Bombshell Bi

Todd Howard’s brain is equal parts American idolatry, stupidity, and a pathological need to lie

Kanej Textposts

Be careful princess  🌸

I just love that multiple people not only thought “the black one is a princess and those are her bodyguards” but also came to the conclusion “they’re also, obviously, samurai.”

I hate the “Thoreau’s mom did his laundry” criticism so much, it drives me crazy.

Henry Thoreau did not go to Walden Pond because he thought it would be a fun adventure. He went into the woods because he was deeply depressed and burnt out. He was running from the horror of his brother and best friend recently dying in his arms, and the haunting memory of causing the Fairhaven Bay fire. His friend Ellery Channing literally gave him the ultimatum of either taking some time off to write and think, or else be institutionalized.

I think Thoreau’s mother saw her depressed son choosing to retreat into a small cabin in the woods, and was worried about him. Of course she did his laundry - just as Ralph Waldo Emerson probably brought him firewood and bread. These were not chores of obligation to support a “great” man, but services of love to help their deeply depressed 28yo son and friend.

And if you ask me, there’s a lesson in that - to “suck out the marrow of life” and “live deliberately,” one must also accept help offered from the people in your life who love you. There is no true transcendentalism or individualism without love and friendship behind it.

I tried to let this go past without comment, but it's stayed with me throughout the day. And the more I thought about it, the more it bothered me.

Not for the positive sentiment that serving others can be a positive thing - precisely because no one was ever saying it couldn't be - but for how badly it mangles what it purports to be responding to.

No one ever said that the men who were only able to produce art because of other people labouring for them had had no pain or done nothing good. And no one ever said that those who supported them were always resentful and unwilling.

The point is that when people who weren't men had great tragedies and great powers of creativity, they were not supported to go off into the wilderness and explore their creative impulses and philosophies to their greatest depths.

And then we are compared to those works. And those works often PRESENT philosophies in which great works can be achieved on their own. This post is so... dishonest about what is being argued for.

Some of y'all haven't read A Room of One's Own, and it shows.

Shakespeare had great tragedies in his life, such as the death of his son Hamnet, and those obviously inform his work. But what, Virginia Woolf asks us, of Shakespeare's sister?

What would have become of the middle class woman with Shakespeare's upbringing and talent? She certainly would have been laughed out of the theatre.

We know that. Not just because of the remarks made by men of the time that a woman acting would be like a dog standing on its hind legs. But also because we can see the few, very few examples of women DID manage to write at the time, and how hard it was for them

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, with all the privileges that brings, was a philosopher and writer. She wrote the first science fiction novel. And she wrote plays. And she was ridiculed for it, and men tried to bury her existence. Despite a very supportive husband, she was widely regarded with derision as the Mad Duchess. While I wouldn't say her plays are remotely as good as Shakespeare, it's not as though she had the advantage of friendship with Kit Marlow. To be a playwright in Shakespeare's time was a collaborative effort, bouncing ideas and lines off your actors and other writers. We can see in the folios how much the plays changed from performance to performance. They weren' static. That was a novel concept just starting to be introduced by the printing press. But who collaborated with Margaret? Who batted frenzied ideas around with the Duchess?

Not Shakespeare's peers. And likely not many of her own class either.

Or try Aemelia Lanyer on for size. First woman poet to be published in the English language and her poems BLAZE with talent and pain and power.

But it was only possible because she had a female patron who supported her work, and they were both cut adrift in an inheritance dispute. You can hear it when you read The Description of Cookeham - the country house in which she and her patron briefly lived and for a while, she was free to write as men were. But it's a poem of loss.

Because they lost Cookeham. Because there is never the same financial security, and thus peace and room to work unburdened, as there is for men.

And no it's not the case that all men have it perfect and easy, but a fuck of a lot more of them have mothers or wives or sisters who will support them as they pour out their pain into the pages than there are fathers or husbands, or brothers who will do the same for a woman or non-binary person.

