#did the sacrifices... WORK?!

[andthebeanstalk]

I HAVE BEEN LEARNING ABOUT MISTER AUGUSTUS OCTAVIAN/OCTAVIUS GAIUS CAESAR SINCE 8TH GRADE. HOW AM I STILL LEARNING MORE THINGS ABOUT HIM THAT MAKE ME GO "octavius babe holy shit what the fuck what the FUCK dude"

#roman history #overly sarcastic productions #Augustus Caesar #octavian caesar #octavius caesar #original #like is he as crazy as nero? no. but the thing about emperors like nero and caligula is that while a lot of us know their names because #they were so unhinged - they were too violent and volatile to actually have very effective reigns as rulers. #their effect on history is limited in some ways because a mad king will go down in history for madness but little else #but Augustus Caesar was the most ruthless ambitious terrifying motherfucker to ever meddle in the Mediterranean #he makes Julius Caesar look chill. he was so GOOD at political ruthlessness during a time of upheaval that he made himself into a GOD #we still have months named after him and his adoptive father and i live in North America just about 2000 years after he died! #he re shaped a huge part of the world and i have been studying greco roman culture for so much of my life and HOW is it i JUST #found out that this bitch SACRIFICED OTHER ROMANS TO THE GODS. WHICH WAS NOT. A. THING. PEOPLE. DID. EVER. IN. ROME. #and then AFTER THAT he becomes a GOD EMPEROR. how???? #did the sacrifices... WORK?! #like i cannot emphasize enough that I have learned specifically about Roman culture for years #and this is the first I have ever heard of an instance of human sacrifice. it wasn't a thing! it was wicked not a part of their religion!! #and he just did it as a political move. because he was fucking crazy. #and I'm just going to go ahead and use that language because I am a person with severe mental illness and you can bite me. #octavius caesar was fucking crazy. not in the mental illness sense tho - in the HOLY SHIT THAT SHIT IS FUCKING CRAZY sense #although All Things Considered he probably did at least have some kind of trauma regarding all the murder and war and stuff #I once saw a gender swapped production of Julius Caesar and it was really good #and I remember being terrified of my friend lucette playing Octavius. it was great #HUMAN SACRIFICES. IN FUCKING ROME. WHAT. FUCKING WHAT. I AM LOSING MY MIND #how the FUCK did this man manage to remain politically successful after this????? I guess it helped that there was no internet #it's not that I'm surprised about brutality in Rome it was their whole brand it's that this particular form of violence is extremelY #not something that romans DID. like it just wasn't part of the culture this wasn't a thing

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

#writeblr #warm up #this is longer than i wanted i really considered removing that part about myself and what i went thru #but i think it really fucking bothers me that EVERY time i talk about being an artist #ppl assume i just like. had the skill and ability to drop everything and pay for grad school. #like sir i grew up poor. my house wasn't a safe space. i gave up a FREE RIDE TO LAW SCHOOL. for THIS. bc i chose it. #was it fucking hard? was i choosing the hard thing?? yes. #but we need to stop seeing artists as lazy layabouts that can ''afford'' to just ''sit around and create'' #when MANY - if not MOST - of us are NOT like that. we have to work our fucking ASSES off. hard work. long and hard work #part of valuing artists is recognizing the amount we sacrifice to make our art. bc it doesn't just #like HAPPEN to us. also btw it rarely has anything to do with true talent. #speaking as someone with a chronic condition i hate when ppl are like u have it easy. like actively as i'm writing this my hands r #ACTIVELY hurting me. i haven't been posting bc my left hand was curled in a claw for the last week #this isn't fucking luck. after a certain point it's not even TALENT. it's dedication & sacrifice. #''u get to flounce around and do nothing with ur life'' is a narrative that is a direct result of capitalism #imagine if we said that about literally any other profession. #''oh so u give up 10 yrs of ur life to be a doctor? u sacrifice having a social life and u get SUPER in debt? #u need to work countless hours and it will often be thankless? well i wish i was that lucky'' #we should be applying that logic to landlords ONLY #''oh ur mom and dad gave u the money to buy a house? and all u did was paint it white and rent it? huh.''

