#live discussion

[wordwarriors]

Reminder: Live Discussion tomorrow at 12:00 pm CST

Find your local time:

@karahalloway @aussiegurl1234 @harleybeaumont @alj4890 @peonierose @petiteboheme @ryns-ramblings @tate-lin @twinkleallnight @nestledonthaveone

@aallotarenunelma @kristinamae093 @coffeeheartaddict2 @thedistantshoresproject @lizzybeth1986  @memorias-depresivas

@noesapphic @jerzwriter

#word warriors #fanfic writing #descriptive writing #fanfic writers #creative writing #live discussion

[hamletthedane]

I was meeting a client at a famous museum’s lounge for lunch (fancy, I know) and had an hour to kill afterwards so I joined the first random docent tour I could find. The woman who took us around was a great-grandmother from the Bronx “back when that was nothing to brag about” and she was doing a talk on alternative mediums within art.

What I thought that meant: telling us about unique sculpture materials and paint mixtures.

What that actually meant: an 84yo woman gingerly holding a beautifully beaded and embroidered dress (apparently from Ukraine and at least 200 years old) and, with tears in her eyes, showing how each individual thread was spun by hand and weaved into place on a cottage floor loom, with bright blue silk embroidery thread and hand-blown beads intricately piercing the work of other labor for days upon days, as the labor of a dozen talented people came together to make something so beautiful for a village girl’s wedding day.

What it also meant: in 1948, a young girl lived in a cramped tenement-like third floor apartment in Manhattan, with a father who had just joined them after not having been allowed to escape through Poland with his pregnant wife nine years earlier. She sits in her father’s lap and watches with wide, quiet eyes as her mother’s deft hands fly across fabric with bright blue silk thread (echoing hands from over a century years earlier). Thread that her mother had salvaged from white embroidery scraps at the tailor’s shop where she worked and spent the last few days carefully dying in the kitchen sink and drying on the roof.

The dress is in the traditional Hungarian fashion and is folded across her mother’s lap: her mother doesn’t had a pattern, but she doesn’t need one to make her daughter’s dress for the fifth grade dance. The dress would end up differing significantly from the pure white, petticoated first communion dresses worn by her daughter’s majority-Catholic classmates, but the young girl would love it all the more for its uniqueness and bright blue thread.

And now, that same young girl (and maybe also the villager from 19th century Ukraine) stands in front of us, trying not to clutch the old fabric too hard as her voice shakes with the emotion of all the love and humanity that is poured into the labor of art. The village girl and the girl in the Bronx were very different people: different centuries, different religions, different ages, and different continents. But the love in the stitches and beads on their dresses was the same. And she tells us that when we look at the labor of art, we don’t just see the work to create that piece - we see the labor of our own creations and the creations of others for us, and the value in something so seemingly frivolous.

But, maybe more importantly, she says that we only admire this piece in a museum because it happened to survive the love of the wearer and those who owned it afterwards, but there have been quite literally billions of small, quiet works of art in billions of small, quiet homes all over the world, for millennia. That your grandmother’s quilt is used as a picnic blanket just as Van Gogh’s works hung in his poor friends’ hallways. That your father’s hand-painted model plane sets are displayed in your parents’ livingroom as Grecian vases are displayed in museums. That your older sister’s engineering drawings in a steady, fine-lined hand are akin to Da Vinci’s scribbles of flying machines.

I don’t think there’s any dramatic conclusions to be drawn from these thoughts - they’ve been echoed by thousands of other people across the centuries. However, if you ever feel bad for spending all of your time sewing, knitting, drawing, building lego sets, or whatever else - especially if you feel like you have to somehow monetize or show off your work online to justify your labor - please know that there’s an 84yo museum docent in the Bronx who would cry simply at the thought of you spending so much effort to quietly create something that’s beautiful to you.

#shut up e #long post #Saturday thoughts #this has been in my drafts for a week haha #also this is the heart of why AI art feels so wrong #forget the discussion of copyright and theft etc - even if models were only trained on public domain they would still feel very wrong #because they’re not art. art is the labor of creation #even commercial art and art commissioned by the popes and kings of history: there is humanity in the labor of it #unrelated: I did not know living in the Bronx was now something to brag about. How the fuck do y’all New Yorkers afford this city???