Woolf notes that you can see it in the cracks of the work women write. A moment in Jane Eyre where Jane thinks longingly of all she might do if she were free like a man that Woolf sees as flawed because it is not the character speaking, but the author, pouring out her pain.

Because women were always forced to write AROUND their duties, often in fear of getting caught. They could never polish freely to the same extent as men. Even Jane Austen had no study to retreat to, but would cover her pages with embroidery to hide them when she was interrupted by visitors.

It's not merely ignorant but insulting to be told that in critiquing the circumstances in which men wrote, partly supported by the labour of women, we are in some sense dismissing THOSE WOMEN. That in acknowledging that labour we are disparaging it.

This is some trad wife bullshit.

NO.

Noting that the labour of women that supported the great works of men has gone unrecognised is NOT to dismiss that labour. Nor is it invalid to critique a man who wrote ruggedly individualistic works while quietly supported by a woman, just because he had also supported others and suffered grief. That argument DOES NOT scan.

A person - anyone - needs a room of their own and a place of safety in which to write to fully explore their creative ideas.

As I lay in bed too sick to either work or write I feel this more strongly than ever.

Privilege is multifaceted, and it has never denied that those with one privilege may suffer in other ways, nor that they can do good works and support others. The critique of privilege is DOUBLY important when this is so, because those people STILL benefit from the STRUCTURES that support them over and above those who suffer the same tragedies without that support.

When Shakespeare is thrown into depression by the loss of his son he is still held up in all the myriad ways that a comfortably well-off, educated, middle-class white man in Elizabethan England can be. When Aemelia and her patron are set adrift because she and her patron are of the wrong gender, they have no one to turn to. No salvation. And we have far fewer poems by Lanyer than we do by Shakespeare, for all that many speculate she is the dark lady of his sonnets (I know, there are other speculations, but she is one).

With all the wealth and prestige of a Duchess, Cavendish's plays were only performed at home. It's not that she wasn't known in the theatrical world - it's said that when Cavendish went to the theatre to watch a play, everyone else in the audience was there to watch Cavendish, because of her eccentric reputation, but she could never be one of the Lord's Men. She could never see her works performed at the Globe. Never drink Kit Marlow under the bench.

Massive structural machines were (and still are) in play to see that it is far easier for men to have what they need in order to think and create handed to them.

THAT is the critique. THAT is the point.

Not that no one should ever support their loved ones while they write. For the most part, that's the only way for creatives to get started in having a career as opposed to a hobby.

The point is that it is MASSIVELY more common for women to quietly support men without recognition while they go off and write books that ignore the existence of women than it is for women or non-binary people to be supported by their loved ones to go off and do something creative.

It's always worth checking, when you're hot and angry that someone is beating down on your fave, that YOU are in fact beating up a real opponent, and not a straw person.

#thoreau's mother did his laundry after his brother died. did thoreau do her laundry after her son died?, #whether the grief is real is immaterial, #the critique is: who gets to go into the woods?

Just gonna....leave this here

it's happening

High quality plot twist

More fun Justice League scenarios:

- the whole team piling into an all-night diner after dealing w a crisis, they have Usual places in the cities they frequent where the staff give them a discount for being superheroes & and also bcos they eat a Shitload of food (most places would let them eat free but they're too polite)

- Justice League secret Santa (everyone is praying they don't get Batman, either they don't know what to get The Batman OR they're like 'he's a goddamn billionaire what do you get the man who has everything')

- Justice League anniversary dinner, everyone getting dressed up nice to go to a nice restaurant ('ok so just in case anyone asks whose kid is Billy. Are me & Lois old enough to be believable as his parents?' 'why do I have to be anyone's kid' 'clark it's a private function room and I'm paying extra for no questions asked, no-one is going to ask whose kid Billy is' 'but just in CASE' 'im not calling any of you dad all night ):<'

More secret Santa scenarios:

- one time pre identity reveal someone gets Bruce a Starbucks gift card. Every year after that Clark cheats to make sure he gets The Batman & puts everyone else out of their misery

- it was Flash who bought the giftcard and post identity reveal he wakes up in cold sweats over it

- Billy going home after the drawing like 'ok I know we agreed I wouldn't talk about Justice League stuff but I need your help so bad' 'what is it what's wrong' 'i need to buy Wonder Woman a holiday present help me'

- *the following year* Diana, freaking out: somebody help me what do teenage boys even like

On his List of Ways He Could Presumably Murder Each Member Of The Justice League, If It Came To It, Batman has an extra column in the Excel sheet with the perfect present for each member. Each year, it is presented to its victim recipient with iron-jawed solemnity. He has never gotten it wrong.