[starmocha]

#love and deepspace #love and deepspace zayne #love and deepspace rafayel #love and deepspace xavier #love and deepspace caleb #love and deepspace thomas #love and deepspace jeremiah #love and deepspace tara #love and deepspace jenna #love and deepspace nero #lnds cracks #did i really sacrifice sleep to work on this monstrosity #i mean #i've done worst before #caleb come back #you're too sexy to leave us like that #you can even come back as a villain idc

[rhymaes]

The Untamed (2019) // Natalie Diaz, When My Brother Was An Aztec

#he did so much wrong because none of them were ever taught how to love and that others love differently #wei wuxian was taught love is a sacrifice &—at its kindest—an exchange #Jiang cheng was taught love is companionship—to have someone beside you & take the same path #& yanli was taught love is in action—in doing the work and giving the gifts and being where someone can see. and she spent her life #trying to help them all get along. & it’s just. he did so much wrong & the love was there AND IT DIDNT CHANGE A THING #the untamed #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #wei ying #mdzs #jiang wanyin

[charmac]

#iasip #sunnys super sweet 16 #don’t ask how long i spent on the fucking text graphic #the photoshop was fine its the fucking colours i couldnt let go of yellow/gold but it just did. not work here #anyway look how beautiful the sweet 16 theme would have been #Mac closeup got bumped cos not red #sorry Mac lol be more on theme next time #and booze is out of order ya #sacrifice... it just didnt look as good with the text between dee and den at the bottom #i might do these for closeups of the gang in each ep... #we'll see. #oc

[skitskatdacat63]

Hello guys!!!!! Aforementioned project is finally finished 🫠 It was meant to be just a simple weekend project, and ended up being 30+ hours over the period of like four days. I don't think I'm an actual normal human anymore. This is the project that caused everyone in my life to question my mental and physical wellbeing and health. But I'm super excited to share this all of you!!!! Please enjoy!!!! Even if you don't like vettonso, I hope this is still interesting????

If you make any, please reblog this or tag me in it! I'm excited to see what other people, other than just me suffering alone in my bedroom, make out of this!!! <3

#jesus christ i cant believe i actually made this 😭😭 #originally earlier last week i was like ahhh i wanna draw more of them in different eras(like the timeswap au) #and then randomly wanted to draw every single racesuit(nightmare) #and then im like WAIT I CAN MAKE A PICREW OUT OF THIS #no joke when i say i dont think i was a human this weekend #it was truly: eat. sleep. draw. eat. draw. sleep. draw. eat. draw. draw. sleep. #the screentime count on my ipad is soooooo fucking bad im ashamed dhfjfkkg #i dont think picrews are meant to be made in the span of a weekend #*weakly* i did it~ #again as i said in the description. please request if you want anything added!!! #i dont know if ill get to it immediately bcs i just spent 30+ hours psychologically torturing myself #i actually feel so ill JSJFKGLGLG but im happy w it and i wouldnt have gone back and changed any of the process #tho the evolution of 'im having so much fun' to groaning every time i opened up my ipad again was so funny #thank you so much to suzuki i could have never have done this without your support and encouragement 🥹🥹 #hoping this picrew works as a blood sacrifice to the good health and wellbeing of the amr24. the car that is launching today! #also istg i am going to dm shill and self reblog this with no shame. it is my magnum opus(as of now) #now i am going to sleep and not touch my ipad for a while djfkkglg #f1 #formula 1 #sebastian vettel #fernando alonso #catie.art. #vettonso #normal posts that catie normally makes in a normal fashion

[edsearring]

just bought the new bears in trees ep. the strategy for winning the raffle, as per usual, is ritual sacrifice

#of a drawing dw #look. am i doing a ritual sacrifice? yes #have i done it before? ...yes #did it work? No #but i couldn't burn it then so maybe it will work #bears in trees

[roseblushkestrel]

"I enjoyed sharing a moment of magic with you."

