Just saw the Darkest Minds movie! Great actors, well done– it’s a giant hodgepodge of YA tropes but somehow doesn’t feel trite or overdone, just familiar and well worn, with enough individuality to keep it fresh. It’s like Hunger Games* meets the X-Men?? I was pleased.
*Even more so, as the protagonist is played by grown-up Rue (aka Amandla Stenberg). I was definitely at least once thrown out of the film with a wave of pained imagining of a world where Rue got to live to be this beautiful sixteen year old. Like, just, this character, the heart of a YA film, Katniss’s age, I dunno, dudes, it just hit. She was in a field?? It was beautiful
Platonic love is real love and shouldnt be treated like less becuase it isnt romantic. Defining love as only romantic is a terrible concept. You should be able to love people in a platonic way as much as romantic way and not be seen as less
The Greeks were so much wiser than us modern folk, when talking about love. They believed it existed in eight different forms:
1. Eros (erotic love). This is, simply put, the sexual attraction you feel towards someone. In its best form, passion can be transformative… but it can also become destructive if not kept under control.
2. Philos (friendship). This is the love we treat as lesser in the modern world. Ironically, the Greeks considered it superior to eros as philos was considered a love between two equals and free of the animalistic pull of sexual desire. Philos is the kind of love two warriors who’ve shared a foxhole feel for one another.
3. Storge (familial love). This is the love and pride we take in our kinsmen and lifelong friends. For those who are deeply attached to their family name, who remember family members who pass on with great fondness… This is the name the Greeks, a culture based very much on accruing honour to one’s name and descendants, bestowed on this form of love, as it was so very important to them.
4. Ludus (playful love). The affection between young lovers, this is what we modern folk call “puppy love.” The flirting, teasing and childlike euphoria at being in a new relationship is all part and parcel of this form of love. The Greeks felt that love should have a sense of fun and play; it need not be serious 100% of the time.
5. Mania (obsessive love). This is what happens when love gets scary, and is the purview of stalkers and the most deluded among us. The Greeks believed that this occurs when there’s an imbalance between the presence of ludus and eros in one’s psyche. Those who experience this form of love also become codependent, and may be perpetrators of abuse of their loved ones.
6. Pragma (enduring love). This is a mature form of love, having aged like fine wine with time. It’s commonly seen in couples who have been married for decades, and is something we all secretly yearn for – the companionship that looks beyond our limitations, yet loves us for our frail humanity. A love where we are accepted unconditionally and will never stray from us. It’s hard to find, and takes a lot of time and patience to cultivate.
7. Philautia (self-love). This is where having a “positive mental attitude” and engaging in self-care comes in. The Greeks understood that, in order to care for others, we must first tend to ourselves. This is not a sense of vanity, but an awareness and acceptance of who you really are, showing yourself compassion in darker times.
8. Agape (brotherhood). This is the greatest form of love there is, and the hardest to aspire to. It demands nothing less than feeling love for all human beings, compassion for all creatures, an acceptance and forgiveness of the flaws of humanity, and the desire to ease the pain of those who suffer. To see in the eyes of every human being your brother, your sister – when humanity, in your mind, becomes your extended family. It’s not about paying lip service to religions that preach compassion, it’s about showing love for others in every word and deed.
So, if you thought romantic love (eros) was all there is to knowing and feeling love? You thought wrong. Let’s learn to love love in all its forms.
not to get stuck on this point, but very much swol athlete Ginny and accidentally walking into walls Luna
but also intrepid explorer Luna and starstruck Ginny
but also them bonding about shared history, shared traumas
i think also a little of Ginny and a need for separation from the hugeness of the Weasley family and finding somewhere quiet and private with Luna
but also sometimes hosting all the friends and family they know for giant absurd blowouts like some Nargle-related ritual Luna insists on
Luna never quite ~getting Quidditch and them inventing a game they play with rules no one else can follow that Luna explains as if it’s totally obvious
Ginny retiring from being a professional athlete to write for the Prophet and the odd argument that erupts about rival publications and spying
Luna’s unfailingly successful column about sports that she does not get at all, just utter dada-ist nonsense in best Luna form
Ginny grieving for her lost family/friends and a little at loose ends because nothing seems to work and even George seems better equipped with his sadness than she does but then Luna teaches her this beautiful, absurd ritual that she does for lost ones and it involves a lot of things that look crazy from the outside, exactly the sort of thing that got Luna her “looney” nickname, but it just works for Ginny, it actually works and she can breathe again
Luna on long explorations of far-off places where she can’t really Floo much less come back for a weekend visit and Ginny getting slowly grouchier and she gets whatever the equivalent of being in the penalty box for excessive violence a little too often but it happens regularly and everyone knows when it’s happening but it also means everyone is so damn happy to see Luna when she gets back
Ginny at cocktail parties for book publishers when Luna’s latest book about such-and-such a place and such-and-such a creature that Luna encountered
Ginny arm wrestling at the pub
ALSO upon further reflection
let’s all spend a moment imagining Luna in a sort of Luna-flavored mashup of Indiana Jones and Lara Croft. Like. This is a very specific mental place I’m directing you towards so:
unexpected strong
but more like very, very lithe and also refuses all weapons because that’s mean
that special brand of her calm, cool “this will all work out” but while facing a tiger
out of the side of her mouth to local guide, “is this a Muggle tiger?”
