#Beardless Jesus | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

najia-cooks · 4 months

Text

[ID: First image is a plate of stuffed grape leaves, zucchini, tomatoes, and lamb chops next to a bowl of yoghurt, seen from the top; second image is a close-up on the grape leaves and stuffed zucchini, seen from the side. End ID]

كوسا محشي مع ورق العنب / Kusa muhashshi m'a waraq al-'anub (Stuffed zucchini with grape leaves)

"كُوسَا" ("kūsā"), meaning "zucchini" or "courgette," is from the Persian "کوسه" ("kūse"), meaning "shark" or "beardless man"; it is so called because of its smooth skin. "مُحَشّي" ("muḥashshi" or "maḥshshi") means "stuffed"; مَعَ ("ma'a") is "with"; "وَرَق" means "leaf" (or "paper"); and "عِنَب" (Levantine pronunciation: "'ineb") is "grape." (Grape leaves are also sometimes called "وَرَق الدوالي," "waraq ad-dūwāli," in Palestine). Thus: stuffed zucchini with grape leaves! Stuffed grape leaves themselves date back to Medieval times, and are popular amongst various regions throughout what was previously the Ottoman Empire; however, each cuisine has slight variations in how they are cooked, and what they are called.

To prepare Palestinian duwali, one stuffs grape leaves with one of two types of filling: a meat one, using rice, ground lamb, and a variety of aromatic spices; or a vegetarian one, including rice, herbs, tomatoes, and peppers. A large pot is then prepared, sometimes lined at the bottom with meat—usually rack of lamb, but sometimes chicken, or whatever else is to hand. The meat is topped with sliced tomatoes; sometimes, with hollowed baby zucchini or eggplant ("بَاذِنْجَان"; Levantine pronunciation: "bātinjān") stuffed with the same filling; and, finally, with the grape leaves. The whole is simmered in an aromatic broth before the finished dish is tipped out of the pot into a large platter. It is usually served with plain yoghurt, which plays beautifully against the mild sweetness of the zucchini, the slightly sour grape leaves, and the savory, tender spiced rice filling.

This dish is usually made in large batches, with the women of the family sitting in a group around the kitchen table rolling tiny grape leaves. It was traditionally made in the spring or summer, when zucchini and grape leaves were in season—but it is now often made as one of the centerpieces of a Christmas meal, with frozen grape leaves that are thawed in hot water.

Christmas (Arabic: عِيد الْمِيلَاد‎, "ʕīd al-mīlād," "feast of the Nativity," or "mīlād," "Nativity" for short) is a Christian festival and feast day commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. The largest meal of the Christmas season is usually eaten on Christmas Eve, which is celebrated on the 24th of December (in the Gregorian Calendar) by Palestinian Catholics. Large families travel across Palestine to come together for a dinner featuring bread, several vegetable salads, meat dishes (such as stuffed lamb or chicken), grape leaves, topped flatbreads and other savory pastries, and an assortment of cookies. Chocolates are often given to children.

Christmas festivities are observed in Palestine during Advent ("مَجِيء المَسِيح," "madji' al-masīḥ": "the coming of Christ") and Christmastide, and at different times by different sects of Christians. One of the most common destinations for Christian tourists is the ancient city of Bethlehem (بَيْت لَحْم, "bayt laḥm," lit. "house of meat"; related to the Aramaic בֵּית לַחְמָא "house of bread"); pilgrims flock from around the world, and from other locations in Palestine, to attend church services and festivities and to visit holy sites. The Church of the Nativity (كَنِيسَة المَهْد, "kanīsa al-mahd"), so called because it is built on the place where Jesus was believed to have been born, is a particularly popular destination.

Bethlehem also has an ancient history as a home to many of Palestine's grape orchards; after the widespread destruction caused by the Crusades, some of the only vineyards in the area were in Bethlehem. Christians in Bethlehem have tended these grapes since Medieval times; today, farmers and companies in Bethlehem (such as Cremisan) make wine from several ancient varieties.

Despite hosting one of Christianity's most important sacred sites, Bethlehem's population of Christians has been continually shrinking for the past century. Arab Christians comprised an estimated 84% of the population in 1922, but by the end of the British Mandate years (1948) this number had dropped to 75%. By 1998, Christians made up a minority, at 33% of the population, and by 2007 this had dropped again to 28%. This dramatic decrease is a microcosm of the situation in Palestine overall, where the Christian population dropped from an estimated 20% in 1948, to just 2% in 2007, to less than 1% in 2017. Statistics from the Gaza Strip look similar. Bethlehem, however, remained a significant part of Palestine's Christian enclave: nearly half (49.4%) of all the Christians in Palestine in 2017 lived there.

As of 2004, an estimated 56% of all people with Palestinian Christian ancestry were living outside of Palestine. The trend shows no signs of slowing down: a 2020 survey found that a much higher proportion of Christians than Muslims wished to leave Palestine. Respondents cited dire economic circumstances, the dangers of military and settler violence, and religious intolerance, including job discrimination and difficulty having church marriages legally recognized.

Bethlehem is nearly completely surrounded by Israeli settlements, which hem residents in and threaten to cut off connection to other Palestinian territories. Israel has used its military codes, as well as its control of private companies, to annex nearly 2,000 acres of land in Bethlehem's immediate surroundings since 2004. Residents of Bethlehem's villages are subject to violent assaults by West Bank settlers, as well as destruction of property (such as uprootings of crops).

