I can’t stand… book culture. One time someone got me a canvas bag that was like “Books + Tea = Perfect Day” and I drove to goodwill with that shit so fast

Most books suck. Most books are goddamn awful or utterly extraneous. Don’t get me wrong, I think we’re deeply lucky to live in a world where most books can vanish without us losing anything culturally or intellectually, rather than a world where books are so scarce that a single person might own like twelve in a lifetime. But still. Books are easy to aestheticize as Magical Portals of Adventure and Whimsy if you only read maybe two genres

AH! Words for that whole… situation.

I work at a public library and book culture there is nauseating. Not really among the other employees (though we’ve had a few come through over the years), but the patrons?

Oh god the patrons. Most of the people who check out books are just regular people who like reading. I even have patrons who L O V E to read, and who spend a majority of their free time reading or discussing books, they’re part of multiple book clubs, they always bring a big bag and leave with it full. They aren’t the Book Culture People.

Book Culture People loudly announce that they’re so surprised that there are children who know what books are!

They act affronted when I mention our ebook service, and scoff at the idea that anyone could enjoy reading from a screen instead of off the page!

They are personally offended that publishers hire actors to read the books for audio versions, because they feel that “audio books cheapen the experience of reading” and “audio books are cheating”!

They have to proclaim their fetish for ‘real’ books, whether through tacky tote bags, weird quote filled pinterest boards and social media posts, or awkwardly shoehorning unimpressive humblebrags about all the classics that they’re reading into unrelated conversations with tired library assistants.

They’re terrible, and I resent them because I fear being grouped with them by the nature of my field.

I was literally just talking about a friend whose classmate in her library science program was bragging because she didn’t use any digital resources for her final paper because she “respected books too much.” It’s such a bizarre attitude for anyone, much less an aspiring librarian, to have

I’ve also been approached by people while I read in public who are like “Oh my GOSH it’s so GOOD to see other people who READ nowadays!! Honestly I just have NO hope for our generation” and it’s like, first of all if you’re a reader you should know the last thing anyone wants is to be interrupted by a stranger for unnecessary conversation, and second please shut up holy crap

Oh god, I’ve heard that one before.

Hating accessible books and shunning technology is basically the antithesis of modern librarianship.

I don’t get the ebook hate, ebooks are literally just books. You cite ebooks the same way, and depending on the format, you don’t even say they’re ebooks.

It’s a performative, self important approach to something that I genuinely enjoy, and I think it bothers me more than, say, fandom antics, just because it’s so much more common. People get offended when I tell them I don’t read a lot in my down time, that I genuinely prefer audio books, that I’ll skip their recommendations because I don’t share their tastes.

It’s so… boring.

“People don’t reeeeead nowadays, everyone spends all their time looking at their phoooooones”

My dude

The thing that they are looking at

Is words made of text

I'd buy some copies for myself and have some donated to my public library if that ever becomes the case!

—

LIBRARIES ARE THE REAL PUNK ROCK by Zoe Fisher

Imagine being a kid in school. Your teacher comes up with an idea for class picture. Every student will draw pictures of their friends.

Everyone starts drawing enthusiasticly, and can’t wait to see what they look like in the drawings. When pictures are ready you notice that popular students have more pictures than rest, but nobody has done a drawing of you. The teacher notices that too, and asks if someone would do your picture. To your horror the class clown takes the job, and comes up with a caricature of you. Others are laughing, but you’re not. You feel awful. The teacher notices that. and asks again someone to do a drawing of you. One of the ‘good students’ starts drawing, but the result is forced. It’s just a drawing of a generic child wearing a shirt of same color as you a wearing. There’s no spirit, no soul in it. You start sensing that the class is geting frustrated with you. They want to be done with this. You ask quietly the teacher if you could do a drawing yourself.