[metanarrates]

I genuinely feel like an alien compared to my coworkers when they try to chat with me about things like dating and weight loss. like what are you SAYING about "oh you know it's just so hard to make your man understand the instructions you give him?" why are you trying to connect with me by complaining that you gained 15 pounds? is this how most people form connections in the workplace? i for real do not get it

#narrates #i never notice how COMMON it is to talk about your partner like they're a burden or a fool #or about how common it is to discuss weight and weight loss #until im around people who AREN'T my family or friends #like shit you guys live like this????

[hartro-owns-my-heart-ro]

”getting thicker skin” is great in theory but I think for some people “get better at handling your thin skin” is gonna be way more helpful advice. I have strong emotional reactions to criticism and they might never go away, but i can continue to try and handle each situation maturely and that’s the important part. Sometimes irrational feelings are chronic and living with them is better than trying to beat yourself up into not having them.

#ive cried over completely minor critical discussions so many times this year that im starting to think it’ll just always be a thing #so now i wanna work on living with it #mental health #ok to reblog

[roydeezed]

One thing for those who have watched The Boy and The Heron or will watch it. The Japanese title for it is How Do You Live? And Miyazaki stated he was leaving it for his grandson, saying, "Grandpa is moving onto the next world soon but he is leaving behind this film".

The deaths of contemporaries and friends such as Satoshi Kon and Isao Takahata and also the expected successor of Yoshifumi Kondo were things that have always weighed heavily on the back of Miyazaki's mind.

He recognizes the industry and the occupation for how soul crushing it was, grinding up either the spirit or the physical body of those who work in it. He loves and hates the industry he stands on the peak of and fully recognizes how it will probably be the death of him. And he knows it'll leave him unable to say a lot of things to his Grandson.

So How Do You Live? is a lesson. For his grandson. For himself. For his two sons. And probably for anyone else willing to pay attention.

Hayao Miyazaki is a flawed man that makes things so important to so many people. And I think more than any other film of his, in this you get to pull back the curtain a bit and see him at work. And what should be this giant unblemished titan can be seen for what he is, a sad old man who had higher hopes for himself and has even higher hopes for the people he makes his work for.

It's a beautiful thing to see another's humanity in their work. To look past the artifice and glam of commercialized art and find humans behind it. And humans willing to show their humanity and mortality is even rarer. And something to be celebrated. So when you watch it. Or if you've watched it already. Understand that this film is Miyazaki kneeling down, weary after years of weaving dreams and making mistakes, reaching out and saying to you that he hopes you can do better. It's an old man who's made all the mistakes of the world passing it on to you, hoping you do better, and making sure you know it's okay if you don't.

How do you Live? By making mistakes. By messing up. But still moving forward. And still reaching out.

#the boy and the heron #how do you live #hayao miyazaki #i love you old man #i know you'll be back but if we're talking to each other through screens then thanks #if the wind rises was him exposing his mistakes then this is his apology #i really dislike the popularization of ideas like “parasocial relationships” and “seperate the art from the artist” and how it seeps into #the discussion of art. While people should be maintaining a detachment from people they don't know I think blunting arts impact by not #acknowledging the human behind it is a disservice to art. And you lose the beauty behind someone as flawed as you making something beautiful

[uncanny-tranny]

The whole "breasts shouldn't be politicized because the primary purpose of breasts is to feed babies!" can be a fine jumping-off point, but I really wish people thought deeper than that when we talk about the ways in which bodies are politicized and restricted.

Like, why's it that when we talk about breasts, they must have some Higher Purpose? It's true that breasts aren't inherently sexual, but they aren't valuable solely because they can potentially feed a baby. A human body doesn't have to serve a Higher Purpose in order for it to not be legislated against or policed, and I just wish people would remember it isn't always about babies, about other people, about anything else other than the people who have that body.

#feminism #dysphoria tw #your body doesn't need to have an Intrinsic Worthwhile Purpose so that you can live without fear #and it is fine if people say this to criticize the way breasts are overly sexualized and fetishized or what have you... #...but i encourage people to not see this as an end-all-be-all argument #because this opens discussions about how we politicize bodies and how we interpret them #i see overlap between this and the way trans bodies are politicized and policed honestly #and i guess personally i'm just so tired of the idea that to be safe your body Must Have A Good Reason To Be #and i fear this may reinforce the idea that we Must Serve Purposes and Be Useful and Used #ask to tag (genuine) #and what would this say for childless people? or people who cannot bear children? if they have breasts are they 'useless bodies' #because i have seen the ways some people's bodies are treated when they do not 'work PROPERLY' and that scares me #it scares me to potentially start treating people with different bodies as Defective and Unworthy and Unproductive #and i don't always trust when people latch onto purpose-driven arguments for human bodies that it stops at that y'know #have seen some discussion amd whatnot so 👍 #is it now time to clock put and be a silly goose yet?