The economy within Bethlehem is also threatened by Israeli occupation. Income that could previously be made through tourism has dropped significantly due to settler violence, and to Israeli control of all borders and crossings into and out of occupied Palestine. In 2013, Israeli travel companies used this latter advantage to provide various services to 1.16 million pilgrims to Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity alone, starving Palestinian companies and tour guides out and leaving many in Bethlehem unemployed. Tourism to various holy sites injects billions of U.S. dollars per year into Israel's economy. Israeli winemakers, who had previously sourced grapes from Palestinian farmers in Bethlehem, have also started cutting Palestinians out, turning to growing grapes themselves on expropriated land.

The Palestinian Authority has stated an intent to try to keep Christians in the West Bank by promoting Christmas festivities. In 2022, a Nativity scene and Christmas tree were publicly displayed in مَيْدَان المَهْد ("maydān al-mahd"; Manger Square) in Bethlehem: the Catholic Church in Bethlehem lights the tree for Advent, beginning four Sundays before Christmas. A Christmas parade, with brightly lit floats carrying Christmas trees, people dressed as angels and Santa Clauses, and Nativity scenes with live actors, took place again for the first time after having been interrupted due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and was broadly attended by Muslims and Christians.

Another parade marched through streets near the Church of the Nativity for Christmas Eve in 2021: musicians beat drums, played bagpipes, and waved Palestinian flags while onlookers ululated and cheered. Bethlehem's Catholics attend a قُدّاس مُنْتَصَف اللَيْل (quddās muntaṣaf al-layl; Midnight Mass) service in St. Catherine's Church, with prayer, carol-singing, and the burning of incense; another service is held in the Church of the Nativity on January 6, where Christmas falls on the Orthodox calendar.

During the first and second اِنْتِفَاضَات‎ ("intifāḍāt"; singular اِنْتِفَاضَة "intifāḍa," "uprising" or "rebellion"), the tree in Bethlehem was no longer lit due to widespread mourning—Masses continued, but not the public festivities. Instead, private celebrations would take place within the home. Some families began buying artificial Christmas trees rather than real ones, since they were easier to tuck away from windows where they would not be seen from the outside. Even after the lights returned, Israeli military border walls, checkpoints, and curfews hampered Christmas celebrations for many: Christians from Gaza need permits from the Israeli military to take pilgrimages to, or visit family in, Bethlehem and other places in the West Bank, and the majority of those requested are not granted. كنيسة المِيلَاد الإِنْجِيلِيّة اللوثرية ("kanīsa al-mīlād al-ʔinjīliyya al-lūthri"; Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church) referenced the ongoing genocide in their Nativity scene, in which a baby Jesus wrapped in a Palestinian كُوفِيَّة (kūfiyya) lies amidst a pile of rubble.

Mayor Hana Haniyeh expressed that the local economy's "crash" was "nothing" compared to "what's happening to our people and Gaza." In 2021, the Catholic community in the Gaza Strip comprised 133 people, or 0.0056% of the population (out of 1,017 Christians of all denominations; 0.043% of the population). The sole Catholic parish in Gaza, overseen by the كَنِيسَة العَائِلَة المُقَدَّسَة ("kanīsa al-'āʔila al-muqaddasa," Holy Family Church), faced the destruction and partial destruction of several buildings by Israeli airstrike in 2014, and again in 2021.

During the 2023 genocide, parish buildings including the church, monastery, school, orphanage, and مَرْكَز تُومَا الأكُوينِي ("markaz tūmā al-ʔkoni"; Thomas Aquinas Center) have sheltered hundreds of Christians and Muslims. On the 16th of December, 2023, and amidst heavy bombing of the surrounding area, Israeli soldiers, claiming that the parish hid a missile launcher, opened fire on anyone leaving the church, killing two women.

Help Palestinian Christians evacuate Gaza

Support traditional woodworking and glass-blowing in Bethlehem

Try Cremisan Palestinian wine

Equipment

Large, thick-bottomed stockpot or Dutch oven

Vegetable corer (مأورة "maʔwara"), or thin teaspoon measure

Ingredients

For the dish:

About 300g grape leaves

2kg baby zucchini (كوسا صغير)

2 large beefsteak tomatoes

Zucchini should be about 1" in diameter and 5" in length. If you don't have access to baby zucchini, use the smallest you can find. I halved my zucchini lengthwise to get the correct size.

If you happen to have a grape vine, harvest grape leaves early in the spring for this recipe, and freeze them for use throughout the year. Otherwise, you should be able to find jarred grapeleaves in a halal grocery store. You will want the smallest, earliest-harvested (say, March-May) grape leaves that you can find.

For the filling:

600g (3 cups) Egyptian white medium-grain rice

300g (about 1 1/2 cups) ground beef substitute (to replace minced lamb)

1/4 cup good olive oil

5 tsp allspice, or Palestinian 7-spice / mixed spice (بهار مشكل)

1 Tbsp turmeric (optional)

1 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Large pinch ground cardamom, from 2-3 green cardamom pods (optional)

Salt, 1/4 tsp, or to taste

Spices used in this dish may be as minimal as salt and black pepper. Allspice or 7-spice are almost always included. Cinnamon and turmeric are the next most common additions; occasionally, cardamom is added. I have gone for a maximalist, aromatic approach here, because the taste of other ingredients (e.g. zucchini) is quite mild.

