas

One thing that I think sometimes gets lost when we talk about Southern folk magic is that there's a lot of regional variation within the Southern US. Appalachian folklore and folk magic is trendy right now, but Appalachian traditions are actually very different from what other communities in the South are doing. While authors like Rebecca Beyer and Jake Richards do a great job of documenting Southern Appalachian lore, I think Starr Casas is one of the most high profile authors who covers what I would consider Deep South folk magic.

I know some people have issues with Casas, and I personally don't agree with her on everything (for example, she uses the words "hoodoo" and "conjure" interchangeably, while I use "hoodoo" specifically to refer to African American practices), but she is clearly very dedicated to documenting traditional Southern conjure as it was taught to her, and I can respect that.

This book is an herbal, and like most herbals, it's somewhere in between a spellbook and an encyclopedia. This is not a Conjure 101 book. Instead, this is a book for people who are already familiar with the basics and who want a reference book where they can quickly look up the lore and uses of different plants and curios in this tradition.

Pros:

• Like Casas's other books, this is very authentic to traditional conjure in the Deep South. She covers things in her books I learned growing up here but have never seen written down anywhere else.

• Very comprehensive. This book covers most basic herbs, but also goes into how to work with houseplants, curios, and Biblical figures.

• Great breakdown of the hot/cold and sweet/bitter system used in conjure, and explains how to choose herbs for a work based on these properties.

• Easy to use as a reference book. It's easy to flip back and forth to find information about a specific plant or curio. I read this as an ebook, which made it even easier to look things up by searching specific words.

Cons:

• Casas is very insistent that conjure must be passed down in person from an elder and is kind of condescending about people who learn conjure from books. This feels... not exactly like gatekeeping, because I see the point she's trying to make, but it rubs me the wrong way. I mean, the people in my family who knew this lore and practiced these works all died before I was born, and my parents and grandparents weren't interested in learning. My only option has been to reconstruct a personal/family conjure tradition based on local lore, talking to other workers, and yes, reading books. And while yes, I think books alone can only take you so far, I think we should acknowledge that not everyone has access to an in-person teacher.

• The other reason this bothers me is because Casas says her motivation for writing her books is to keep traditional conjure alive as the tradition's elders are aging and dying. So if she's aware that elders are dying without passing on what they know, why the insistence that true conjure can only be learned in person? Why write the books at all, then?

Other/Miscellaneous Observations:

• Casas feels very strongly that Christianity and the Bible are essential to conjure. If you do not feel the same, this book will piss you off.

• Casas is from Texas, and while I definitely consider her work more Deep South than Southwestern, there are some regional influences there. For example, Casas works with Catholic saints in an otherwise very Protestant magic tradition.

• Despite the above observations, Casas makes it very clear that she is not overly fond of churches and does not think you have to be a church-goer to practice conjure. She also talks about how she has taught conjure to people who aren't Christian, in case anyone was worried about that angle.

Conclusion: This is a solid reference book and a great collection of plant lore from the Southern US. I'm always happy to add books to my shelf that don't just parrot Western European herbalism, and it's nice to read a book that has info on New World plants. I have more issues with the philosophy/politics of this book than I did with Old Style Conjure by the same author, but this book does do a good job of showing what traditional conjure looks like. I recommend this as a reference for Southern US plant and curio lore, but definitely balance your perspective by picking up books from other authors and looking at other sides of the conversation.

Rating: 3/5 Stars

#book review #books #starr casas #conjure #southern folk magic #southern conjure #folk magic #folk witchcraft #witchcraft #witch #witchblr

[denimbex1986]

'If you’ve ever read an interview with the Irish actor Cillian Murphy, you might think him shy, irritable, or even neurotic. Journalists love to write about how closed-off he is, that if you ask him anything too personal he’ll shut down and give one-line answers. This makes their job very hard, they say. But what those interviews don’t tell you, is that if you let Murphy talk about a subject that he actually wants to talk about – such as his epic new film about the father of the atomic bomb J. Robert Oppenheimer – he’ll go on for ages. And he’ll be very open and interesting while he’s doing it. He might even make a joke.

He does this when NME meets him at a posh hotel in Soho. We’ve just walked into the room. Murphy is sat down, wearing a black v-neck jumper over a white t-shirt, black trousers and a pair of very pointy Chelsea boots. He seems relaxed, and greets us with a cheery “hello!”. Then he recognises the thick paperback tucked under our arm as a copy of American Prometheus, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography from which Oppenheimer is adapted. We’d intended to read a quote from the book later but Murphy cuts in on our explanation. “No, you brought it in here to be pretentious,” he grins. “Would you like me to sign it for you?”