guide, visibly shaking with fear, “i don’t know what that means”
luna nods and does an intense eye contact with the tiger who then just fucking leaves
luna meditating on the top of a very tall tree to try to encourage a very rare magical creature about the size of a fist that has green spikes and an incredibly potent skunk-like smell to come hang out with her
luna who is the human embodiment of Humans Will Pet The Thing
luna who Takes An Interest in every wild folklore or tiny sad creature
but also at the same time luna who comes back to london and follows a pigeon across town because it has such fascinating markings
when told “it’s just a pigeon” gives a lecture about rock doves and urban compatability
but also a luna who absolutely does not back down from things ten times her size that are monsters and definitely guarding some kind of cursed treasure and a luna who breaks the curse and finds a very distressed kitten under all that dark magic
A tiny journal-ish gif-comic from a few tweets I made last night! I believed this kind of stuff until I was 14 or so, which is pretty old in retrospect…
There used to be more but I accidentally saved over it
I did manage to recover one other page, though!
(the end!)
this is my favorite thing that I have ever seen in my entire life
While looking for specific WWII-era US Army uniform references, I stumbled into the absolute treasure trove that is Osprey Publishing. They’ve been putting out military history illustrations for decades, and provide references for different uniforms, gear, and weaponry across factions and history.
i am holding hands with a girl at the pet store. i love how her voice changes when she speaks to different animals. round and bubbly for the angelfish, high and breathy for the calico kittens, sonorous and slithery for the python. she loves them all, even the great hairy tarantula that makes me cringe.
i am holding hands with this girl whose halo of hair glows banana yellow under the heat lamps in the reptile section, who offers her index finger to teething kittens. she asks “can’t we have one?” in the voice she uses for only me. a voice i can’t describe without using her name, but i imagine joan of arc heard something similar the day she picked up a sword. she is still holding my hand, and i feel like i’d sink into cartoon quicksand if i let go. so i don’t.
“are you two… together?”
this is not unfamiliar, but the woman’s voice, the voice she has chosen, is angrily acidic. this woman has laced her tone with arsenic, without even a passive aggressive teaspoon of sugar to hide her poison. she inhales, puffing herself up like a frightened lizard before her final words.
“there are children here, you know.”
in the future, i think of a thousand things to say. we were children too. two girls holding hands after school. two girls holding hands at the movie theatre, two girls in a booth at tony’s pizza, two girls sharing awkward first kisses after two solo cups of wine in someone else’s backyard. two girls holding kittens at a pet store on a saturday afternoon.
i know now that they see us through funhouse mirrors: distorted, disturbed, our monstrous bodies taking too much space, spoiling innocent spaces with our imposing sexualities. our innocence never ours to begin with.
even with this, there is nowhere i would rather be than holding hands with her in a pet store, with her voice like rain on a hot day, her peach lips blowing kisses for fish, her grip tightening as if to say “i dare you to take this away from me.”
Anonymous Asked: “Hi! ♡ Prompts about reversed fairytales please.”
Anonymous Asked: “Hey there! Can I first just say how much I love your blog ❤ ❤ And I don’t know if this has been asked before but have you got any Urban Fantasy Prompts?”
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1. Goldilocks was imprisoned by the bears at a young age. This is the story of her escape.
2. When Beauty kissed the Beast, it didn’t turn him back into a human. Instead, it turned her into a monster.
3. Aurora was cursed as an infant: she will never be able to sleep, until she experiences True Love’s Kiss.
4. Peter Pan was rescued by a young girl named Wendy, who showed him an amazing world where people would change and grow, instead of staying the same forever.
5. Dorothy must find a way to get back to the magical land of OZ, where her parents still live. Her aunt and uncle kidnapped her as a child, and brought her to our world.
6. Tinkerbell is a reporter who writes for the tabloids. But since no one believes the tabloids, she must try to get a respectable reporting position… Before it’s too late.
7. The Lost Boys football team never seems to change over the years, but no one notices. Until Wendy Darling, a cheerleader for an opposing team, realizes.
8. Holiday Inc. is found in a skyscraper in the middle of New York. Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and such have offices inside.
9. Sleeping Beauty is a nurse. She can always help the children who are afraid of needles.
10. Alice is exhausted after staying up all night studying, so she stumbles into an unfamiliar coffee shop run by a madman in a strange hat. Everything inside seems a little…. Off.
Florence and the Machine at last night’s Spotify event in Brooklyn. As Florence began to sing Sky Full of Song a literal storm began to hit, she never faltered and embraced the storm.
Question of Smoke 