~Elegant Armor Gown~
We created this fantasy bridal gown for our client Brianna. We used a burgundy/maroon ombre silk that parts in the front to reveal silver 3D lace. The underlaying fabric is a blue/purple taffeta. Metal filigree decorates the top of the dress and under-bust. We created matching filigree shoulder caps with swags of chains that drape over the sides of the arm and back. We added gems in teal and green to the filigree and 3D lace. I really feel like the silver lace at the bottom of the dress mimics the all the filigree elements at the top of the gown! #armor #bride #fantasywedding #armordress #fireflypath
i only heard about this 2 months ago. its been 3 years????
Remember this started because Snyder switched Flint from a freshwater mountain lake to the polluted Flint River simply to allow his wife’s company to use the lake for bottling instead. This is a manufactured crisis of corruption and capitalism.
Also remember that the pipes corroded because they refused to pay for the chemical used to make the water less acidic.
Remember that when the first E. coli outbreak from the water popped up, the city hall was given water coolers by the state, free of charge, all while denying that the water could be unsafe to drink.
Remember that, despite having a huge budget surplus and a “rainy day fund,” set aside that could easily cover the cost of relocating the residents by buying their houses/paying their debt, or could cover a large chunk of the cost of replacing the pipes, the state has decided to continue to only put in the minimal amount of effort.
Remember that flint is majority POC, majority impoverished, and is still being faced with crippling water bills from the Detroit water supply company, where they are often charged $50 a month just to use the service, on top of the cost of their water bill.
Remember that there will now be an entire generation of children who will now be damaged by lead poisoning and damage from the multitude of neurotoxins.
Remember that this is what privatized natural resources looks like. Remember that these people are being punished for having the audacity to dare to be poor in an economy that won’t let them be anything but.
At every level, this has not been a mistake.
The State and City are most upset that people know its happening and are resisting nation-wide.
But if we lose focus they lose even the small amount of aid they’ve managed to get.
This is how they do it. It’s a siege on the public empathy. Eventually we become numb to the problem and despair. Or something bigger happens.
Then its business as usual again.
*Flint has a BLACK majority. Not a POC one. But Black.
How is this still a thing?? What the actual fuck America??? I understand that you’ve been super distracted by the shit show that is the presidential race and all for the better part of the past year or two, but other parts of your country need your attention. Why is it ok to stop talking about this? The worst thing anyone can all be right now is apathetic. Please don’t leave your people behind.
No access to water is not an inconvenience, it is an emergency.
Bruh, if you don’t think that having historically significant events well documented from multiple perspectives is a good thing, then idk what the hell u doin.
Besides, like, that is literally a Giant Monster Rampaging Through The Town. What the fuck is the everyday person gonna do other than Tweet/Instagram/Post about it going “It’s the apocalypse you guys! Eyyyy lmao #apocalypse #deathrising #nofilter”?
And heck, even if your own death is inevitable getting information out could help save other people, even if it can’t save you. ‘Here are 20 livestreams of the giant tentacle monster including how it moves and attacks, how can we beat it?’ is way more useful than ‘an entire city got wiped off the map and things smell vaguely of calimari idk man’
I like to see balance in the fiction I consume. Whedon's stuff appeals to me because he understands that being sad makes unexpected funny stuff immensely funnier, and vice versa. Also, I am there for Chris Claremont writing about the X-Men playing baseball... and I hate baseball.
I know I’ve talked about this before, but I’m really sick of seeing writers who should know better say things like, “Tragedy is more compelling than stories where characters have a nice day and nothing bad happens!” without understanding why.
Tragedy is an effective story element when it’s a deviation from the norm. A character’s peaceful existence is disrupted by a catastrophic event that throws everything into chaos. The character now has to either develop so they can cope with the new status quo, or find a way to put things back the way they were. There’s a good story in that.
But when a character’s life is an unrelenting cavalcade of misery, another heaping dose of shit isn’t all that interesting. At that point, a compelling deviation from the norm would be said character having a nice day where nothing bad happens. And modern fiction is chock-full of misery porn, so by this logic, it’s no wonder the coffee shop AU is such a popular fanfiction trope.