You will want a medium-grain white rice for this dish—the rice should become extremely tender without being fluffy or sticky. Egyptian medium-grain rice can be found at a halal grocery store from a brand such as Baraka. If you can't locate any, another kind of medium-grain white rice will do.

To cook:

Vegan lamb chops, or other meat substitute of your choosing

Juice of 1 lemon, or 1/4 tsp citric acid (if using jarred grape leaves that don't include citric acid)

1 Tbsp tomato paste

1/4 cup good olive oil

Salt, black pepper, and 7-spice

Vegetarian chicken bouillon cube or stock concentrate

Water to cover

Chicken stock from making another dish is sometimes used in place of water here; or else a chicken boullion or Maggi cube may be added. You could also use a vegetarian beef stock concentrate, or a bit of soy sauce, to mimic the stock that would result from lamb being simmered at the bottom of the pot.

Instructions:

Prep work:

1. Prepare the rice. Place a strainer in a closely-fitting bowl and add the rice into the strainer. Fill the bowl with cool water and rub the rice between your hands to remove excess starch. Lift the strainer out of the water to strain the rice, and pour the starchy water out. Repeat this process 3-4 more times, until the water comes away mostly clear.

(Starchy water from the first 2 or 3 washings can be saved and used to thicken soups and stews. If you're not sure of the cleanliness of your rice—i.e. if it came in a container that was not airtight—only use water from the second washing onwards.)

2. Return rice to bowl and pour cool water to cover. Soak for an hour.

3. Prepare the zucchini. Cut the tips off of both sides of the zucchini, only taking off as much as you need to. (If your zucchini are over 6" / 15 cm or so long, cut them in half widthwise).

4. Starting from the tip (or, if it's the 'bottom' half of the zucchini, the cut end), hollow out each squash with a vegetable corer until a ring of flesh about 1/8" (1/3 cm) wide remains around the edges. If you don't have a vegetable corer, use a small teaspoon: make a small divot in the center of the zucchini and then deepen it, constantly rotating the zucchini as you push the spoon in, to hollow the zucchini.

(Save the zucchini flesh to use in a soup or stew later!)

5. Soak the zucchini. Place zucchini in a large bowl of salted water and let soak while you prepare the grape leaves.

6. Prepare the grape leaves. If using grape leaves from a jar, pull out a group (they will probably be rolled together) and lay them flat on a plate. Go through grape leaves to find leaves of appropriate size; anything too much larger than 4" in diameter should have its outer leaves shortened with a sharp knife; anything larger than 5 or so inches should be halved down the central vein, and then flled "sideways." Lay the grape leaves out in the bottom of a large bowl or tray.

7. Soak the grape leaves. Pour just-boiled water over the grape leaves and let sit 10-15 minutes.

8. Meanwhile, remove zucchini from soaking water and place on a wire rack, hollow-side-down, to drain while you make the filling.

To make the filling:

1. Drain the rice and shake the strainer to remove excess water. Combine all spice ingredients together by kneading well with your hands. I recommend toasting the spice for a minute or two in a small, dry skillet on medium-low hest, until fragrant.

To stuff the vegetables:

1. Stuff the zucchini. Once the zucchini are drained, use your figners to push filling down into the hollowed openins. Don't fill them up all the way, or the rice will come out as it expands; leave about 3/4" (2 cm) between the top of the filling and the edge of the zucchini (about the length of a finger up to the distal knuckle).

2. Remove grape leaves onto a wire rack to drain for 4-5 minutes. They will be easiest to roll if they are still slightly damp.

3. Stuff the grape leaves. Add a very small amount of filling (a bit more than 1/4 tsp and less than 1/2 tsp) in a horizontal line towards the bottom edge of a grape leaf.

The leaves will be rolled much like burritos: fold the bottom edge up once or twice to cover the filling, fold the sides in over that, and then roll away from you, folding the tip of the leaf inward as well if needed to avoid having any spikes sticking ourt.

Roll tightly enough that the leaves will not come undone with jostling, but loosely enough to give the rice some room to expand. I did this by leaving a tiny bit of space on each side of the filling as I folded the edes in. Leaves can be stuffed by laying them flat on the counter, or by holding them in your non-dominant hand.

Keep going until you run out of grape leaves. Keep any extra filling to stuff tomatoes, eggplant, etc.

At some point during this process, taste a bit of a grape leaf and determine if it is sour enough that you will not need lemon juice later in cooking.

To cook:

1. Coat the bottom of a large stockpot with a couple tablespoons olive oil. Slice a large tomato and arrange the slices on the bottom of the pot so that they do not overlap.

2. Add stuffed zucchini, either standing up (filling-side-up) or arranged horizontally in a single layer, depending on the size of your pot.

3. Top with stuffed grape leaves; just pour them in and give the pot a good shake, or arrange them in concentric circles.

4. Mix just-boiled water with spices, stock bouillon or concentrate, tomato paste, olive oil, and lemon juice (if using). Pour water into the pot until it comes up to the bottom of the stuffed grape leaves.

5. Choose a heavy plate that fits inside your pot with an inch or so to spare (to allow steam to escape) and weigh the grape leaves down.

6. Raise heat to return water to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and keep at a low simmer for an hour, until zucchini is very tender, rice is fully cooked and a bit mushy, and there is almost no water in the pot. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

To serve:

1. Cover the top of the pot with a large, upside-down platter and turn over the whole to empty the contents of the pot into the platter. Lift the pot straight up.

2. Shake the platter slightly to encourage the stuffed vegetables to spread out. Remove any grape leaves that have burst or come unfolded, if you want to. Some blackening of the pieces that had come into direct contact with the bottom of the pot is not a problem.