#astarion is fully going to kill me for making him wear gale's pajamas #but sometimes sacrifices must be made for the sake of seeing a man's chest #astarion babe I only did it because the camp clothes mod I downloaded wasn't working I promise I'll give it back #anyway listen to hozier when you look at these because that's what I do #his tiny little shrug #the backwards walk #this man lives inside my head now #sir i would commit murders for you #mystra you're on notice #baldur's gate 3 #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #bg3 #i'm back in the making gifs -> writing fic pipeline #gifset

[padfootastic]

Remus: You need to stay in the castle, where it’s safe from Sirius Black

Hogwarts: *had Voldemort living on the back of a teacher’s head without anyone’s knowledge, once sent 11 year olds into the Murder Forest with only a dog for protection, had a giant murder snake roaming the school for months, Harry’s best friend was petrified and only avoided death because she realized what the monster was, had a teacher attempt to memory wipe two students, had a secret murder chamber for centuries, and Sirius had broken in to the school before*

Like, Remus, where is this alleged safety inside the school???? Page not found

remus is epitome of ‘mouth running w/o knowing anything’ bc he just,,,,keeps saying shit,,,,,without any knowledge

also it’s funny because. sirius literally got into the school too lol AND WHAT MAKES IT WORSE—AND THIS IS JUST HITTING ME—IS REMUS WOUKD FUCKING KNOW THAT. HE WOULD KNOW HOW SIRIUS IS GETTING IN BECAUSE HE NEVER BOTHERED TO TELL DUMBLEDORE ANYTHIGN DID HE?

not the animagus thing. not the secret passageways, literally nothing. and then he has the audacity to pretend like the castle is safe and sirius black can’t touch harry there (where he literally got into his dorm!!! was right beside him!!) he also has the utter gall to tell harry he’s disrespecting his parent’s sacrifice jesus christ what a flaming trash can of a wizard

#sirius black #also did he say this before or after sirius broke in? #before i think right? #it wouldn’t have worked otherwise #it’s like. remus. u really wanna talk about disrespecting jily’s sacrifice? #YOU? *really?* #what a joke #now i am all fired up smh #how does this one character get my blood boiling like this bruh #i’ve complained so much im all bitched out #and yet here i an #anyway. remus is the rotten fruit that keeps on giving bc the more u think about him the more he fucked up #so ykno. it’s not my fault #pen’s asks

[commsroom]

it’s actually unreal to me that ‘radio dj’ is not a part of eiffel’s eclectic work history, like. he was born for it. you’rrree listening to 35.9 THE WOLF bringing you the galaxy’s greatest hits of the 10′s, 20′s, and whenever the hell this song is from. and then he howls.

#wolf 359 #w359 #doug eiffel #i wanna hear doug eiffel radio stingers #give that man a sound board he'll go wild #like yes a little night music is kind of eiffel doing a radio show but it is NOT the same #i wanna hear him embrace his inner rock station dj #i understand what i'm advocating for here is a psychological torment chamber for minkowski but i think that's a necessary sacrifice #thinking about 1) how zach said he initially did voice over work for commercials etc. and had to unlearn some of those habits for acting #but like i think it worked out well because having a bit of Radio Guy Voice is exactly right for the kind of person eiffel is #and 2) when someone asked what eiffel's favorite rock band was but he misread it as 'what is eiffel's rock band' #and they were all on board with that like duh of course he had a terrible garage band at some point #he is so. he's sooo .

[lordundying]

"You like night orchids and you can't swim. You told me once."

"Hm. I did. And you remembered."

#— x. what resembles the grave but isn't. #— varya astakhova. #— shadowheart. #— mine. #so it is possible for me to open photoshop and not be a complete flop!! we stay winning lads #mostly just trying to get back in the rhythm of editing and doing something creative #have also been working on their oneshot intermittently but we all know how writing is a fickle and cruel mistress #tumblr did try to keep them off the dash but we make sacrifices (losing colors) <3

[onejellyfishplease]

Does mosquitello like blood?

Of Course!