There are people who would sell their grandmas for a mere glimpse of Murphy, let alone an autograph. He’s been dogged by screaming fans since the early days of his career – when he broke out as often-shirtless apocalypse survivor Jim in Danny Boyle’s 2002 horror hit 28 Days Later. Brummie gangster series Peaky Blinders made him a global star, but his most famous film roles are notable because they’ve often come from collaborations with the same director. Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi blockbuster Inception, war thriller Dunkirk and his Batman trilogy all featured Murphy as the supporting curio – a side character that pops up every so often to steal your attention from the main protagonist. But in Oppenheimer, the duo’s latest creative partnership, he finally is the main character.

And he’s a good one too. Oppenheimer was an American scientist who made vital discoveries in quantum physics during the 1920s and ‘30s, going on to oversee the creation of the atomic bomb for the US Government – two of which were dropped on Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, killing an estimated 220,000 people. Oppenheimer spent the rest of his life campaigning for disarmament, appalled at the weapon (his preferred term was “gadget”) he had helped to give the world. He also drank heavily and had a reputation as a womaniser, despite being quiet and sometimes socially awkward. Murphy calls him “contradictory” and “complex”, which is like saying Suella Braverman doesn’t like immigrants. “I do think that he believed it would be the weapon to end all wars,” Murphy continues, attempting to explain how a left-leaning humanitarian could spend two years perfecting the ultimate killing machine. “He thought that [having the bomb] would motivate countries to form a sort of nuclear world governance.” Murphy pauses. “He was naive.”

Was that naivety a choice though? Oppenheimer had an explosive ego, once attempting to poison a university professor who chastised him when he was a student. Could his desire to achieve such as historic breakthrough have led him to ignore his own better judgement?

“That’s an interesting take,” says Murphy. He runs his hands through his hair, which is styled into wavy curtains. He does this a lot when thinking a question over. “Chris used this amazing phrase. We were talking about Oppenheimer’s arc and he said, ‘You know, he’s dancing between the raindrops morally.’ That unlocked something in my mind when I was preparing.”

To play the role of Oppenheimer, Murphy went very deep. He read the Bhagavad Gita – a 700-page Hindu religious text that the physicist famously quoted from (“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”) Then he started “skipping meals” in an effort to slim down to Oppenheimer’s rail-thin frame. During the actual shoot, Murphy smoked so many fake cigarettes that he worried it harmed his health. “They can’t be good for you,” he told The Guardian. Oppenheimer himself died of throat cancer in 1967.

On top of the physical strain, Murphy delved into some pretty dark emotional places. He had six months to research before filming began in February 2022, and during the 67-day production he often worked 18-hour days. War, genocide and the nuclear holocaust are unpleasant to think about at the best of times, never mind your every waking moment. It must have been brutal.

“You always have to take a holiday after a job,” he concedes, as though being a Hollywood actor is no different from plumbing toilets. “It’s not because… as some journalists like to think, you’re a method actor or whatever. It’s because you give so much time to the job and then suddenly you stop. You have all this displaced energy, you know, so you kind of don’t know what to do with yourself… But I’m a very easygoing sort of person. It doesn’t weigh me down.”

We suspect Murphy isn’t being entirely truthful here. Such is the intensity of his performance – all simmering discontent and wide-eyed panic attacks – that it’s difficult to believe he just shook the weight of global armageddon off each night before climbing into bed. Emily Blunt, who plays Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty in the film, has said Murphy regularly skipped cast dinners because of the “monumental” pressure he felt. “Of course he didn’t want to [eat] with us,” she told People magazine. Matt Damon, brilliant as mustachioed military boss General Groves, agreed: “His brain was just too full.” When we push Murphy on the subject, he reveals a little more. “I didn’t go out much. I didn’t socialise much, mainly because of the amount of work I had to do… I became so immersed in the role.”

To make the experience yet more profound, cameras rolled only “a couple of days” before Russia invaded Ukraine. The West united to impose stringent economic sanctions on Vladimir Putin and his people. The value of the Ruble plummeted, Russian billionaires were booted out of London and Moscow became a cultural ghost town with the likes of Green Day and Iron Maiden cancelling gigs. Putin’s response? To start lining up tactical nukes along his borders. Armageddon seemed closer than at any moment since the Cold War. Murphy (and his castmates) felt the heat. “It was everywhere, and we were fully aware of that,” he says. “The threat [of nuclear war] has escalated and receded over the years since 1945… and now it’s back. It’s always there, this Sword Of Damocles that is hanging over us.”

Murphy, 47, knows what it’s like to exist against the backdrop of conflict. He grew up during the Troubles in late 1970s and ‘80s Cork, Ireland, where reports of sectarian violence in the north often dominated the news. His mum was a French teacher and his dad worked for the civil service. As a teenager, he was obsessed with music. He read NME and loved Frank Zappa and The Beatles. To illustrate his fandom, he tells us about a trip he took to Liverpool, later in life, to see the legendary Cavern Club, where the mop tops first cut their teeth on stage. “I walked down to [the street where the Cavern Club is supposed to be],” he says, “and it wasn’t there. It was somewhere over there!” He gesticulates with his hands. “It’s not the real Cavern. It’s just a mock-up!”

