@rineechan / rineechan.tumblr.com
the mediocre gatsby
the decent wall of china
the ok depression
alright britain
The mildly interesting barrier reef
somewhat fulfilled expectations.
catherine the ordinary
the satisfactory white shark
Alexander the Fine
passable pyrenees
the moderately large pyramid of Giza
The Manageable British Bake Off
this might be a bold statement but I think one of the best character designs to exist in television is salem saberhagen, a warlock punished for trying to take over the world & forced to live as a cat for a 100 years, who spends his penance being a bitchy little drama queen who causes constant trouble and cries a lot
an icon like no other
The original poor little meow meow
these are the same picture just on opposite sides of the spectrum
Imagine an alien sharing a cool human fact they just learned like ”hey guys did you know that the silvery markings on humans actually aren’t true stripes? They’re called stretch marks, they happen when the human is growing fast enough to actually outgrow their skin, which is apparently something that just fucking happens to almost all of them at some point of their life.”
and another one is like ”wait so you’re saying humans don’t have stripes.”
”actually they do, but the stripes are invisible. There’s genetic code that’d give them stripes but they’re just the same colour as the rest of the skin. So the visible stripes are not real stripes and the real stripes are invisible.”
”I swear if you tell me one more weird human thing today I’m beating your ass.”
The human in the room looks up and goes “Wait I have stripes?”
“what do you mean cats can see them, but I can’t?”
what do you fucking mean cats can see them
I WENT THROUGH THE SAME THOUGHT PROCESS
MY CAT THINKS I HAVE STRIPES?!?!?!?
NO NO ITS NOT “IT THINKS I HAVE THEM”
BECAUSE WE DO APPARENTLY
SO ITS ACTUALLY A VERY DISTRESSED “MY CAT THINKS I KNOW I HAVE STRIPES?!?!?!”
AND I THINK THATS A BIT WORSE TO BE COMPLETELY HONEST
@beenovel @messiambrandybuck these are the variants
WHAT
apparently there’s a disease where they become visable, and these are the most common kind??
Ngl it looks cool but???? I’m still in shock tbh
I NEED TO KNOW WHAT PATTERN OF STRIPES I HAVE AND THE CATS WON’T TELL ME
They’re called Blaschko’s lines!!!
The reverse can also be true … kinda.
I remember reading somehwre the human eye can see more shades of green than any other colour. I just googled it and the human eye can see 10 Million different shades of green.
So human could see stripes and patterns on, say, a reptillian race who maybe can’t see as many colours as we do, and think they’re just one boring shade of green.
Human: We have stripes?! I wish I could see them. I hope they look like yours.
Reptile Alien: Wait, I HAVE STRIPES!
*mutual excitement all around*
??? oh my god??
this man went from singing fifties hits in gold lamé pants to solving murders with grammar I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN WITH THIS
HE DISCOVERED HIS TRUE CALLING WHILE DECIPHERING RECORD CONTRACTS
THIS IS REALLY INSPIRING HONESTLY
achieve your dreams and then achieve new more niche dreams, nothing can stop you, you too can trade in your pompadour to fight crime
#acheive your dreams then achieve new more niche dreams
i learned that the Twilight Zone was created after Rod Serling’s teleplay inspired by Emmett Till’s murder was heavily censored by networks and advertisers. The censorship led Serling to rethink his approach and delve into the era’s social issues through a filter of science fiction and fantasy (x)
“The writer’s role is to be a menacer of the public’s conscience,” Serling later said. “He must have a position, a point of view. He must see the arts as a vehicle of social criticism and he must focus the issues of his time.”
I’m printing this out for my wall.
Here is a quick and dirty writing tip that will strengthen your writing.
In English, the word at the end of a sentence carries more weight or emphasis than the rest of the sentence. You can use that to your advantage in modifying tone.
Consider:
In the end, what you said didn't matter.
It didn't matter what you said in the end.
In the end, it didn't matter what you said.
Do you pick up the subtle differences in meaning between these three sentences?
The first one feels a little angry, doesn't it? And the third one feels a little softer? There's a gulf of meaning between "what you said didn't matter" (it's not important!) and "it didn't matter what you said" (the end result would've never changed).
Let's try it again:
When her mother died, she couldn't even cry.
She couldn't even cry when her mother died.
That first example seems to kind of side with her, right? Whereas the second example seems to hold a little bit of judgment or accusation? The first phrase kind of seems to suggest that she was so sad she couldn't cry, whereas the second kind of seems to suggest that she's not sad and that's the problem.
The effect is super subtle and very hard to put into words, but you'll feel it when you're reading something. Changing up the order of your sentences to shift the focus can have a huge effect on tone even when the exact same words are used.
