Ted Lasso Finale + parallels
#TRIANGLES ARE THE STRONGEST SHAPE
Ted Lasso 3.07 + text posts
It is really important to me that all of you learn about Al Bean, astronaut on Apollo 12 and the fourth man to walk on the moon, who after 20 years in the US Navy and 18 years with NASA during which he spent 69 days in space and more than 10 hours doing EVAs on the moon , retired to become a painter.
He is my favorite astronaut for any number of reasons, but he’s also one of my favorite visual artists.
Like, look at this stuff????
It’s all so expressive and textured and colorful! He literally painted his own experience on the moon! And that's just really fucking cool to me!
Just look at this! This is one of my absolute favorite emotions of all time. Is Anyone Out There? is like the ultimate reaction image. Any time I have an existential crisis, this is how I picture myself.
And then there's this one:
The Fantasy
For all of the six Apollo missions to land on the moon, there was no spare time. Every second of their time on the surface was budgeted to perfection: sleeping, eating, putting on the suits, entering and exiting the LEM, rock collection, setting up longterm experiments to transmit data back to Earth, everything. These timetables usually got screwed over by something, but for the most part the astronauts stuck to them.
The crew of Apollo 12 (Pete Conrad, Al Bean, and Dick Gordon) had other plans. Conrad and Bean had snuck a small camera with a timer into the LEM to take a couple pictures together on the moon throughout the mission. They had hidden the key for the timer in one of the rock collection bags, with the idea being to grab the key soon after landing, take some fun photos here and there, and then sneak the camera back to Earth to develop them. They had practiced where they would hide the key and how to get it out from under the collected rocks back on Earth dozens of times.
But when they got to the moon, the key was nowhere to be found. Al Bean spent precious time digging through the collection bags before he called it off. The camera had been pushing their luck anyways, he couldn't afford to spend anymore time not on the mission objectives. Conrad and Bean continued the mission as per the NASA plan while Dick Gordon orbited overhead.
Fast forward to the very end of the mission. Bean and Conrad are doing last checks of the LEM before they enter for the last time and depart from the moon. As Bean is stowing one of the collection bags, the camera key falls out. The unofficially planned photo time has come and gone, and he tosses the key over his shoulder to rest forever on the surface of the moon.
This painting, The Fantasy, is that moment. There have never been three people on the moon at the same time, there was never an unofficial photo shoot on the moon, this picture could never have happened.
"The most experienced astronaut was designated commander, in charge of all aspects of the mission, including flying the lunar module. Prudent thinking suggested that the next-most-experienced crew member be assigned to take care of the command module, since it was our only way back home. Pete had flown two Gemini flights, the second with Dick as his crewmate. This left the least experienced - me - to accompany the commander on the lunar surface.
"I was the rookie. I had not flown at all; yet I got the prize assignment. But not once during the three years of training which preceded our mission did Dick say that it wasn't fair and that he wished he could walk on the moon, too. I do not have his unwavering discipline or strength of character.
"We often fantasized about Dick's joining us on the moon but we never found a way. In my paintings, though, I can have it my way. Now, at last, our best friend has come the last sixty miles." - Al Bean, about The Fantasy.
There’s also Alexei Leonov, writer and artist and first person to conduct a spacewalk!
You can't forget this, the first art made in space.
March 1965, Alexei Leonov made this drawing only moments after narrowly surviving the very first space walk.
He’s singing it to himself like he’s in a Disney movie.
(Inspired by Rhys’s ECCC comments. Made to test out these super cool procreate brushes.)
Closeups:
Where are all the Calvin and Hobbes enjoyers??
Harvey Guillén stealing the show in Christian Siriano on the 2023 Academy Awards red carpet.
I'm appalled. they crushed that fucking baby appalled im now realizing this is more gorey than I anticipated. tw
hey i made a baby outta that
Look, I didn’t make Bucky’s capture and possible death the catalyst that caused Steve to fully embrace Captain America. I didn’t make Bucky’s death the thing that shifted Steve’s moral center from “I don’t want to kill anybody” to “I’m not gonna stop until all of Hydra is dead or captured”. I didn’t write a conversation about romance where Steve uttered the line, “It’s kind of hard to find someone with shared experience,” about fifteen minutes before Bucky miraculously reappeared with a boatload of shared experience. I didn’t make a vow of lifelong devotion the thing that broke through Bucky’s seventy years of brainwashing. I didn’t write it so the mere mention of Bucky’s name caused Steve to lose focus long enough for someone to almost blow him up. I didn’t make Steve so devoted to Bucky that he went against not only his own government and half his friends but also one hundred and seventeen nations to protect him even when Bucky was actively trying to run away from his help. I didn’t make Steve try to stop a helicopter with his bare hands to keep Bucky with him even though Bucky was trying to kill him in that moment. I didn’t make Steve fight Tony literally almost to death to protect Bucky. I didn’t make Steve drop his shield for Bucky, symbolically and literally choosing him over being Captain America, not just once but twice. I didn’t base Steve and T’Challa’s alliance mostly on T’Challa’s willingness and ability to protect and take care of Bucky when Steve can’t. I didn’t make Bucky the only person Steve ever truly and fully smiles at in Infinity War, and I definitely didn’t choose him as the person to disintegrate before Steve’s eyes, leaving him shocked and devastated.
In short, I didn’t write Bucky Barnes into the traditional role of Steve Rogers’ love interest, but I sure as hell noticed when Marvel did.
10 or 11 little ducks have been spotted crossing the dash board