Inspired by John, Paul, George and Ringo, Murphy and his brother formed a band: The Sons of Mr Green Genes, named after a Zappa tune from the avant garde groover’s 1969 album ‘Hot Rats’. The songs were similarly experimental, filled with “wacky lyrics and endless guitar solos”. Eventually, an indie label based in London, Acid Jazz, put a five-album deal on the table. He and his brother turned it down, citing reasons of artistic independence, but for a while rock and roll appeared more inviting than the movies.

Murphy is often disparaging about his songs to journalists, but they must have been doing something right. He’s also self-deprecating when we bring up the underrated 2002 short film Watchmen, which he co-wrote with BAFTA-winner Paloma Baeza – his only attempt at a screenplay. “I just never thought that I was good enough really,” he says. “It’s why I haven’t, you know, pursued the music either… I like to do one thing quite well.” He adds that it’s unlikely this will change in the future.

Murphy will be far too busy to write songs or screenplays for a while anyway. The first reviews for Oppenheimer are out, and some critics have him earmarked for an Oscar. He’ll charm his way through awards season no doubt, just as he does at the Paris premiere the night before our interview. Done up in a black suit with mustard shirt and matching oversized tie, he looks a bit like the handsome English teacher your best mate had a crush on. Walking the red carpet, he is happy to answer questions, speaking at length about Nolan’s genius and the “amazing” reaction to Oppenheimer so far. You can tell he’s enjoying himself.

Murphy’s not on duty tonight though, with London’s premiere scheduled for the day after our chat. Then he’ll be waiting to get on with his next gig, the dark indie drama Small Things Like These, adapted from Claire Keegan’s bestselling 2021 title, in which he’ll take the lead role. Following his breakthrough blockbuster with a low-key Irish drama is typically understated of Murphy, so not unexpected. More box office projects loom on the horizon – a standalone Peaky Blinders movie and the long-awaited horror threequel 28 Months Later – but he says he has “no new information” on either.

It’s difficult to say what Oppenheimer means for Murphy. He is a household name in the UK and Ireland, but less so in the States, where some still see him as a ‘TV actor’. In a recent interview to promote the film, Robert Downey Jr. talked of Murphy’s life “changing” after Oppenheimer, as if he’s a fresh actor on the scene. In a sense, Downey Jr. is right. This is Murphy’s first lead role in a sure-fire smash. And the parts he gets offered now may be a bit starrier. But don’t expect to see him in spandex on a Marvel soundstage anytime soon.

“I like unknowable, ambiguous, kind of enigmatic [characters],” he says. “To me that’s human life: the knotty, weird grey areas… A good man’s life is wholly uninteresting.”'

#Cillian Murphy #Oppenheimer #Christopher Nolan #Robert Downey Jr #Peaky Blinders #Small Things Like These #Claire Keegan #American Prometheus #28 Days Later #Danny Boyle #Inception #Dunkirk #Batman Trilogy #Bhagavad Gita #Emily Blunt #Kitty #Matt Damon #The Sons of Mr. Green Genes #Watchmen

[antimonyantigone]

Mourning Brooch, American mid 1800s RISD

#grief #mourning #american art #1800s art #curio cabinet

[ghouljams]

You write prices with so well with so much detail and knowledge about everything. Are you a witch too/do you work with similar practices? :0 Or are you just doing a lot of research, LOL

I am a lapsed witch I guess. Although I never really vibed with any of the descriptors for paganism and witchcraft. I've always been very casual with my worship which has made me hesitant to claim the title of witch, but I have a deep love for herbalism and folk magic. I do a lot of research and have picked up a lot of things in the decade or so that I've been practicing.

But I also invent a lot for Witch's magic specifically. That's why I usually put "do not attempt" disclaimers on fics that have her doing spellwork in them. Witch's herbalism is rooted in traditional USA folk practices, but she also does a lot of quick "stilt" magic, where the ingredients for her spell are more to prop up the weight of her magic than doing any work themselves. I try to balance the fantastical nature of the au's magic with more familiar practices from our world, so everything feels more grounded.

I've said it before but I wrote my senior thesis(one of them) on Hoodoo folk magick and the differences in its birth compared to other American folk magic traditions. (plus spells, rootwork, and curio associations. Which it why Witch's magic is so folk based)

tl;dr I do practice witchcraft, but I don't call myself a witch. Other people call me a witch, but I don't think witches would call me a witch.