3. Arrange seared lamb chop pieces among the stuffed vegetables.

Serve warm with lemon slices, yoghurt, pickles, and side salads.

#Palestinian #long post /#vegetarian recipes #vegan recipes #zucchini #tomatoes #ground beef

347 notes · View notes

thedecadenceofwar · 9 months

Text

Elle Argent as Jesus Christ: Heartstopper art analysis.

Yesterday, I made this post where I wordlessly compared Elle's art piece for the Lambert School to the painting that draws her attention at the Louvre, Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus, a depiction of Jesus breaking bread for his disciples after his crucifixion and subsequent rising.

Elle's perspective on the painting / a full view of the painting (source)

The first thing I noticed that helped me draw the connection between these two paintings was their composition, the basic triangular lines that guide the eye in each painting; from Jesus and Elle in the center to the innkeeper and Tao at the top.

Heartstopper also clearly wanted us to make some connection between Elle and this Caravaggio: they focus on her face before they show us the painting, so we wonder what exactly it is she's seeing, which increases its narrative importance. I assumed she recognized herself in a painting; she did, but not in the way I expected.

The National Gallery (see above source) has this to say about the Caravaggio:

On the third day after the Crucifixion two of Jesus’s disciples were walking to Emmaus when they met the resurrected Christ. They failed to recognise him, but that evening at supper he ‘... took bread, and blessed it, and brake and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight’ (Luke 24: 30–31). Painted at the height of Caravaggio’s fame, this is among his most impressive domestic religious pictures. He brilliantly captures the dramatic climax of the story, the moment when the disciples suddenly see what has been in front of them all along. Their actions convey their astonishment: one is about to leap out of his chair while the other throws out his arms in a gesture of disbelief. The stark lighting underlines the dramatic intensity of the scene. Typically for Caravaggio, he has shown the disciples as ordinary working men, with bearded, lined faces and ragged clothes, in contrast to the youthful beardless Christ, who seems to have come from a different world.

Jesus, in the story, opens the eyes of his disciples in more ways than one (I pulled my Bible out for this!). First, in the scene depicted in the painting, the disciples do not know that this man is Jesus until he blesses the bread and breaks it for them, revealing himself as Christ. Second is the context in which Jesus comes to share dinner with his disciples: they meet him on the road during the day before, and he interprets the Old Testament for them: (stay with me I promise we'll leave the Biblical stuff and get back to the gay stuff soon)

Luke 24:13-16 Now on that same day two of [the disciples] were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. Luke 24:25-27 Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

If Safe Space is an exact analogue to Supper at Emmaus, then Elle takes the position of Jesus, and she draws from the story of Christ's crucifixion and rising a trans metaphor.

Death does not always mean death. For example, in the world of tarot, the card of Death does not signify literal Death, but a transformation: that the idea of death is a catalyst for change. If you're trans or non-binary, you understand the idea of the person you were being dead; that's why they call it a deadname. For me, the girl I was is dead. The person I am now, a living, breathing, non-binary person, is alive.

Jesus died and lived again; the boy Elle was died and the girl Elle is lived. Elle takes the spot of Jesus. Elle is risen.

There's another half to this metaphor: of the disciples that don't recognize Jesus. See where I'm going with this? At first, after Jesus had undergone his transformation, the disciples do not recognize him; literally "Their eyes were kept from recognizing him." The fault is not on them – it is another stronger force that maintains their blindness. But Jesus stays with them, despite the fact that they don't know who he is, and he talks to them about the scriptures.

We don't know much about Elle, pre-transition. But we know that Elle, Tao, and Charlie, at least, were friends before Elle's transition, and she had to come out to them at some point. So, in essence, she is Jesus on the road to Emmaus; unrecognized, a stranger, until she reveals herself for who she is.

She takes the moment Jesus tells his disciples who he is and shows what happens when Elle stays. We don't all have the luxury of being the Son of God, who can just pop away at a moment's notice after coming back from the dead (which is what he does, in the story: once the disciples have their eyes opened, he leaves). But this is Elle, out, resurrected, staying.

"So. There've been a lot of changes in my life over the last couple years. But with this piece I guess I wanted to capture a place that holds a lot of happy memories. Even in the darker times. Somewhere I always felt safe."

Safe Space comes after the moment of realization, after Elle comes out, after her friends' eyes are opened. But implied in its source and its inspiration is the moment of truth, the moment of coming out. There's been a lot of that, this season, coming out. There's people that want to and are scared, and people that refuse to and walk away. We never had to go on that journey with Elle. But she's telling us about it, now. She's telling us that it was glorious, that it was godly, that it was religious, that she died and was resurrected.

Before I leave, I want to touch on Tao's importance in this piece. The disciples in Supper are the two men that are seated; the man standing is the innkeeper, who is not quite a part of Jesus' world. Interesting, that Charlie and Isaac, the two people of Elle's group who are part of the queer community, take the place of the two disciples, and Tao, the token straight friend, is standing in the place of the innkeeper; not a follower of Jesus but a witness to the miracle of his resurrection anyway. They are all different people in this painting; different identities, different lives, different loves. But they were all there to witness Elle revealing herself in her resurrection. Tao, afraid of being left alone, is brought into this inner sanctum of Elle's world. Into her safe space.