[mobius-m-mobius]

#so unserious 😂💖

#owen wilson #tom hiddleston #loki #lokiedit #marveledit #and in doing so is actually the most serious of them all which is why he's a master at the craft 🥰 #the chimp documentary still has me on the floor though god i love owen so much #honestly need to study him under a microscope lmao there's no one in existence more fascinating and his choices elevate every scene #for my anon who wanted some panel gifs! apologies that the quality is obviously rough but this was my fav available moment 😂 #as usual their improv saves lives i'm never getting tired of them discussing how much they added to the show #marvel #owenwilsonedit #dianagifs

[ruporas]

i’ll find you again in every universe. let us be a little more honest, let us have a little more time.

#vashwood #vash the stampede #nicholas d wolfwood #trigun #despite it all though badlands rumble is like. the only universe where we get wolfwood thinking vash died first... and i think that means a #lot to their relationship and how it may bloom if there was more to badlands rumble considering vash literally saw wolfwood carrying a piece #of vash after his supposed death. u know! despite the short time they were together vash still meant so much to wolfwood that he couldn't #just move on or forget him in anyway. needed to keep a piece of him for himself and the rest of his days. but ofc vash lives and wolfwood #was like ill beat ur fucking ass into tomorrow. there's just so much honesty in vash being able to see that gesture bc he wouldnt know #otherwise just how much he might mean to him. ANYWAY. trimax with with the eternal pining featuring the two chapters where imo #where the both of them really fell for each other... i wrote my thoughts about this on another comic i did before #but vash solidifying his feelings during the hospital arc -- ww solidifies his when he realizes his allegiances are permanently with vash #98 my lovelies but also to me they are so one-sided bc ww pined like no tomorrow and vash only realizes after ep 23?24? his heart did tickle #whenever ww complimented his smile though #and tristamp vw my beloveds. it really just feels like they get the chance to be closer and closer and more honest with each other #with every version that comes about. in trimax they knew how little time they had but struggled so desperately to get closer. in 98 ww felt #more willing to forsake for vash. in badlands rumble theyre Angry but as mentioned earlier ^ more blatant truth... due to circumstances #mainly but has the chance to lead to discussions and tristamp literally. first day of knowing each other ww saves vash - 2 days later vash #saves ww like. Man. AND NOW THEY MAY POTENTIALLY GET EVEN CLOSER!!!! with s2.... #ruporas art

[bixels]

Why the hell, shit, you damned bastard son of a bitch

#personal #delete later #before you ask “why're you posting on reddit bix of course you're gonna get comments like this” #it's cuz it's really low stakes and easy to just throw your art on subs for visibility #and i legitimately love getting batshit insane comments like this because they always read like a copypasta #this isn't hatemail to me this is a reason to live laugh love #like we ALL know independent_lime4943 is misogynistic and racist we don't need to discuss it we can just laugh at him #thank you independent_lime4943 your comments were immediately deleted by moderators but i was lucky enough to #catch them as an email notification. damned bastard son of a bitch

[nonasbirthday]

of course you can read necros and cavs as a parallel to the gender binary bc A) you can do whatever you want forever and B) yeah there's plenty of textual evidence comparing the necro-cav bond to a marriage. however one thing i think many of these discussions keep missing is the fact that most people in the nine houses are not necros or cavs and do in fact exist outside of this binary. which would make it. not really much of a binary

#get ur warm takes here #i know other people have said this already but i really feel like this binary idea has proliferated recently #but i get it i mean in the books we have almost zero exposure to House citizens living outside this 'binary' #so it is a binary in the sense that you can apply it to our major characters who are from the nine houses #but i'm just not sure about extrapolating it to the whole fictional society #i do think there are comparisons to be drawn here i just don't think enough discussions account for this third group being most of #the population. #like do a thematic analysis for sure but personally i would stop short of saying 'joh created a new gender binary and forced everyone into #it' bc. what about all those other offscreen characters who are neither necro nor cav #the locked tomb #nonasbirthday

[rustedhills]

Disney, releasing Wish: "so it's all about legacy--the new generation surpassing the old, overcoming the evils perpetuated by them, relinquishing singular power... and there's an old man in a tower, uh... animal sidekick, i guess..., ah... magic...?