He has no idea what to get his kids.

god i know i already reblogged this addition but i can't stop thinking about Batman & his spreadsheet. it's like

'JL members known super powers'

'JL members secret identities'

'secret santa gift ideas'

'plans for killing each member of the league'

'birthdays'

No fuck it I'm sharing my tags on this because this headcanon is too good.

the best part about comics and fics where the batkids have to fight a mind controlled Bruce is the inevitable "oh shit" moment when they realize that every single spar with Bruce over the years -- even the ones where they were sparring at full force -- was against a Bruce who still held himself back in some way. because those are his kids.

a Bruce who doesn't care about them is terrifying.

reminds me of batman: bad blood where nightwing had to fight a mind controlled Batman and ended up getting destroyed

just the kind of fear where like. you know you can't win, but you still keep going because the alternative is worse. so yeah, you end up with bruises and concussions and broken bones but hey, it worked out alright.

and also like the left-over fear from fighting your own father has really got to hurt cuz like. how long will it be until you stop seeing him as the guy you hurt you and start seeing him as your father?

In Batman vs Robin we saw a similar thing. Damian attacked Bruce, with near killing intent. And the only reason Bruce lost was because they fell off a building and he took the impact. In Under the Red Hood as soon as the masks came off it was pretty much all over, he stopped Jason easily.

In a one on one fight, the Batkids have no chance. Not unless Batman deliberately throws. And that knowledge must scare them.

Think about it. Batman operates almost solely in Gotham. They know him better than anyone besides Alfred. If he starts to slip, they’ll be the only ones to notice. The only ones who could take action. That they might not be able to stop him. That they could lose…

It’s got to be hard for them whenever they remember just how outmatched they are.

Shameless reblog with my tags because I stand by this.

Batman!Jason with Robin!Steph would truly be the best duo

Steph: Batman, what should we do?

Jason: What we do best.

Steph: fuck shit up?

Jason: (nods) exactly robin.

Steph: (in the distance) JA- I MEAN BATMAN! I FOUND EXPLOSIVES, CAN I DETONATE THEM? FOR FUNSIES?

Jason: (shouting back) GO FOR IT!

(In the batcave)

Steph: So I’m thinking like a smoke-bomb but with glitter-

Jason: Absolutely genius

By the end of their run the city would be a smoking glittery mess, but Gotham’s general morale would be at its highest.

i love it when you accidentally meet eyes with a stranger in public and you flash a quick polite smile and they look at you like they wish you were dead in a ditch

I’ve seen this several times on my dash and always with southerners being confused in the tags why the rest of the US is like this, and as a southerner, I have to say, SAME. Like, there’s plenty to hate about the south, don’t get me wrong, but at least in general we have public courtesy down to a science. I ordered at a Sonic out West once and the guy specifically had someone take over his headset so he could come out and shake my hand because he was from Tennessee and it was the first time since he moved West that he heard anyone say “Yes sir.” And it’s just…. Automatic for me? And this polite smile thing, people will jump and glare and I’m just trying to be friendly not awkward? What else is a socially anxious southern child to do upon accidentally making eye contact? Look down and hurry away? Isn’t that rude??? Someone explain why is smiling met with such anger I am confused and afraid.

Exactly!! When I moved to Missouri I was baffled at how rude everyone is! Like I saw someone I knew at Walmart and stopped to chat and they didn’t even stop! They just went ‘hi’ and moved on. Like????