In linguistics, this is referred to as "end focus," and it's a nightmare for ESL students because it's so subtle and hard to explain. But a lot goes into it, and it's a tool worth keeping in your pocket if you're a creative writer or someone otherwise trying to create a specific effect with your words :)
this is one reason I think people who want to write good prose should spend some time close-reading and learning to write poetry. because this sort of effect is a lot easier to notice and to learn to use in poetry.
u know that thing where an animals grow in a far off place and some idiot introduces him to a new habitat and it turns out its characteristics that help them in their own sometimes are too helpful in the new one and they become like an invasive species yeah thats the word i was missing anyway back to my point i think i saw a human version of that just now i was driving in tonights snow storm and i saw a man wearing a big ass cowboy hat to keep the snow off him and a bandit red bandana to keep it off his face and a big ass pancho to keep him warm and nice ass cowboy boots to keep his calves dry and he was prancing along while everyone on the road looked miserable and frozen solid and idk i guess the point im trying to make here is i feel like cowboys would have taken over russia if given the chance or something
As an Evolutionary Biologist, this is a roller-coaster from start to finish.
Saw an op-ed that was on the surface a complaint about kids not wanting to take on family heirlooms but read like an elegy to dying traditions. The hardest part was the anxiety without recognizing that they didn’t pave the way for the decisions they assumed their kids would make.
(This is written entirely within the dominant white/western culture - about traditions that have neglectful stewardship rather than those actively suppressed)
The anxiety makes sense. You’re seeing, too late to do anything about it, that there’s no foundation - no space - for the traditions you expected to pass on. Your kids _can’t_ take your mom’s fine china. So now instead of enjoying what you have you worry about its future.
I see a pattern in these op-eds though - a pattern in what’s left unsaid. There were responsibilities tied to these traditions. You collectively assumed they _would_ be passed along. So collectively, what did you do to ensure those traditions _could_ be passed along?
Op-eds never speak for everyone, but it’s worth acknowledging the pattern in what speech is deemed worth sharing widely. And in this particular pattern, there’s an answer: that answer looks like “nothing.”
You want the china passed down but your kids have no room in their rentals. You want grandkids but your kids don’t have the financial stability. You want that cross-country RV neverending road trip but you’ve had decades of wanting lower taxes more than you wanted infrastructure.
The bleak outlook for traditions is a direct result of the unmaintained foundations for them. The second best time is always now - if it’s important enough to op-ed about, what are you willing to change to get it back? What will you give up or re-prioritize?
I kinda think that world-defining assumptions are always gonna break without maintenance. So rather than getting mad at whoever’s next for not carrying on the norms we didn’t do upkeep on, when it’s my turn, I hope I’m introspective enough to help instead of externalize & blame.
This.
The bleak outlook for traditions is a direct result of the unmaintained foundations for them. The second best time is always now - if it’s important enough to op-ed about, what are you willing to change to get it back? What will you give up or re-prioritize?
I follow a Facebook group of “Memories of …” for my hometown - a rustbelt community that has gone from a thriving hub of industry to a much-less-thriving place.
The group is a collective lament. Decades-old pictures of well-kept churches. Aerial shots of the main intersection downtown, lined with big cars. Scanned advertisemetns from local stores featuring pictures of their interiors. These alternate with the drumbeat of news: the Catholic diocese is closing churches. Selling them. Tearing them down. STores downtown are closing. The traffic light has been replaced with a four-way-stop.
“That’s the church my parents were married in!” “How could they tear down that beautiful building. Such memories!” “All the businesses are closing. It must be the taxes.” ”They’ve sold the old lodge downtown.” “They’re not opening the skating rink this year. We always used to go.”
And sometimes I chime in.
“Do you attend that church? Do you give? Or do you just want the building to look pretty for you? “ “Do you volunteer at that park? Why not?” “Did you vote for that recreation bond issue?” “Are you a member of that Lodge? Why not?” “Do you shop downtown? Or did you start shopping at Walmart and Amazon to save a few bucks?”
If you feel something is worth preserving, why do you not participate in its preservation?
Community is not a spectator sport.
This is why I get so angry when older folks blame this decay on the younger generations.
You HAD this stuff, and let it go to rot. And now you have the audacity to blame us because we have no foundation to reuse the worm-eaten Timbers?
A lot of it is this and a little of it is… well… demanding that your kids specifically be the ones to want your family china. I love all that antique shit I couldn’t afford as a kid. I’ve replaced my IKEA things with a mixture of various rustic-looking ceramics and little white plates with frou-frou flowers painted on them, hand-blown blue glasses I got from a neighbor who was throwing them out, old Guinness glasses I found in a box on the sidewalk, etc. etc.
This website is overflowing with cottagecore motherfuckers who’d love to have somebody’s family china—just not at a ruinous price.
One element here is the delusion that accumulating stuff is an “investment”. Antiques and fine art and everything else are worth what people will pay for them. Fashions come and go even if we’re talking about very old things that are disappearing from the world.
A lot of people in the middle of the 20thC bought matching sets of china or silver or other cruft they used rarely with the understanding that they were buying a status symbol that would accrue value.
Now, they find they were lied to.