#heartstopper #heartstopper spoilers #heartstopper analysis #heartstopper meta #elle argent #tao xu #charlie spring #isaac henderson #heartstopper season 2 #my stuff #i am absolutely in love with this analysis #and i hope that everyone else likes it too!!!#userbarrow #userelletao

243 notes · View notes

weaselbeaselpants · 3 months

Text

I'm still surprised that I'm ever surprised by Viv's cultural/mythological knowledge and ethics. I've known her to be pretty tasteless and bad at this for years. I guess, my real thought, is how on earth her fans couldn't have known about this. How literally NO ONE in her circle ever knew or said anything/recommended a sensitivity reader ONCE.

--Sensitivity Readers, despite the name, aren't overly sensitive or prudish or totalitarian. You hire them to ask how your story looks/feels and if there is anything abt your story which you don't think is appropriation, but others MIGHT, which is especially important w it comes to portraying foreign concepts, customs, basically anyone else's life experience that isn't yours. And yeah, you go to them for fantasy that "isn't political" because if you know anything about fantasy as a genre, you know there is a lot of intentional to unintentional coding and stereotyping (well that and, you know, portraying cultures and religions that are not your own).

The way Helluvaverse stans are SO quick to turn down any complaints...it's really revealing but also really shocking. Just...how...

How do you NOT know that long/pointy/hooked noses are associated with racist stereotypes? Were you even paying attention to the Harry Potter discourse or did you seriously not think anything was problematic abt that series until 2020?

How do you NOT know that voudou practitioners (not universally) were not happy with Princess and the Frog? You know there were, right? There's backlash/controversy whenever Disney tackles race and culture.

How do you NOT know about bl00d l*bel and greed and how they're antisemitic stereotypes and maybe AVOID making characters coded to be Jewish cannibals and/or greedy.

How do you claim to be a fan of Abrahamic demonology but not also be an (at least passing) scholar of the religions that demonology comes from? Christianity, which is where a lot of our modern idea of demons and devils and hell is based on, is chop full of stuff that's worth your time to study. No; it's not lame or converting you to give it a passing glance. There are so many secular religious scholars who love this shit and make it fun. Then maybe, if you branch off and find people who are interested start depicting things from Judaism and Islam with HELP.

srry I just saw something on twitter where someone was seriously arguing Viv should never had done research on how St. Peter should look. St. Peter is a religious figure, he should be allowed to be depicted in any way-same as Jesus, but the complete lack of care in making him a beardless wonderbread christian pastor man is what's insulting.

tl;dr: Yes, Vivienne- you CAN appropriate Christianity. Also, you should have known that depicted voudou, Judaism and other religions is appropriation w you're NOT part of those groups and done some research.

#cw: mentions racism #vivziepop critical #hazbin hotel critical #if you love dante's inferno or paradise lost then GREAT #but oh my god #KNOW WHAT FIRE YOU'RE PLAYING WITH ESPECIALLY WHEN THAT SHIT ISN'T YOUR FIRE??!?!?!?

41 notes · View notes

scimitar-and-longsword · 2 months

Text

Lolo plays Call of Duty Modern Warfare (2019) for the first time, part 6!

(I'm playing an fps, so all the warnings for violence, war, etc. dead dove etc etc.)

Mission 10: The Wolf's Den

Oohhh team up moment. Love that hero shot of Alex, Price, Gaz, and Farah!

The night vision levels have both been slow building clearing missions, they're very tense. My heart is beating so fast!

Oh my God Farah????? Ah!!

Ok. We're fine. She's fine.

"we're cut off, it's just us." "Just like old times" listen I'm just saying I can see why people ship Farah and Alex...

"show your face and die!" Jesus Farah... I mean I get it, but damn.

Oop- I died

Try 2: and again almost immediately...

Try 3: oh god I fell down a hole.... Farah? Farah? I don't know what I'm doing lol

Ok Farah saved me 🩷🥰

Oh bomb defusal!!

I died... But I think that was Farah's fault! "Cut exactly when I say! 3-2-1-" me:*cuts* "cut" *we explode*

I feel like maybe we could have established that this was a "3-2-1-go" situation lol

Try 4: whew... We defused it... 😰😰😰

Mission 11: Captive

Alex and Gaz little bro moment. Love it.

Alex: I'm staying with my new girlfriend 😌

Price... My gosh... 😳

I love how Farah and Price have this history of trust.

Barkov can eat shit. I hate this man.

Me just walking around this cell block with a chair and no idea what to do with it: 😊😊😊

Oh man I got so far before dying!

Try 2: this slide mechanic is fun- and I died.

Try 3: this damn sniper!!

Oh my God Price saving me 😳🥰

Ahahaha beardless Piece 😂

Stopping here for now.

#lolo cod playthrough #cod #modern warfare #lolo rambles #tw: violence #tw: guns #i know noone cares about these posts #but im having fun #thank you for indulging me

3 notes · View notes

distopea · 1 year

Note

How fast do your muses grow facial hair? Which rarely need to shave and which need to shave or else they get all patchy bits of stubble

@royaletiquette

Oh jesus this will take forever but let's do this ✨

I'll put Marlo out of this because he's not truly a human muse in the first place ✌️

Astra is a natural blond, so he doesn't have a big hairiness in the first place and doesn't grow facial hair quickly either. He shaves everyday though, because he prefers to keep his cheeks clean and he doesn't like beards. He uses luxurious products to keep his skin very clean and soft, and he never injures himself due to his sensitivity to infections, blood, and whatsoever. He shaves with an electrical razor.