Miyazaki, just out of frame, sledgehammer raised:

#the boy and the heron #not tagging wish 'cause i'm being a little acidic #this isn't to be negative in the slightest--I really respect both films--but it's interesting to see how visceral boy+H gets with its story #what evils have to be rejected and what they represent--and how characters and the world suffer from those evils--as well as how the whole #'rejecting' part goes. in terms of animation powerhouses discussing their legacies - disney and miyazaki both - I find it interesting that #one makes a pretty safe and nostalgic movie about imagination and dreams; the other is a long trudge through the land of the dead. #b+h is a hard watch - and a look at the legacy of a man questioning his whole purpose in the world - after his cultural touchstones #have long passed by. Mahito needs to understand his grief to keep living--but if he drowns in it he'll just continue the cannibalistic and #violent world of his granduncle. how the hell do you make art when the trauma of your entire life has colored it forever? How can anyone? #maybe after a while... it's time to detonate that damn tower and keep living. #this is to say #if you have enough money to make whatever you want #Make It Fucking Count

[fictionadventurer]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes reviews I've seen fixate on the story's discussion of whether humans are inherently good or inherently evil as if one side or the other is the correct answer. Meanwhile the story itself is showing that individual choice in every action--choosing to act out of either love or self-interest--is what truly matters in shaping society. A free and stable society requires that people be taught to make selfless choices rather than act out of fear. Instead of oppressing people into fearful order, citizens need to have the freedom to choose the good, and be educated with the values that teach them what good is.

#the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games #i'm still mentally fighting with that christian review of the movie #'the movie discusses whether humans are inherently good or evil but the truth is we're depraved and need a savior' #and meanwhile i'm like #'well first off i don't think calvinist doctrine is going to help you here' #and i'm also like #you think the story*isn't* wrestling with the fallen nature of humanity? #you think it doesn't recognize that there's no merely human answer that can solve the problem of evil? #that we have to be fools by the world's standards to create a world worth living in? #can you actually understand what this very didactic story is telling you or do i have to do everything here?

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Bingqiu ponies (Happy Birthday @Piosplayhouse!)

#poorly drawn svsss #svsss #luo binghe #shen qingqiu #equineswap au #They live in the same universe: I'm making it canon right now #I do think there are probably better horse breeds to assign these two #but as far as my little PD-SVSSS guys go - I think these fit alright. #Arabian for the gracefulness and elegance. Beautiful horse (all horses are beautiful so its a close race) #(and the missing rib. Cause....you know....) #Didn't quite get the head shape right but there is always next time. #Shetland binghe for the handsome little guy energy. I personally think a non silly little guy LBH would be a shire horse. #This is 100% an open invitation to debate and discuss in the comments and tags btw. I am no expert on SV or horses. #Also HI PIO! If you're reading this I just want to say thank you a million times over for everything. #You've been so kind and supportive and I think you are a brilliant and hilarious person. The tides of the yaoi wars turned when you enliste #I hope this next year for you brings wonderful things. You're a brilliant force in this world and we all are drawn to your light. #Happiest of birthdays to you B*)

[sweggyq]

Bombs your photo <3 <3

Enjoy the Aubrey x Basil dump :>

#omori #omori fanart #omori art #omori aubrey #omori basil #omori photobomb #omori ship #omoriaubreyxbasil #aubrey x basil #guys i love them so much you don't understand they live in my head rent free #also the doodles are improvs and headcanons discussed and made by mad and me :) #holding them gently

[chrisrin]

question time because i've been debating with a friend about this and i'm curious:

you are offered *unconditional* immortality. there's no way to opt-out or die if you say yes, you will live for the rest of eternity. (you cannot die of old age, nor any other means. you cannot be killed, you cannot commit suicide, etc. etc.)

#personally i wouldn't #living forever as a concept is way too terrifying to me #but i can see the appeal of it #would love any discussion on this #me and a friend have been talking abt this for like the past hour #if i had the option of an off-button #i'd probably take it #but if i DIDNT have that option?? i dont think so

[shaniacsboogara]

"don't be scared little child, you're no demon" has got to be one of the most heartbreaking lines conan's every written. yes, it's meant to be a reassuring statement to whoever the song is written to, but it reflects a devestatingly reality. so many children, literal children, grow up terrified that there's something wrong with them or that they'll go to hell just because they're queer. this line isn't hyperbole or exaggeration, it's something some kids genuinely need to be told because they believe they're doomed. and that's why the message of this song is so fucking important.

#if anyone has a different interpretation of the song PLEASE lmk #i fucking love discussing media like this #did this line make me cry??? yes #OH GOD I'M GONNA SOB HEARING IT LIVE #conan gray #found heaven