#ghoul speaks #I've always fallen under the norse pantheon #but I mostly practice general spiritualism #I worship myself which has always made me hesitant to say I'm a witch #my “altar” is just a home for my lodestones #and my bones #I don't even read traditional tarot I read lenormand lol #I'm a shitty witch all I do is prophetic dreams and kitchen magic

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

While I don't regret it, it will be interesting

So I've decided to write a parody song making fun of Green Day using their song American Idiot. A song I used to like quite a bit.

So if you like parody content, look forward to it. If you have eardrums I apologize in advance. It'll probably take me over a week to write, though maybe less time. The poll is a moot point but why not.

Also please share this around. Between my mutual's and follows I'd like to get this project off the ground and I'm curios if I should share it here after I make it or just keep it on my Alt Youtube channel.

#youtube #humor #poll

[vexillologyisenjoyable]

dimension 20 seasons that I’ve watched, ranked(spoilers obviously):

A starstruck odyssey, without question my favorite. Basically every character in this went hard. The plot was fun, the hijinks were delightful, there were the moments that just hit the spot(the house always wins, ‘how did you know there was going to be a plinth in this fight’, beating up a guy and being like oh. that didn’t really do anything but we beat him up, snake eyes, and so many more), just the whole vibe of the season was off the charts.

the seven. I’ve probably laughed the hardest in my entire life while watching this season. It is second to starstruck simply by virtue of not being an intrepid hero season.

mentopolis. A city in a mind. The whole season takes place in about a minute or two. Dan FUCKS. Conrad Shintz, who is so sad and so funny. The fix, with his… fun… facts. Imelda Pulse, with a very high class air who will do the stupidest shit on a whim. Anastasia Tension, who has the most indescribable vibe. Hunch Curio, who will get into a fight with Fight itself. A conspiracy, a philosophical thing, a stolen birthday cake, truly this season had everything.

Misfits and Magic. I probably wouldn’t like this season if I was British, but I’m American so it’s funny when they make fun of British people. Nice how it works like that. The story about how friendship is a stronger tether than dark magic(where have I heard that before?), a story made in the setting created by a transphobe, where they proudly proclaim ‘fuck terfs’. Brennan plays a pc. Aabria dms. All is right with the world.

Burrow’s end. An all around fantastic season. An amazing cast. Brennan pc. Aabria dm. All is right with the world. They play stoats, hats are an important subplot, there’s meta themes about imperialism and colonialism. Also Shiobhan and Izzy play siblings.

fantasy high. With two and a half seasons, it’s one of the most well known. Freshman year is a solid 7/10. Sophomore year is a solid 8.5/10. Junior year isn’t finished yet, but so far it’s going strong. Some incredible bits came out of those seasons.

Neverafter, some cool themes were hinted at but never came to pass, most of the characters were good, but some didn’t really hit the mark, overall a decent season.

a crown of candy. King Lou! This season was good, I can see why other people might like it, but it wasn’t for me personally. Saccharina wasn’t the turn off, to be clear. She was a fine character and Emily deserved none of the hate.

unsleeping city. I know some of y’all really love it but idk it just isn’t that great. Sophie is an incredible character. Ricky Matsui my beloved. Very ok season.

also I didn’t finish acofaf but I got a couple episodes and and it was incredible. The secrets! The lords of the wing! K. P. Hob! I based on of my pcs on Hob, that’s how good he was(flint if my irl friends see this). Rue! Andhera and the duel between him and hob was so good. “Me, the slippiest boy?” Followed by just being yoinked. I would put this in the top three if I finished it, which I don’t intend to. I do consider it worthy of a top three spot, but i haven’t finished it so I’m just putting it down here as a footnote.

#dimension 20 #Also more and more of my friends are getting tumblr now so the odds of them finding out that a Brennan pc was the inspiration for an oc #Is getting higher by the minute

[drawing-cards]

White women, Christian’s, and the past actions of Jews have affected the trajectory of modern hoodoo as a whole. Everyone outside of African Americans see the practice as primitive or bastardize it. At the same time they monetize it or try to attract more people who don’t have the birth right to practice hoodoo to profit from.

For a practice that already lacks a lot of history due to not being recorded, many outsiders contribute to the issue by trying to make money from it. These white PhDs and self proclaimed masters of the practice do not give a fuck about the loss and bastardization of our history. They see these practices and traditions and change them to fit their narrative. African America academics are doing what they can to keep the history accurate but I can only imagine how difficult it is to spread academic information with how open science works right now.

Cat Yronwoode and Starr Casas and other white American women have made business off black practices. They get the facts and folklore wrong while being rude to those who try to correct them. Hoodoo is not just some magic practice that you make business from. Hoodoo in it’s nature is about liberation, good fortune, and protection from oppressive forces. Reading playing cards is not hoodoo. Forcing curio shops to close is oppressive. Taking these this practice and twisting it’s origins to make it more “open” is the antithesis of why it formed.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk I just wanted to go on a little rant.

#divination #witchblr #witchcraft #hoodoo #african traditional religions #african american #african america history