Two years ago, we in the Steven Universe fandom lost a friend. Her name was Olutoba Akomolede, aka @venusshuttrap/@catharticaagh.
We still don't know how she ended up in that river, as there haven't been any updates on the investigation since then (that we know of), but I know for a fact that she didn't jump.
Regardless, her life mattered and she should still be here with us today.
there’s some lava bending going on there…. so she separated the ground down to the mantle layer (magma chamber)? then floated that chunk on lava then air bended it over?
This is often cited as the single most powerful feat in bending in the entire franchise, and I’m inclined to agree. Kyoshi Island also manages to wind up quite a distance from the mainland–let’s assume it’s still on the continental shelf, otherwise MY GOD–and is large enough to sustain a reasonably-sized village with agriculture. Unless there’s an earthbending equivalent of the great comet going on, this is nuts. Avatar Kyoshi also lived to 230 years old. All of this begs the question to me–what the hell was up with her? Did she get a spirit-world power boost or something? These things are all very much outside the norm, even in a world of such extraordinary people. What’s everybody’s theory on this?
She was just that strong
My thought has always been that Kyoshi was one of the few Avatars that was completely at peace with who and what she was. Every other Avatar we’ve seen – even the best of them like Aang and Korra – are conflicted over what they have to do and how they do it. Guilt and self-loathing over their responsibilities and actions, regret over what they could have done better.
Kyoshi, however, never doubted herself. Even without being arrogant, she always saw that what she did had to be done. She took what were the only options. You see this even in the advice she gives to subsequent Avatars: Be decisive. Be final. Commit.
Because of that, she was one of the few (Maybe only) Avatars who was able to completely encompass the powers available to them. No part of her subconsciously didn’t want to use them. There was no hesitancy buried so deep that she even didn’t realize it, Unlike Aang, or Roku, or Koruk, or Korra, or Yangchen, or even Wan, she was able to give herself over totally to whatever she was doing and hold nothing back.
That’s why she was able to accomplish feats of bending and skill that no other Avatar could equal: Because she, alone of all the Avatars, had she SHEER CHUTZPHA to do it.
other avatars ask “can i do it?” kyoshi says “of course i can.”
Believe in yourself like Avatar Kyoshi believed in herself. Encompass the spirit of Avatar Kyoshi. I am a bad-ass and I WILL JUST DO IT
Also, she did all of that outside of the avatar state. That was just straight up all here. She is a powerful bender. Period.
Wut-In-Tarnation is really What-In-The-Entire-Nation with southern accent
It’s time for the fascinating history of the word tarnation, which has nothing to do with the word nation
In 18th century America there was a trend of finding nicer ways to say curse words so they could shout exclamations without committing blasphemy. “Heck” and “gosh” originated at this time. “What in Sam Hill” was just a censored way of saying “What the hell?”
Damn and damnation became darn and darnation
At the time the word eternal was mostly associated with God and heaven, so the slang term “tarnal” was created to speak about eternity without invoking God
The new soft-curse word darnation sounded a bit like the slang word tarnal so people mashed them into tarnation (source)
“What in tarnation” means “What in eternal damnation” which also means “What the hell” which also means “What in Sam Hill” thanks to a bunch of Americans in the 1700s wanting to say bad words without incurring the Lord’s wrath
Working around god’s wrath.
God: don’t cuss or I’ll get mad
1700’s Americas: well, what in tarnation?
God: *clenching almighty fists* they can’t keep getting away with it….
this is one of the cutest most fucking delightful things i’ve ever seen.
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I forgot how much I love these comics!!!
I will always add the follow up to this.
10k enemies to lovers slow burn
people have been illegally dumping their old boats all around abandoned neighborhoods in detroit so this one newscaster on the local news station has been collecting them and finding out who the owners are by looking up the ID numbers on the boats and then she puts them on a flatbed truck and she brings them back to their owners wearing a fucking captain’s hat and she knocks on their doors and goes “hey we found your boat!”
This could be a TV show. Just, middle and upper class people who dump things illegally get their shit brought back to their house and they are put on the spot to explain why they thought it was ok to dump a boat somewhere random in the city.
Paintings of oranges by Woodstock/New York based artist, Karen O'Neil
Hugo Simberg, The Garden of Death, 1896.
Every time I see this I always wonder what the painter’s intended message was. It looks so pleasant, that middle skeleton looks so happy with its work.
Maybe it’s supposed to be a memento mori, but a comforting and encouraging one.
This is one of the most famous paintings in Finland. There are multiple interpretations of it but they all share the same base idea:
“According to Simberg, the flowers represent people’s souls, the skeletons are aids to Death, and the Garden of Death is a purgatory of sorts for souls waiting for entrance into heaven. This artwork invites the viewer to consider the afterlife, to take comfort in his or her own passing, and to not fear what happens after the body fails to function.”
“It depicts Simberg’s thoughts on afterlife, which is not run by angels but skeletons who take care of the heavenly garden with a gentle hand, while waiting for more “gardeners” to arrive. It is derived from the medieval belief that the dead sleep in a blooming garden.”
“In Simberg’s garden the humble Death-like figures struggle against harsh conditions; the landscape around the garden has burnt yellow, it is dry and barren. The cherished flowers grow in exotic shapes, slowly, requiring constant care. The black-clad figures love their nurslings. The garden is a place where Death is allowed to realize its feelings of affection. The Garden of Death can be seen depicting the impossibility of this love; maybe the flowers are tender and fragile because they can not handle the love of Death. Love has two faces: one of them is the face of devastation.”
Out of all the comments I’ve posted on this site this is my favourite. The notes are just full of people showing pure love to the Finnish Skeleton Gardeners.
“Blossom smiling for the camera.”
Photos/caption by Lauren Boutz
so i’m sure by now most of you have seen the news story about the patriots using their team plane to fly ppe into massachusetts from china (or at least if you’re local to new england you probably have).
it’s being shared on the news as a heartwarming story of a football team stepping up for their local area, but it’s also absolutely a sign of how truly and deeply fucked the federal response to this has been.
some background: massachusetts has received somewhere in the neighborhood of 17% of the ppe requested from the federal stockpile, and not one single ventilator. we requested 1000 of those and have now had to up our request to 1400. we have repeatedly been outbid by the federal government and now, most recently, had shipments of ppe that we ordered straight up seized by the feds in new york.
so, in desperation, our governor set up A SECRET DIPLOMATIC BACKCHANNEL to essentially beg china to send us badly needed equipment and make sure the federal government couldn’t seize it this time
florida has received multiple shipments of supplies in this same time frame, on time and unmolested by federal authorities. the difference? governor ron desantis is buddy buddy with trump and florida is a big swing state for the election. states that get on trump’s shit list are having to beg, borrow, and steal so that more people don’t die.
this is deeply, incredibly fucked and i don’t want anyone to ever forget it.
Welcome to dystopia
