professional artists giving advice to younger artists: “don’t give up, don’t get discouraged when things don’t work out, keep practicing, surround yourself with supportive people”

meanwhile jhonen:

Zlatibor, Serbia - August 2023

trying to do sexy pain-based powerplay dynamics with a girl who's quitting smoking so instead of burning me with the cherry while she fucks me she just has to throw her nicotine-free vape battery at my head as hard as possible

What I need for White Americans (ppl in general really, but I'm talking to the U.S.) to understand about Americans of Color is that You don't know Us, but We know YOU.

We've spent generations upon generations of our entire lives learning YOUR social norms, forced to assimilate to YOUR idea of society. We live and learn entirely separate cultures, but we also learn from birth what it means to have to cater to Whiteness in America. It's why I can name so many famous movies with white casts, but most white people didn't even know where "Bye Felicia" came from. It's why I was raised to professionally Code Switch from childhood, but grown white people struggle to even grasp the basics of the grammar of AAVE. It's why people who speak different languages think they have to give up their own mother tongue just to function in this country.

It's why you all are so uncomfortable with the idea of people of color questioning and rejecting what seems "normal" to you- and to be honest, I actually think older white generations are better at admitting this than younger ones. It's because what you know as normal is usually not "normal"- it's White. Whiteness is just as loud as any other presentation of race in this country, you just don't see it that way because everyone else has been forced to maintain your comfort. The entire system is built around it, and you don't even know it.

It's why it frustrates white Americans of some marginalization- queer, disabled, neurodivergent- because you do not have access to the "norm" as it is shown to you. But that frustration- literally everyone of color (who shares those identities btw) lives under that understanding.

Idk, I didn't really have a direction. I just think it's wild how so many conversations require this... Constant Verbal Leveling of the Playing Field simply because Whiteness blinds white people to what things ACTUALLY look like out here.

Yes, it's okay for white people to reblog. You are the target audience to consider these things.

Illustrations of Vietnamese food. Credit to Le Rin.

I think a big reason why "children are an oppressed group" gets (wrongly!) read as a "pedophile talking point" is that everyone treats children so terribly that actual child molesters can speedrun winning a kid's trust by like, actually respecting their needs and perspective, at least at first. Which means that the only way out of this mess is for all of us adults to treat children with respect, so that abusers can't use the rareness of that respect as a weapon.

Yeah I've been thinking a lot about how cults will prey on marginalized people and how it's so much easier to push an "us versus them" mentality on a person who already (legitimately, accurately) perceives the world as hostile to them

#same with hate groups tbh#nazis can radicalize young white boys just by Listening and Agreeing and then going and it’s all the fault of (insert group here)

tags via @punkrorschach

the humble "like" is oft mocked despite what it does for us. "like, three people" is a vastly different statement from "three people". "and i was like 'what the fuck'" is vastly different from "and i said 'what the fuck'". i love you "like" and anyone who says you make people sound stupid will be killed on sight

Both were filled at the same time with the same water, only one had oysters.

:/ The next time you think it’s okay to be nonbinary, remember the cost. We are killing our planet 😔

Wtf. No, be who you are. This doesn’t define you.

I offer some context

that context was DESPERATELY needed thank you

NO NO NO, PLEASE EAT OYSTERS.

The oysters you’re eating are probably not wild caught any longer, but instead farmed in intentional shoals or in baskets. If you aren’t sure, you can check by looking into oyster farms in your area, looking into the company or restaurant, etc.

Wherever Oysters Are, They Clean The Water.

Oyster Farms are a sustainable way for local, small farmers/fisheries to have an INCREDIBLY relevant impact on their local eco system while still turning a profit. Farmed oysters spend anywhere from a couple months to a couple years in the water before they’re sold, and in that time they filter 20-40 gallons of water A DAY. When they’re harvested they are replaced with new oysters to grow and filter more water. Oysters also poop out all the gunk in the water into a little ball that falls and helps the habitat form more stable floors to grow plants in, which in turn provides habitat for fish and insects, which provides food for birds and other wildlife. They are a net positive.