Gabriele is a brunette and is rather hairy (hairy torso, legs, arms...). He doesn't mind the beard at all, and off duty, he will keep a three days beard most of the time. However, for work, he's very dedicated to keep himself clean too. He will shave every morning, and he particularly loves the old razor blades from the barber. Once a week, he will also visit a barber shop to moister and hydrate his skin. He's good with blades, so he doesn't cut himself very often.

Gambit has a very disparate beard in the first place, so he has never liked to have one. He has holes on the cheeks, and his mustache doesn't look very luxuriant. He will shave himself after his night shower, and in the morning if he believes he still has a few spots he has missed. However, since he can be pretty much distracted with other tasks, he will cut himself here and there, especially under the chin.

Jovan is definitely the kind of man to have a thick beard in the span of a week. He's hairy a bit everywhere (he has a massive happy trail for example...) and he doesn't really find the necessity to shave. I'm a bit sad I don't have proper icons for that (in the manwha I cropped his faceclaim from, alas, Jovan is perfect but BEARDLESS). He would need to shave everyday if he wanted to keep his cheeks clean, but he doesn't bother nor care. His hair is soft though, even if he does nothing to take care of it.

Mads is also a brunette, but he has, I would say, a normal amount of hair all over his body. He grows facial hair quite quickly though, but some areas are less thick than others so we never have the sensation he has a massive beard, and with the army, he has adopted a certain routine. He likes to shave, so he would do it every two or three days, depending on how his beard might grow. He might cut himself if he's distracted, and he's probably the quickest among my muses to shave his beard.

Big, thick and quite visible red beard! The Scottish genes are strong with Mika, and he's naturally hairy. Like Mads, it's quite fair and normal, but for his face, Mika has much more beard than his brother. He can easily get a luxuriant beard in a week, and he needs to shave everyday to keep himself hairless. He prefers not to grow a beard, he somehow appreciates his baby face.

He doesn't have a lot of hair and doesn't grow facial hair either. He doesn't need to shave very often, and somehow he's glad, because of his illness, he might not even spot that he has hurt himself in the first place. He doesn't have an equal beard either, so he has never had the intentions to grow it, plus, a professional dancer, even more a ballerina, usually shaves it. To avoid accidents, he prefers to visit a barber shop rather than shaving it himself.

Kaizen grows a decent beard whenever he doesn't shave, and it's not something he wants to do very often. It's not very dark and he likes to keep a three days beard most of the time. He only trims it to keep it short, but otherwise it's rare for him to entirely shave. He doesn't cut himself either because Kaizen is very skillful with razors and blades, only a few small accidents here and there but it's quite rare.

Vex is almost hairless when it comes to his facial hair, due to his Asian background and his genes. He only has a few spots on his face here and there (mostly the chin and above the lips), but other than that, his skin is rather smooth everywhere else. He shaves once a week whenever he needs, and it doesn't take very long. He cuts himself sometimes, but it's never like pure massacre either.

Zodiac wishes to have a true luxuriant beard but he can't grow one and he hates it. He only has a few hairy spots on his face and holes a bit everywhere. Since he hates suffering from mockeries, he shaves everyday, just like his brother and father did before. He often cuts himself because he's a nervous person and he's not very patient, so he will rush in the morning or evening to get ready.

#⌇welcome to the circus! ( 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙣 )#; that was so fun to write thank you!!#; tumblr decided to eat all my tags again #; this website I swear...

6 notes · View notes

beau-reblogs-assorted-stuff · 1 year

Text

Jesus Christ guys a twink is a man that is thin and usually beardless/have less body hair, a bear is a FAT HAIRY GUY and a Hunk is a muscly guy if I see another person calling ANY effeminate man a twink I am going to steal your molars I have been seeing people call hunks twinks just because they're vain/care about looking good, for the last fucking time twink=/=effeminate and bear =/= masculine stop making queer labels heteronormative and cisnormative there's feminine bears and masculine twinks and they just exist one isn't more effeminate or prone to be a bottom than the other stop assuming that there's a right way to perform genders or else we'll never be free

#bernardo talks a lot

5 notes · View notes

sophiamcdougall · 2 years

Text

Oh, I am glad I was slowed down by the lingering fear of second hand embarrassment comedy to only make it to the end of Our Flag Means Death now its second season has safely been announced. Because ow. ...also, Jesus God beardless Taika Waititi in a pink dressing gown looks amazing.

4 notes · View notes

aflashbak · 7 months

Link

#virgin mary

0 notes

astridstorm · 1 year

Text

A Comfort of a Different Sort: A Sermon for Good Shepherd Sunday

I love an ambiguous metaphor.

And we have not one, but two of them in today’s readings.

But before I get to that, I’d like to mention just briefly that we’ll be recognizing today at the announcements those parishioners who recently completed reading the entire Bible. We started during Covid, when it seemed like a good idea and somehow they stuck with it.

They got through the battles and family feuds of Genesis. Reams of law in Leviticus. More battles in the books of 1 & 2 Samuel and Kings. All 150 Psalms -- the Psalms, to our surprise, sort of dragged. Much as we love them in small doses. The prophets. All four Gospels. The epistles, and all the way to Revelation.

One of the questions I frequently asked the group at our weekly gatherings was, How’s your faith holding up? Because contrary to popular belief, reading the Bible can really do a number on your cherished beliefs and assumptions.

