thelionshoarde

[thelionshoarde]

my favorite kind of mash lines are the ones that are written as complete throwaways but hit really hard

[thelionshoarde]

someone apologized for commenting late… 2 months after the fic was posted 😭😭 girl that’s EARLY thats fresh

[thelionshoarde]

Yeah sure we’ve all binged a long fic, but have you ever read a WIP and followed someone’s life?

Tidbits of information - (“I graduated today!”) - and small joys (“It’s my birthday!”) and you get to be there to say “This chapter made me cry, happy birthday, thank you for gifting us this”.

I remember reading this fic of someone at the end of high school, older than me then. They seemed infinitely wise, spoke of their future career and getting into the college they wanted. I remember them posting on days they felt like nothing could bring them down - and on days the whole world did and it’s the aftermath of a hospital visit. Cancer, I think it was, their father. I got to the end of the story, I know their father was fine, but also they got to finish their WIP. I graduated three years later than them, still dutifully wrote thank you notes in every comment. I wonder if they remember me, or just the collective of people reading the story as it updates.

Four years ago I was into my first year of university, my first year of figuring out being out in public spaces. I made excuses as to why my name didn’t match my paperwork and read a fic on the train, the same five chapters over and over again for the next years as I thought the story abandoned. It updated this week after such a long hiatus, I left another thank you comment.

There’s an author I love, they update their stories like a clockwork. When they don’t, I check their blog, just to see if their doing alright, not because I feel like they owe me, just to ensure whether I better get out my laptop to write that really detailed university level essay chapter analysis to get them smiling when their day sucked.

And then, once, when I was 17, I read a fic that hadn’t updated in over a decade. I wasn’t even in primary school when it started posting. On the last chapter, I left a comment that, in retrospect, was horribly rambly and most likely full of grammar mistakes. The author replied and though I couldn’t see their face, I thought of them crying. They were married now, had children, and hadn’t thought about this fic in years. They went through their files again, found another half written chapter and an outline. I got two new chapters to read that year.

And then, recently, someone told me they got back into writing original fiction because of my comments. I get to read nearly weekly chapters.

I love binge reading a finished fic, but nothing is ever going to top the feeling of anticipation of waiting for a chapter, the pure joy when someone tells you I was done with this, but you made me think of it again, so this is for you.

Anyway, I think we should romanticize reading WIPs more, growing up alongside the authors writing the stories we love.

[thelionshoarde]

so judging by how astonished people are by it every time we explain it to anybody, it seems like my wife and I might really be onto something here

during the pandemic, we invented something we call "astronaut time."

when it's astronaut time, it's like we are two astronauts wearing the big helmets, moving around the station on totally separate tasks. one of us is outside the space station and one of us is inside the space station. our radios do not work and we have no way of communicating with each other. we might see each other through the lil porthole windows, but we ignore each other because we both have different things to do.

"astronaut time" is how we get total privacy when we live in the same apartment. I will pretend you don't exist. You will pretend I don't exist. we have a nonverbal, zero-contact signal for when astronaut time is over (usually "I'll draw a smiley-face on the whiteboard in the kitchen when I'm done"). No talking, stay out of each other's line of sight, we are actively avoiding each other, unless you are currently experiencing a medical emergency goodbye.

it has been. a godsend. imagine living with your partner and being able to close every single tab in your brain related to social interaction. no fear of being interrupted by a "hey, quick question--" or "sorry to bother you, but do you know where the scissors are?" or "did you want something to eat, too?" Once or twice a month, we look at each other lovingly, hold hands, and say "baby I think I need some astronaut time tonight," and the other person goes "okay cool. bye! have a nice night!" and nobody's feelings are hurt and we both go and have a lovely evening completely by ourselves.

like idk it's a small thing but it's made our lives so much nicer, so if you and your partner/roommate are both people who sometimes need total privacy in order to recharge, maybe try it

[thelionshoarde]

good morning i hope everyone has their favorite drink today and I hope that it tastes exceptionally delicious and comforting

[thelionshoarde]

Twitter (2020) VS the Hays code (1930)

[thelionshoarde]

This child who came to my house tonight is literally the funniest human being on the planet. She complimented me on having both lollipops and mini Three Musketeers available because "a lot of houses these days don't give you a fruit flavor option." She was very solemn about this.