After school your classmates confront you. Why did you have to make such a big deal out of it? The first picture was funny. The second picture was just fine! The drawing you did yourself wasn’t right, do you think you are that good-looking? There were other kids who got only one or two pictures of themselves. Who are you to demand special treatment? Maybe there would have been a picture of you if you weren’t such annoying baby, nobody likes you anyway, and nobody’s going to if you keep on being like that, you don’t deserve a drawing!

This could be story of bullying, but it’s also about how I see portraying LGBTQ+-people and PoC in mainstream entertainment.

Thanks to Fandoms and Feminism for inspiration!

This is a great metaphor. 

This is the most accurate fucking post I’ve ever seen in my life oh my god.

weeping

This is incredible. A perfect metaphor. And it really points out how fucking childish it is to insist that representation does not matter.

AU where everything is the same except that Ron and McGonagall start a chess club, and it's FREAKING AWESOME.

• Because Minerva McGonagall isn’t gonna let an eleven year old kid beat her at sudden death chess and get away with it.

• Ron is a really good president just ‘cos all he expects from members is that they try. You can be horrible at chess (Harry) or extremely good at it (Dean Thomas and his deft hands), and it doesn’t matter in the end because Ron’ll clap you on the back anyway and say, “Good game, mate.”

• Meetings are held in the library because Madam Pince has always had a softness for wizard chess and trusts Minerva when she promises that no one will [probably] get blown up. (Seamus Finnigan whistles innocently somewhere in the background.)

• The library is actually the perfect place for it. The atmosphere is charming. Books are floating around their heads all the time—some leaning down curiously to watch, others being plucked lovingly from the air by Hermione. The usual quiet is exchanged for whispered exclamations and barely stifled sniggers, and just this once, Madam Pince doesn’t mind. Oh, and the light coming in through the colored windows shines on the pieces in a really beautiful way, I tell ya—reds, blues, and golds flickering off kings and queens like badges of honor. (Everyone kinda loves it.)

• THE GOOD: (i.) Dean Thomas: Vice President. His games are works of art. Dean Thomas is a work of art. (ii.) Justin Finch-Fletchley: He used to play chess all of the time with his muggle grandpa. It took him a little bit to get used to all the moving pieces, though. (iii.) Susan Bones: She learned precision from her aunt and applies it nicely to the chessboard. (iv.) Astoria Greengrass: Boredom and a desire to do something interesting has bred a mean chess player out of little Miss Greengrass. (v.) Cho Chang: Cho doesn’t get to attend all of the meetings because of Quidditch, but she’ll pop in occasionally and make fools out of anyone who dares to cross her. #RavenclawPride

• THE OKAY?: (i.) Hermione Granger: Hermione’s not bad per say. She’d be better if she would stop overthinking every, single move. (ii.) Michael Corner: He’s a bit of a sore loser. (iii.) Neville Longbottom: He’s actually a pretty decent player—just needs a bit of polishing around the edges. Neville likes the patience of chess, how he can sit and think a little while before he has to make a move. (iv.) George Weasley: In many of his and Fred’s wonderful schemes, he’s been responsible for the finer details of the prank, the complexities and the nuances. His attention to detail makes him a player to contend with.

The UGLY:

(i.) Harry Potter: Harry J is constantly distracted by everything and everyone in his tragic life to be any good at chess, but he wouldn’t miss a meeting for the world. Ron gets this big, stupid grin on his face when he’s playing that’s worth every second of it. (ii.) Draco Malfoy: “Did you see the way Potter moved his chess piece? It wasn’t very graceful, was it? I’m much better than Potter. Besides, chess is for inferior people. LIKE POTTER. Have I mentioned that I’m better than Potter?” “Oi, Draco, you lost.” “Oh.” (iii.) Daphne Greengrass: She only joined because her sister made her. Most of the time, she just sits in the corner and reads a wizard comic. Nerd. (iv.) Ernie Macmillan: Brags ceaselessly when he wins. Threatens to quit when he loses. Finally acts on his words when Astoria creams him with many pawns to spare.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: (i.) Seamus Finnigan: Did not blow a single person up. (ii.) Fred Weasley: Isn’t really interested in the chess part, but enjoys alternating between cheering his brothers on and pranking them. (iii.) Hannah Abbott: Her weary apologies for Ernie’s pompous behavior should be duly noted. (iv.) Luna Lovegood/Dobby: Their collaborative banners for the club are lovely.

