It's about Crowley bearing witness to Aziraphale's desire, about the way that desire is animal and visceral and enormous and terrifying*. And about how Crowley sees that and wants it. Crowley offers the ox rib and watches Aziraphale eat because eating provides them no sustenance, it's purely for pleasure, sensual, selfish. And Crowley introduces Aziraphale to this, and thousands of years later still takes obvious pleasure in feeding Aziraphale, in watching him eat. In watching Aziraphale's pleasure.
And I think it's significant the things we see Crowley put into his body in s2, and why: six shots of espresso, as something bracing before seeing what it is that made Aziraphale call him in his "something's wrong" tone; whiskey, because he has to give Aziraphale some bad news; wine, because they "might as well get comfortable" during the storm coming down on Job, after Aziraphale learns that Crowley is actually pretty unhappy with Job's suffering; and poison, to dispose of it so Elspeth (or Wee Morag, I've fogotten which is which) doesn't die. Crowley doesn't take Aziraphale's "something that calms you down", only consumes things that not only don't bring him pleasure but are an attempt to prevent pain. Crowley, who introduced Aziraphale to this important physical, sensual, selfish pleasure, denies it to himself. He denies himself the eccles cakes, he denies himself partaking in food, and he denies himself Aziraphale.
And we see throughout the rest of the season other things he's denying himself: the comfort and safety of a home in the bookshop in favor of the mobility and ready-made escape of living in the Bentley, the surety of saying what he really means during the confession. He cannot bring himself to admit what he wants, that he wants. Gabriel and Beelzebub "going off together" is not what he wants. He wants Aziraphale, but he doesn't say that, because he's never, in the years and years and years we've seen this season, let himself want or be seen wanting. "Going off together" is as close as he can get to speaking it. "A group of the two of us" is as close as he can get. So he has to watch as Aziraphale leaves and takes his pleasure in the world with him.
6K notes
·
View notes
You know what, while I'm doing hot takes. And this one may be obvious considering I'm actively contributing to hosting the Solarpunk Aesthetic Week event but like.
Dear everyone who's constantly deriding the aesthetic portions of the solarpunk movement/genre; do you just not understand that being able to visualize the future you want is immensely important to being able to work towards it? Being able to get other people on board with it?
When I first got interested in Solarpunk, it wasn't for the hot leftist takes about the top ways to dismantle the government for the people, or top tips on how to build your own solar panel apparatuses. What brought me in? Visions of a hopeful future. I learned and began to love the rest as I dove deeper into solarpunk circles, but there is no denying that my first intro to it--and likely many people's first intro to it--was via the art and aesthetic spheres. The term 'solarpunk' was literally coined to refer to the aesthetic movement, and we've been building up from there ever since.
'When are people going to realize the aesthetic parts don't matter and what really matters is praxis--' dude, the aesthetic parts do matter. Inspiring people does matter. Showing people visions of a hopeful future is immensely important, it's why so many people join this movement. We see glimpses of what a hopeful future could look like, through beautiful art or riveting stories, we're inspired by things like stained glass and organic designs and statues and fashion concepts--and then we think to ourselves 'how can we help make this future happen?' And we learn the praxis and we work towards the goals and we share it with others because that's just how we work.
Seeing isn't always believing, but sometimes in order to believe in something with your whole heart, it helps to be able to visualize what you want. For yourself and for others.
So yes. The aesthetic parts of solarpunk do matter. Thank you for coming to my TEDTalk.
4K notes
·
View notes
My dad is going through grandmas old photos that she swore one day she'd organize but never did, and he tells me that hes only keeping 'the important ones.'
"The picture of me n' John n' tim n' michael. And your grandpa and the like. I'm not keeping pictures of cats or the ones of where Grandpa saw a buffalo once."
And listen I am rarely mad at my dad because hes got the best of intentions but...
When I was hlgoing through my other grandmas photos in 2021, I kept EVERY picture of a cat or dog and do you want to know why?
It was 1918, cameras were a luxury to have, film was expensive to develop, and you didnt want to waste film on something pointless and they
STILL
Took pictures of their pets.
"I have a cat. Please let me show you my cat" is a human quality that transcends generations. Before photos, we painted portraits of our companion animals on various surfaces and we will continue to do this til the end of time.
Great great great aunt Ida wanted you to know she had a fluffy little white cat with little black spots and a little black mustache and I think we should hear her out.
5K notes
·
View notes
you know what part of season seven is burned into my mind that more people should talk about? bdubs and scar as rival real estate agencies. like. what was up with that. what kind of a capstone to the Thing scar and bdubs had going on that season was that. it was one of the most divorced things bdubs has ever done, second only to that time he and doc lived in a house that had literally been split down the middle two make two houses and yelled at each other about it. even then, kind of a close second, given that maybe six months before bdubs had been scar’s right-hand man of undying devotion. like. can we talk about that. can we talk about whatever that was,
1K notes
·
View notes
Do you ever think about how Kirk had a "best friend" on the ship before Bones in Gary Mitchell, a man who:
a) deviously manipulates him into heartbreak for Mitchell's benefit,
b) shames him for not being "fun" enough when he's in a position of power,
c) openly insults intelligent and powerful women,
d) treats everyone cruelly as soon as he gets power and tries to seize everything for himself,
e) finds it fascinating that he can stop a person's heart for fun, and
f) tries to murder Kirk instead of admitting that he's a danger to the universe,
and then chooses to replace him with Bones, a man who:
a) tries to save Kirk from heartbreak at every opportunity,
b) gets him to smile and relax by being genuinely interested in how he's doing and telling him that he's great and respected just as he is,
c) openly toasts intelligent and powerful women,
d) treats everyone kindly as soon as he gets power and tries to use it to help as many people as he can,
e) cries about how people suffered when medical treatments were less advanced, and
f) says, "Jim, I can't destroy life, even if it's to save my own. I can't."
because I do
3K notes
·
View notes