Buy the objects you personally want to use now. Collect things you would like to preserve for posterity. Things are not an investment unless you’re an expert, you’re very lucky, or you’re talking about an emotional, historical investment. And even in that last case, it’s on you, the collector, to find a fellow collector who will appreciate your stuff.
Don’t force your kids to live in a museum to your taste.
Also, traditions have a lot to do with fondness and with good memories. I want my the old family heirloom bookshelf, because wow do I have fond memories attached to it.
Maintaining traditions is most strongly tied to spreading joy, not observing duty.
I deeply appreciate the fact that Discworld translators add their own terrible, terrible puns.
Somehow, in the last year or so, I ended up on the mailing list for the Jonathan Adler catalogue. It’s a high-end furniture and interior decor catalogue featuring the ugliest tat you’ve ever been asked to pay thousands of dollars for. Can I offer you a giant wicker banana in these trying times?
[ID: A photograph from the Jonathan Adler catalogue, featuring an enormous banana woven from wicker, with a wicker elephant head in the background. The text reads “Our slyly suggestive tribute to surrealism. Blown up proportions add just the right amount of extra appeel.” It has a price tag of $995.]
Come with me on a journey, friends.
honestly i am lowkey obsessed with how terrible we didn’t start the fire is at being a song while also being among the the catchiest songs ever
this is a song that includes a man screaming CHILDREN OF THALIDOMIDE and then the next lyric is buddy holly, ben hur / space monkey, mafia
it is just one man, listing historical events more or less in order with no context or end and then layering in a chorus so catchy you will BEG YOUR BRAIN to stop thinking about it
i just appreciate that level of aimless, technically skilled chaos for some reason
The man did an insane amount of work to find meaningful historical events and arrange them in chronological sequence in a way that rhymes, scans correctly, and increases tension at the right places. We didn’t start the fire is poetry in the most literal sense and Billy Joel deserves awards for it.
I actually went to a mini lecture/concert with Billy Joel years ago, after he stopped touring for the most part. It was mostly him talking to the audience and answering questions and playing music alone on a grand piano.
Someone asked him if he wrote the lyrics or the music first. He laughed and said, “always music, because when I write the lyrics first-“ He reached out with one hand to the piano keyboard and played the ‘da-da, da-da, da-da-deda-da’ pattern of ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ “It ends up sounding like this.”
reddit, how do I make my firstborn stop playing with the fans, the ornaments, and the makeup when he is supposed to be a warlord. I fear I shall raise a poet.
Absolutely based quote my dude
I laughed so fucking hard at this
(I made a version that should be legible as a bumper sticker and roughly the right proportions. You’re on your own for vectors, I cannot be bothered right now)
Take no prisoners. Amen.
Poor John Rogers. He’s gotta be feeling like a writer for The Onion trying to make an entertaining show about justice in an unjust world, and it all just. Keeps. Getting. Worse.
Never forget: Moose are legit Ice Age megafauna that never died out.
He just….just….pet the wild moose…the bravery, the hutzpah
The forbidden snoot!
If I could pet a moose
I would be very happy
Normally I would say you shouldn’t pet a wild animal, but the moose is already right there. If you’re that close to a moose’s snout you might as well pet it. If the moose wants to kill you, you’re going to die, so you might as well.
My uncle legit punched a moose once.
He was very, very drunk.
According to bystanders, the moose gave him the kind of look usually reserved for, like, a squirrel that is trying to steal a chip from you.
fun fact: any policy on drugs that isn’t harm reduction is going to cause addicts to suffer and die
fun fact: Drug addiction is a public health issue, and approaching it as if it were a law enforcement issue is prejudicial to addicts and will result in their suffering and death
if you just assume addiction is a method of self-medicating, you’ll pretty much never be wrong.
now, not everything people self-medicate for actually has a proper treatment. i’m pretty sure the reason my uncle made sure to be slightly drunk at all times ‘to round the sharp corners off of things’ was sensory processing disorder. i have that too, and i just kind of accept that i’m going to randomly get my brain sandpapered from time to time. there is no medication for that. all you can do is dull your senses. i’ve chosen not to, but i can’t blame him for his decisions. when a ringing phone feels like getting hit upside the head with a frying pan, liver damage sounds like a fair price to pay.
anyway, it seems really self-evident to me that people don’t enjoy living the life of an addict, they do it because the alternative looks worse. people don’t get addicted to substances just for funsies. they start making a habit of taking something because of insomnia, or grief, or headaches, or depression, or seething undirected rage and terror they can’t put a name to – something that they can’t ignore or shrug off. and for whatever reason – lack of access, lack of knowlege, lack of money, or it just plain doesn’t exist – they aren’t able to apply the Approved Correct Remedy. they use what they can get.
addicts aren’t some weird otherfolk who inexplicably just Do Drugs because they’re Bad. addicts are you with a problem you can’t solve.
these facts aren’t fun but they are pretty important