• In light of Dumbledore’s Army, the Hogwarts Chess Club is later renamed Dumbledore’s Pawns. Too on the nose?

• Over the course of the club, there are certain match ups that everyone gets really hyped over: Dean vs. Ron, Draco vs. Harry (even though both of them are horrible at it), Astoria vs. Ron, etc. But no game is more anticipated than the occasional one that Minnie McGee and Ron play. It’s epic. The pieces are all but broken by the time they finish up. At the end of Ron’s sixth year, the record is in his favor, but only just.

• (Quite a few Weasleys have come and gone in Minerva’s time at Hogwarts—many of them extremely gifted and well liked by her—but for this, for his prowess at a game that she loves, she will always have a particular fondness for Ron.)

• Other teachers stop in to play, too. Flitwick and Pince have a delightful rivalry. Snape has never beaten Minerva McGonagall for all his sneering. Lupin is okay, but his main contribution to the club is giving chocolate to unsuspecting members. (Where does he get his supply??? Does it just randomly appear up his sleeve?????) Dumbledore himself once popped in, won against Ron and Minerva alike with a twinkle in his eye, and then Apparated out of the library just because he knew Miss Granger’s mouth would fall open.

• You have to admit, that man has style.

• Just Hogwarts chess club, y'all.

• I think Ron would love it just as much as his Chocolate Frog card. (Okay, maybe a little less.)

Okay but I kind of feel like Luna would be in the top five players, at least. Here’s why.

A lot of what makes a player good at chess is knowing your openings and knowing your lines. I think Luna would know hundreds of obscure variants, generally considered inferior and therefore neglected to the point that, at the school-age level, most players wouldn’t know how to play against them. It’s a long time before you get past “Queen’s gambit is bad” to “Here is why nobody plays Queen’s gambit, this specific response to it leaves you hopelessly devastated by move 20″ to “well actually it turns out if you both play the best lines, Queen’s gambit is a bit of a toss-up” and Luna would play things like Nimzo-Indian that the chess world has largely moved past but that only McG and Dumbledore (and maybe Snape) really know how to play against. Ron doesn’t actually know the lines, but can usually play her to a hard fought draw or a very narrow victory or loss just by his good instincts for the game.

In short, Luna’s the player that the older students watch her and think “what is she doing, she’s so awful, ow do you people keep losing to her” and the teachers are thinking “here is a dangerous person who is going to get a lot of mileage out of making people underrate her” and Luna’s thinking “no, that move isn’t pretty enough, because the Knight doesn’t get to dance with the Queen.”

@deadcatwithaflamethrower

Reblogging this again for the Luna addition.

Dove chocolate and Dove soap are two different companies who havent sued each other because they have different trademarks lol

Damn and I really all this time just thought dove (the soap people) had a meeting one day and were just like “…. we might fuck around and make some chocolate”

^literally what I thought

crimes of grindelwald: mcgonagall was teaching at hogwarts in the 1920′s, nagini was a cursed woman all along, dumbledore was teaching dada, wizards are experts at dressing like muggles, credence was totally the secret brother of this famous person, yes this is canon

harry potter books:

Lamentably I am.

This is a personal attack

even Snape is like “..I might have miscalculated…”

au where everything is the same except sirius black is played by jonathan van ness from queer eye

Harry: Wait, so Pettigrew actually betrayed my parents?

Sirius:

I am HERE for this.

Sirius escapes Azkaban and is united with Harry and joins the Order:

Sirius: My cousin Bellatrix?