[thelionshoarde]

[thelionshoarde]

I cannot express how much I adore dappled shadows formed by sunlight in paintings and photography and in real life

[thelionshoarde]

Im sick of people trashing the 'damsel in distress. That simply means a girl who can't save herself. If you want to write a story about a girl who saves the day do so, but don't stomp on those who can't help themselves that's not what heroes do.

[thelionshoarde]

ok but wait. is the Hamlet thing real

Yeah! It's a super interesting paper on ethnocentrism and an argument against the idea of "universal values".

Essentially what happened is an anthropologist went to spend time writing an ethnography on a rural tribe in the Indian Bush called the Tiv. During her stay she told them the story of Hamlet, and in doing so it made clear the very glaring differences in the culture of the tribe vs the culture of Europe through their interpretations of events.

I'm sure you've heard of Translators vs. Localizers right? A translator tells you what is said, and a localizer takes the information and changes it to fit a different culture.

We can see that kind of early on in the article when a member of the Tiv begins changing nouns to fit how they understand the world.

Later on it greatly affects not only the tangible aspects of the story, but also the thematic meaning behind the actions each character takes.

And it culminates in the thesis statement: most people around the world, no matter where they're from, are predisposed to seeing their perspective as universal.

It's a super cool essay.

If you'd like to read it, it's called "Shakespeare in the Bush: Diversity or Universality?"

[thelionshoarde]

I think the only person I've met in real life with 100% career satisfaction was this gal I knew who was a presenter at a children's science museum and delivered every line like she was running a WWE match. Every time you passed the room where she was giving a presentation, you'd hear something like "WHO'S READY FOR CEPHALOPODS?!?" and the kids would go absolutely nuts cheering.

[thelionshoarde]

i’m enough of a nerd to see when a weapon would be impractical but not enough of a nerd to give a shit

[thelionshoarde]

feeling normal about this also

[thelionshoarde]

[thelionshoarde]

Why do you hate anti-slavery characters? That the creators specify they are anti-slavery certainly argues against the idea of trying to deny it existed. What it seems they want in the characters is an underdog on the losing side, usually one who has lost everything, and they are acknowledging slavery is evil by not having the hero approve it. I can see hating the benevolent slave owner/inheritor, but IDK what's the problem with the other type.

You have wildly misinterpreted my argument, and you've done so in a way that actually rises to being mildly offensive because of how you've let yourself get duped by the Lost Cause mythology. Because there is nothing anti-slavery about the trope of the Confederate Protagonist.

Let me spell it out plainly for you: the trope that a Confederate veteran didn't fight because of slavery is part of the broader Lost Cause myth promulgated after the Civil War by groups like the Daughters of the Confederacy, United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Sons of Confederate Veterans that denied that the Confederacy explicitly fought for the cause of slavery.

By pushing the false narrative that Confederate soldiers were not fighting for slavery, these white supremacist groups sought to trick Americans into believing that Confederate soldiers (including both folk heroes like Jesse James and generals like Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson) were noble (indeed, superior) warriors who fought to defend hearth, home, and the lofty constitutional principle of "state's rights."

In reality, among soldiers in the Army of Northern Virginia, “volunteers in 1861 were 42 percent more likely to own slaves themselves or to live with family members who owned slaves than the general population.” Confederate soldiers fought for slavery becayse their society was built on slavery, they viewed the Union as a threat to their social order which was built on slavery, Confederate armies systematically enslaved or re-enslaved free black people, and Confederate soldiers repeatedly massacred black soldiers.

And the famous individuals who inspired those Western tropes, like Jesse James? Well, in reality, Jesse James was part of a notorious family of pro-slavery terrorists who participated in the Lawrence Massacre during Bleeding Kansas, and James himself participated in the Centralia Massacre during the Civil War. After the war when he became an outlaw and bank robber, James' gang targeted Republicans for assassination or robbery, James himself wrote letters to the newspapers denouncing Republican politicians, and the James gang used Klan hoods during robberies.

[thelionshoarde]