And I have to say, no one, to my knowledge, lost their faith, or left the Church over this. Episcopalians do a good job (I think) of appreciating new and challenging ideas. And I like to think it’s hard to “lose your faith” because we teach that it grows and evolves with us through our lives; it’s never a static thing we grow out of.

The last thing I’ll say about this Is that the group is working now on a video compilation of their experience, which I hope we can have done and share with all of you before summer. In the meantime, again, we’ll celebrate them shortly and also at a “Bible-themed” coffee hour following this service.

To which my husband queried, Manna? Loaves and fishes? What’s a Bible-themed coffee hour? You’ll have to come and find out!

---

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. We are sheep.

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, another fixed day in our Church year that comes up every fourth Sunday of Easter. It has, in the past here, overlapped with Holy Communion Sunday, the recognition of our first and second graders. A couple of times since I’ve been here we’ve had baptisms on this day, as well. This year, today is (for us at St. James) a relatively quiet day. But I like when it ties into events with children because it’s such a favorite early metaphor.

I’ve mentioned this I believe in years past. I had a poster as a child of Jesus holding a sheep over his shoulder on my wall. I found out later that it was one of the most mass-produced images of Jesus in the 70s so probably thousands of other kids also had that in their rooms, but I thought it was something special and unique, just for me. Don’t ask me how, but I thought I was that sheep, nuzzled in the crook of Jesus’ neck. I’m grateful that was one of my earliest impressions of God.

The first Christians, too, found solace in this image. They used it to decorate the walls of their catacombs. Jesus the Good Shepherd was often beardless, a young handsome man with a sheep slung over his shoulders. He was painted there to guard and protect them as they suffered persecution after persecution in those early and difficult days of our faith.

Before any of this, the Old Testament writers presented King David, regarded by us Christians as Jesus’ ancestor, as a young ruddy shepherd. David protected not only his flocks but his people, first appearing on the scene to knock out the enemy Goliath as he charged about murdering the sons of Israel. There’s something about young David unarmored, with just a few river rocks and a simple handmade weapon that makes that story still an innocent seeming one.

On the other side, the people of Israel were the sheep, before the metaphor was passed on to the early Christians and to all Christians including little girls and boys in their Sunday school classes.

Jesus is the Shepherd. We are the sheep.

Of course there’s always more to a Biblical metaphor than first meets the eye; our Bible readers can certainly tell you that.

Having a shepherd for a God is comforting. But outside of childhood we find ourselves (if we’re honest) wanting someone a bit higher up the ranks to show as our deity. You could say that the same discomfort at having a God who hangs on a cross and is persecuted at (human hands), that same discomfort is there when we really think about having a shepherd God. Many Israelites didn’t like it either. Plenty of Jews and Christians were happy to move on to more conquering-hero images of the Divine and put their pastoral days behind them.

To be part of a humble faith that doesn’t wield power and claim to have answers, that admits a weak and low-ranking God who masquerades as a shepherd, or victim on a cross: That is a challenge. It asks of us to see real strength in weakness and vulnerability, going against every instinct we have especially as we age into the prime of our lives when we also don’t like to acknowledge those traits--weakness and vulnerability--in ourselves.

And then we, sheep. The environmentalist Robert Muir (whose feast day in our calendar of saints was last week) called them “hooved locusts.” They destroy everything in sight and are not exactly known for their brilliance, either. Once again we’re challenged to accept a less triumphant view of ourselves in the world, as creatures needing to be guided, not as individual and brilliant and self-determining as we fancy ourselves to be. We’re just part of a herd, one of millions--billions.

So this metaphor becomes more complicated as we age. But it’s no less comforting. In youth it makes us feel unique and special, and we are that; as we age it helps us understand our place and limitations, a comfort of a different sort.

The Lord is my shepherd. We are sheep. Nothing more, because that, is everything.

0 notes

whereisthedamndaddymanual · 1 year

Text

If you yell at my daughter and scream Jesus Christ at her you are technically correct.

That is the dickless beardless version.

#I mean #her brother is also Jesus Christ #but everything turns out to be a duality when it comes to the family scripture #thegame23

0 notes

cithaerons · 2 years

Text

if diego plays jesus he should wear the hair and makeup he wore in mister lonely

#i know he has a very nice beard and jesus is often depicted with a beard #but consider this: beardless androgynous jesus #the botticelli pieta look

8 notes · View notes

jamesalarcon · 6 years

Photo

RM babies vs Fuenlabrada (26.10.17)

#beardless ceballos gets featured twice because its just that horrible #marco asensio #dani ceballos #marcos llorente #borja mayoral #theo hernandez #jesus vallejo #achraf hakimi #nacho fernandez #kiko casilla #Real Madrid #my gifs

93 notes · View notes

sirfrogsworth · 4 years

Text

My First Big Date

Speaking of The Phantom of the Opera, I don’t think I’ve ever actually told the full story of when I went to see the show for the first time. I kinda spoiled the ending in a previous post, but I think you might all enjoy a tale of Teenage Mutant Ninja Froggie.

It was 1998. I was a humorous, chubby, 17 year old high school junior.

For reference, here is a photo of a beardless be-suited me and I am... umm... surrendering to the British Army?

There was this girl. She was cute and silly and gave good hugs. She liked to laugh and I liked making her laugh—so that worked out to be mutually beneficial. In our three years of friendship we had our share of adventures together. We were both huge theater nerds. We auditioned for all the plays and if we didn’t get parts we would take a job on the crew. We were in several plays together. We were in choir together. We even had the same private singing teacher.