Someone mentions Severus Snape at all:

Hanging out with Crookshanks in PoA:

Sirius when Remus agrees to go on a date with him:

Sirius in the club like:

Sirius every time Rowling insists he’s straight:

Sirius returning from the Veil when everyone thinks he’s dead

I’ve seen a lot of curious people wanting to dive into classical music but don’t know where to start, so I have written out a list of pieces to listen to depending on mood. I’ve only put out a few, but please add more if you want to. hope this helps y’all out. :)

stereotypical delightful classical music:

if you need to chill:

if you need to sleep:

if you need to wake up:

if you are feeling very proud:

if you feel really excited:

if you are angry and you want to take a baseball bat and start hitting a bush:

if you want to cry for a really long time:

if you want to feel like you’re on an adventure:

if you want chills:

if you want to study:

if you really want to dance:

if you want to start bouncing in your chair:

if you’re about to pass out and you need energy:

if you want to hear suspense within music:

if you want a jazzy/classical feel:

if you want to feel emotional with no explanation:

if you want to sit back and have a nice cup of tea:

pieces that don’t really have a valid explanation:

pieces that just sound really cool:

if you feel like listening to concertos all day (I do not recommend doing that):

and if you really just hate classical music in general:

a lot of these pieces apply in multiple categories, but I sorted them by which I think they match the most. have fun exploring classical music!

also, thank you to viola-ology and iwillsavemyworld for adding on! if you would like to add on your own suggestions, please reblog and add on or message me so I can give you credit for the suggestion!

This list is so good I wanna cry

— N.K. Jemisin, The Stone Sky

Jemisin is awesome.

😍😍😍😍

can we just talk about the time that Lupin was recovering from a full moon and Snape taught the DADA class and made all the students write essays on how to kill werewolves for Lupin to read when he got back I hate Snape so much it’s not funny

Lupin gets back and he feels like crap and suddenly his best friend’s son is writing an essay about how to kill him like that is so fucked up

Bear in mind that an ex-Death Eater does this to someone who was in the Order, risked his life fighting against said Death Eaters and lost his best friends to the Death Eater’s genocidal leader, for the sole purpose of screwing him over, and as far as we know he experiences no consequences whatsoever for doing so.

And if that wasn’t enough, he made them write those essays hoping some of them would realize Lupin’s a werewolf. And one did, but Hermione is a fucking DECENT HUMAN BEING and said nothing. Apparently the ‘insufferable know-it-all' can keep her mouth closed, when it’s for something important. Just like Snape didn’t do at the end of the book.

I’m getting mad, so here’s something I’ve realized while reading The Order of the Phoenix again. (Please keep in mind that my books are in Italian and some concepts might be hard to explain, I apologize for my English mistakes)

In chapter 14, when The Trio talked with Sirius, he said that two years before Dolores Umbridge had written a law against werewolves that made it almost impossible for Lupin to find a job.

Now ask yourself this question. Why two years?

What had happened two years before? During Harry’s third year? Oh, right. The Magical World had discovered that one of Hogwarts’ teachers (someone who was in constant conctat with their children) was a werewolf. Does that ring any bell?

But that’s not all! If we take a look at chapter 15, in the Daily Prophet article we can see a familiar name: Remus Lupin. In a newspaper. Where everyone can read it. “The werewolf Remus Lupin”. No wonder he couldn’t find a job! And it’s not the first time the Daily Prophet has written about him, as it’s stated in the article itself. There must have been a huge scandal when it had all come out.

So basically, when Snape decided he couldn’t bear not having what he wanted (for example, SIRIUS BLACK GETTING KISSED BY A DEMENTOR) and spilled the secret, he didn’t only tell the whole school. He didn’t only tell the kids’ parents. The told the whole Magical World.

He told the whole Magical World that a man who had kept his condition secret all his life was a werewolf.

And the Magical World responded with a law against werewolves.

So, basically, Snape didn’t only ruin Remus Lupin’s life. He ruined the life of every single werewolf in the UK.

But, you know. Bravest man I ever knew.

FUCKING HIT THAT REBLOG SO FAST THANK YOU