#How did you think the sacrifices worked? #mosquitello

[strqyr]

i don't think it's a coincidence that the qrow and robyn, and ruby and yang scenes were back-to-back in 'risk'.

qrow was ready to go and kill ironwood to end what is going on—a way to save people by going directly to the source—but robyn points out the alternative; that they'll fail, and people get killed anyway.

meanwhile, ruby isn't really disappointed or sad that her plan with amity to call for help didn't really work, she's angry. she was being 'childish', they shouldn't 'lie to themselves', she only 'wasted their time'.

even when yang points out that they need hope, that they need to take risks, but ruby pulls her hand back and says, "but mine didn't work."

ultimately, this conversation is about summer, and summer took a risk too. a risk that did not work out, one where she tried to go straight to the source to end it, once and for all.

with how robyn talked down qrow, saying he's only doing it for himself and not anyone else... i think these scenes hint at how ruby feels about summer. it's sorrow mixed with anger; sorrow for losing her mom so early, never getting to really know her; and anger for the pointless risk summer took, especially if salem was being literal about summer saying the same words to her as ruby did;

"we've seen that you can't be killed."

#rwby #ruby rose #summer rose #was it worth it? #to sacrifice your own life; even if to protect the ones you love #when you can never know if it worked or not? #when your loved ones are left to deal with the aftermath? #would they not have been happier to deal with any struggles with you there with them? #who did you really do it for? #who did you save? #you need to take risks; that's just life sometimes #but if those risks involve very likely throwing your life away you need to turn around and go back home at once

[swordsmans]

You reblogging those “cannibalism as a symbolic form of intimacy” is making me curious on what you’re cooking bruv 👁️👁️

#sdfkljhsdjfkhsdfhjk laughed IRL when i opened my inbox #feeling a bit called out actually #havent decided if its a Full Ship Thing yet or just double one-sided zoro/luffy sanji/luffy #but itll defo walk that thin line between devotion and self sacrifice #the next challenge on my list is writing a new dynamic i havent tried yet #altho i might be cheating because i did kinda already do background monster trio angst in ocean theology #ive still got to work on my event fics but theyre ALL more lighthearted so im letting myself get a little wild for ao3 #thanks for your interest lmaooo????????? #answers #gyro.odt

[itspileofgoodthings]

I know I’m talking to an empty theater here but the writing on that episode of Lark Rise to Candleford where Robert loses his tools (and so the means to feed his family) and is facing destitution and then runs into the young guy who’s in love with his daughter and then uses the moment not to take out all his angst and anger on Fisher but to ask him if he’s ready for all that marriage and staying and giving up his life on the road actually means thus forcing Fisher to admit that he isn’t ready for it—-

!!!!!!!!

#and it’s just so brilliant because we’ve watched Robert suffer so deeply the entire episode #because of how crushing the weight of parental responsibility and poverty can be!!! #and he sees this guy that loves his daughter but has no understanding of the life that that love could and should and will lead him to #if he chooses to stay. this guy who’s just living in the moment and in the feelings of the moment but whose love is not strong enough #to endure the sacrifice that would be required of. well. ordinary married life in a small town! #and Robert uses all his wisdom to force him to admit that he’s not ready for it and doesn’t want it #and then it gets even more brilliant! because after Fisher leaves and Laura is heartbroken and angry #he presents her with the same reality/question but from HER side #her being like ‘how dare you make him not stay’ and Robert being like ‘and did I force you not to go with him?’ #‘were YOU ready to give up your whole life and world for him? to make it work? or did you want your life AND him’ #it’s the have your cake and eat it too truth in this case. their lives didn’t fit together and their love was real in a way #but not real enough to weld their different lives together without both of them hating each other in the end #idk it’s just BRILLIANT and I love it so much #because it unfolds so truthfully and all of the pieces of the story fold into each other so that it a) hits exactly as hard as it should #and b) reveals the truths of things so clearly and so accurately #Robert is so annoying so much of the time but he was a fatherly icon in this ep #lark rise to candleford

[jrueships]

HIS WAIL OF TERROR, ARMS FLINGING UP FLABBERGASTED BEFORE HIS CHARGE

#'oh i KNOW he did NOT just--MY BABY BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!' #γαμημένε δειλέ! κακοποιός!! #he is so cringe.... i need him . #the older sister who has no friends bcs she works overtime to support the family and is in school #but she has a car and money so she always tells her younger sister theyll get fastfood as an excuse to hang out & talk #hes so sacrifice for others. hes so im worthless without work. hes so side character whose purpose serves the mc. hes so embarrassing #hes so bbg #the nigerian dad gasp