And when I moved here I made cookies for the neighborhood, cuz that’s what you do and the first place I went they said “we don’t eat things with sugar” and shut the door.

Like why do y’all hate everyone so much?

I’m Canadian and am also confused

Well yeah everyone knows Canadians are the friendliest people in the world

I’m from Indiana and I’m pretty sure if you don’t talk to someone you know In Wal-Mart for at least 5 minutes you go to jail

No but that would still be rude in kentucky

You are expected to talk for at least 15 minutes, say goodbye (like, a “take care y’all, tell me how that knee is doin”) and then you talk for another ten minutes, move a little further apart and say goodbye again (“well I better get going tell your nana I said hi”) and then you talk for a while and say goodbye one more time (“I’ll see y’all at church on Sunday/school/Jo-mart/Nana’s funeral”) and move on to the next person

And don’t even get me started on food etiquette

It’s not a south v. west thing, it’s a city thing. That’s why New Yorkers are the purest version of this. And it’s why I get both sides. I grew up in a small town in Northern California, and it was proud of all the small town things – “you can leave your door unlocked” and all that. I got a job for a while as a bank teller, and this coworker of mine had moved there from New York. I liked him (I tend to get along with folks) but a lot of people thought he was rude. “short” “impatient” even “brusk” were some descriptions of him, not just from our coworkers, but from the bank customers too. They complained because he always rushed them, never wanted to make small talk, etc. One day I was working next to him, and I heard him verbally pushing yet another customer along, just racing him through the transaction against his will, and I thought, I’m gonna say something to him about it. As soon as the customer left though, before I could say anything, my coworker goes “damn I hate people like that, get to  the front of the line and want to tell me their whole life story. So RUDE!” So I say something like, how is he the one that was rude to you? And goes, like he can’t believe how stupid I’m being, “ not to me, to all those people in line behind him that want to finish up here and get on with the rest of their day! You’re at the bank, you know why you’re here, you step up, you do a polite greeting and get the fuck down to business. Everybody has shit to do, and they can’t do it until you shut up about your life story that zero people drove down here to listen to. It’s so selfish! I can’t stand people like that”   Since then, I’ve lived in San Francisco, and L.A., and Montgomery Alabama, and Germany and Portland and Oakland and a bunch of little ass towns like Suisun Ca, and Kenwood and all kinds of places, Santa Cruz and Rohnert Park. And I’ve thought about the thing that guy started me noticing. It’s true. The closer in to a city (and the larger the city) the more the concept of polite changes from “how you are effecting the person you are communicating with” to “how you are effecting the people packed in around you” In Oakland there are like, zero grocery stores (Oakland is literally documented as a “food desert”) and so the best grocery store in Berkeley is also a favorite grocery store of Oakland residents and it is… full. You’ll spend a full 30 minutes in the snake of cars circling around in the parking lot waiting for somebody to finish shopping and leave so a parking spot opens up. Once inside, it’s more of the same. Shopping carts are cart-front to ass cheek. You literally can’t reach onto a shelf for a box of cereal without waiting for somebody to give you a break in traffic. Sometimes you get stuck standing in a single spot for several minutes, boxed in on all sides.  I’ve only been twice, and I swear to all holy gods that if I saw two people trying to catch up on chit chat while we all tried to maneuver around them, I would been reaching for my murdering stick. It’s called skype motherfuckers, go the fuck home and talk to each other, jfc, the rest of us are trying to make a deadline for some other shit we gotta get done today. Now, going back home, to small town Nor Cal, yeah, I don’t want to be rude, I’m gonna stop and say hi, I’m gonna ask about your family, I’m gonna rack my brain and remember that you had a sick cat or a trip you were trying to take or an interest in boats, and I’m gonna ask about that shit, fuck yeah tell me about how the tomatoes are coming in this year, I hear the birds are worse than ever. Anyway, city folk ain’t rude, they just polite different; suitable for city life.

This is such a great explanation, and really important.

Part of it is regional, but the biggest differences are rural vs. urban.