She once had surgery on her ankle due to years of ballet abuse. Our theater had these big awkward steps that were not crutch-friendly and it took her forever to descend them. And since I was the strongest person around (not a huge brag in the theater department), I would always run to the top of the steps and carry her down to the stage... An-Officer-and-a-Gentleman style.

We used to sit next to each other in chemistry class. At some point she lost her voice for like an entire week. I can’t remember why, but if she talked even a little she could’ve damaged something. And since singing was a big part of her life, she didn’t want to risk even a whisper. She was a naturally outgoing person and was having a very hard time communicating. I could tell she was starting to get depressed. I decided to buy her a bunch of multicolored Post-its so she could write everything she wanted to say and stick them on people’s desks, lockers, foreheads... whatever. In solidarity, I chose to not speak when we were together and wrote jokes for her on the Post-its. It cheered her up quite a bit.

I think it goes without saying I had a pretty big crush on her.

We were entranced by big production Broadway musicals. Phantom was her absolute favorite show. Mine was actually Jesus Christ Superstar. (Have you heard that high note in Gethsemane?) But I loved Phantom too.

I’m a “grand gesture” kind of person. I've always been that way. So, one night in the parking lot of Steak ‘n Shake after performing in one of our high school plays, I presented her with a single rose and a ticket to The Phantom of the Opera.

On the ticket was a Post-it Note that said, “Will you go to a play with me?”

Being able to talk by then, she screamed at a pitch only dogs could hear and agreed to accompany me to the big show.

My mom keeps everything and made a collage of all my theater stuff. Including my ticket stub and Playbill.

(You can also see me in my Judge Hathorne puritan costume from our production of The Crucible.)

ENHANCE!

I was a poor high school junior at that point. But I used a bunch of the money I made working at Best Buy to get floor level seats. There were no online ticket sales back then, so I actually went to the physical box office an hour before they opened to buy the absolute best tickets possible.

I was really hoping for dead center, but I got as close as I could to the stage.

I feel like that is pretty respectable for a teenager who spent 3 months selling computers and dubious extended warranties to save up a hundred and twenty bucks just to impress a girl.

We both dressed to the nines. I wore a suit that was purchased for a funeral the year before. She wore a form-fitting, full length, satin blue cocktail dress. She looked absolutely stunning.

I escorted her in my light blue 1987 Chevrolet Cavalier that I inherited from my grandmother. I think you'll agree it was a chariot suitable for a princess.

It had all the amenities—including power steering and AM radio.

End of amenities.

The Fabulous Fox Theatre wasn’t exactly in the most fabulous part of town. I printed out directions from Yahoo! Maps using my Canon Bubble Jet printer and navigated carefully through some rough neighborhoods and even rougher streets. Avoiding potholes was fruitless—as you’d end up just hitting different potholes. The bumps were loud and scary and gave us quite a jolt each time. My noble steed had a stiff suspension and I was worried one of these concrete maws would eat a tire.

Considering we were going to someplace fancy, I thought maybe we were lost and in the wrong area. But we were not. The Fox is just a diamond in the rough.

Back then, before an extensive remodel, the exterior of The Fox Theatre was just as rundown as the surrounding neighborhood. But I think the Fox uses TARDIS technology. Once you opened the doors of the aging, dilapidated brick building and saw the inside, it was like you were entering the lobby of the Titanic. (Before the iceberg and the drowning and stuff.)

I wondered how all of this was inside that unassuming rundown brick exterior.

And when you entered the seating area, it looked... immense.

It was the biggest single room I’d ever seen up to that point.

The show was fantastic and our mouths were agape with awe the entire time. The acoustics were mind-boggling. You could hear every instrument, every voice, every sound effect—every detail filled the entire room with perfect clarity. The show was every bit the spectacle I was told. It had movie quality special effects... IN PERSON. The sets glided on and off stage as if a telekinetic wizard was moving them about.

And the bit with the chandelier blew my tiny teenage mind.

When the show was over I was a nervous wreck. If you hadn’t guessed, this entire evening was a bit of a sales pitch. I was auditioning for the part of “thoughtful boyfriend.” And my big plan was to show her the night of her life and then declare my everlasting like before saying goodnight.

I drove her back home and escorted her to the front door. I stumbled my way through some speech I had prepared and told her all the reasons I thought she was the bee’s knees.

I took a deep breath and mustered every bit of courage I had. I told her how much I liked her and asked if she had any feelings for me.

She paused.

It was a very long pause.

Or it felt very long.

I think time slowed down in my brain and it was only a second or two.

But I knew it wasn’t a good pause.

“I’m sorry. I only see you as a friend.”

She thanked me for everything and told me it was one of the best nights of her life. She gave me a big long hug. We talked a bit more and agreed to be “just friends.” Which I was perfectly okay with. She was a great friend and I didn’t want to lose that.

In that moment I was trying my best not to show my heart sinking to my feet and my eyes welling up with tears. I was a bit gobsmacked. I was certain this was going to end with a long dramatic kiss set to swelling orchestral music.

I mean, every movie I had seen taught me if you do the grand gesture, you get the girl.

WHAT THE HECK, MOVIES?

She finally stepped inside and I shuffled into the night, mope-walking with shoulders sunk. I got into my grandma’s old car and drove away—blasting the AM radio to distract me from heartbreak.

No, the night didn’t end as I had planned, but I was proud of myself for taking the chance.

And the show really was fantastic.

No regrets.

#long post

798 notes · View notes