BE NON BINARY. EAT OYSTERS.

It took two whole days but it's done. The concept is simple: AI generated art, sent to a company who does paint by number kits, and then completed by an amateur. It's an interesting thought experiment - at what point is it truly art? Is it ever art, because it's AI generated? Is it ever art, because it's paint by numbers? Is it always art, because it elicits a response from the viewer?

why is he pouring so much grease in the sink

Landlord increased his rent by $5

Church of Whale Fall

🔥 Sua + Scream dance break 🔥

James baldwin’s the artists struggle for identity. Btw.

the immense psychological damage I have taken seeing multiple people claim wholeheartedly that Marcille barely tolerates Laois, much less likes him. I’m sorry but even if you’re anime only did you MISS the scene where she frantically was checking for his heartbeat or

also ‘Marcille and Laois have no chemistry’ you don’t have to read marcille and laois as any flavor of romantic but arguing that they have no chemistry is absurd. these guys THRIVE when they are put in situations and every moment is dripping with loaded emotional complexity. look I love farcille as much as the next gay but whatever laois and marcille have going on needs to be studied in a lab and probably takes them like five years minimum to unpack.

and it’s only made infinitely funnier that marcille is gay as fuck for this guy’s sister.

THEY CONSTRUCTED SKELETONS TOGETHER AND HAD FUN

they're besties, the fact that Marcille occasionally wants to attack him with a rock is unrelated.

beast boy brainstorming session

i'll be completely honest if i do a redesign for each titan it might take me 80 years at this pace and i'm still thinking about changing my starfire design

obsessed with this video

the camera person deserves the raise of the century

Girls will be like yeah so basically Taylor swift has eradicated all attempts at creativity in favor of seamlessly merging her IDENTITY to PRODUCT and I will give accolades where accolades are due. She has been very successful at this probably the most successful person on earth at this and all it cost her is her soul. And it DID cost a soul. You could make a graph between amount of streams and quality of work and see so clearly the inverse relationship materialize before your eyes. She was not born a hack but embraced the life of a hack when she realized she would be more popular with platitudes and dialing back on oversharing and being less messy. If you replace personhood with producthood you lose your humanity but your album sales go fuuuucking crazy. I can make overtures at understanding this by reminding myself she was crucified for being a person for years and years and she has been very vocal about it doing a heavy number on her psyche. Maybe when that happens to you as a teenager the trade off seems less revolting. Getting rid of something you’re mocked for having anyway and in return you are richer and more famous than anyone has any right to be. But then I scratch my head. And go but surely you see that this is a deal with the devil. Surely with the contract laid out in front of you. You gnaw your lip. You hesitate. You follow the letter of the law but skirt the spirit of it for brief shining moments. And when she’s so publicly had misogynistic vitriol levied at her. So often for so long. IS it misogynistic for your criticisms to boil down to “she’s not likable enough for me”? At what dollar amount does a millionaire going on billionaire become a public object rather than a person? Does the fact that she’s slowly revoked access to herself change this? Is it more or less human to orchestrate your life so that paparazzi only sees you on planned outings where you look impeccable and have a message to send and you are Taylor Swift The Brand after you’ve been scarred by years of being Taylor swift the young woman in the tail end of the aughts and the 2010s ripped to shreds scrutinized for every choice and smile and dress and man? Is there a passable essay in the title Taylor Swift Doesn’t Owe You Authenticity. Maybe! but doesn’t she as an artist work at a job where she’s supposed to produce. Art? It sounds like I’m asking for ballads but I’m really not I’m asking for a song that is good. Im asking for a cruel summer which is irreplicable but surely the minds behind it can produce something more than snow on the fucking beach? Or am I overestimating the continued talent of a woman who is the platonic ideal of a target shopper? Is it misogynistic to believe the platonic ideal of a target shopper can’t create with a soul? How to talk about the fall off of Taylor swift in a woman honoring way?

five minutes later. You can’t spell awesome without ME!