Derek Hale getting a dog and putting his life back together is way more interesting than Derek Hale’s life getting worse for the 26th consecutive episode.
Creators like to hold up “everything is fine and nobody dies” as a sign that fanfic is bland and badly written, but if anything, it’s an indicator that mainstream fiction is bland and badly written.
First, thank you for asking. This is something I feel is important!
Second, to those who wonder where this question came from, a while back, I reblogged this, and added the comment about squicks not being the same as triggers.
So what, you ask, is a squick?
A squick is an old fandom term for something that makes you supremely uncomfortable and you absolutely do not want to read it. It can be a trope, a ship, a concept, or just an event that happens within a fic or in canon. For me, abused animals are a definite squick. I don’t like it, and will generally avoid reading any graphic descriptions of such. (That includes tumblr gif sets and such too, people! Tag that shit, will you? Even if it has a happy ending.) Another deep, deep squick of mine is infant age play. Don’t like it, don’t get it, don’t want to think about it.
Now, neither of these things are dangerous to my mental or emotional state. I have never experienced either in my life, and they do not bring about any sort of PTSD, dissociation, or spiral of depression, anxiety, etc. They are simply things I prefer not to think about in my daily life, or read about in my escapist hobbies. Therefore, theyare not triggers. Triggers are very real, very bad things for some people, and to label things we choose not to read because we find it disturbing or gross or weird is to diminish the very real danger of actual triggers.
I love the term squick. It perfectly describes the concept without assigning any negativity to the thing you dislike, or to people who do like the thing you dislike. It is something you personally do not care for and wish to avoid, simple as that.
i find the idea of platonic soul mates so fucking amazing, like imagine finding someone who you feel complete with but you don’t have to worry about losing them to messy romance because they’ll be your best friend forever instead
no offense to the OP, but they have clearly never had a friend breakup with a really close friend.
they are messy and rough and most people around you won’t get why it seems like you got dumped by a significant other based on your reaction.
platonic soulmates are awesome, but friendships can be just as messy and heartbreaking and disastrous as romantic relationships - sometimes even moreso.
Friendship divorces suck.
Yes, you weren’t in love with them, but you loved them. So you’re grieving but you can’t say it like that, because they’re not dead, for all that they’re not in your life anymore. And you can’t call it a break up, because you two weren’t in love.
You’re full of stupid details about someone and nowhere to put it, you have to set your life back and fill a space where someone else used to be before them and you don’t even remember how that was, and you will have people act as if it was nothing, maybe you two will get back to being friends and no you won’t, this was Big, End-of-the-Universe, Big Bang, Stars collapsed kind of big or you two would still be friends…
… but you don’t even have a WORD to describe it, and make people understand that just because you weren’t in love with them, doesn’t mean that this loss is any less greater than if you had been.
what is the point of oscar the grouch on sesame street?
It’s okay to not like things and it’s okay to be unhappy. He was created from the idea that “non-destructive deviance” would go over well with kids.
THANK YOU!
Basically, the point of Oscar the Grouch is so that kids know it’s okay to have fucking emotions and moods that aren’t all cheery. That’s the fucking point. And that’s even more important to the kids who are living in harsh realities. Realities where their families are falling apart or they’re not getting food every day or they’re getting abused. Telling them it’s okay to express that they are NOT HAPPY because they are HURTING is so fucking important I cannot even say it.
Big Bird is nice, but goddamn, when you’re a kid who’s hungry and you just got beat by your caretaker and all you wanna do is hole up somewhere and tell everyone else to go away because you don’t even have words for how bad things feel? Big Bird is not your dude. Cheery happy, “well, let’s play a happy game!” Big Bird ain’t cutting it for you. Oscar the Grouch is your dude. Oscar the Grouch is the dude who tells you it’s okay to put the lid on your garbage can and be alone and be upset.
Big Bird tries to talk you out of being upset (and maybe sometimes that’s okay). But Oscar the Grouch teaches you that, no, it’s okay to be upset and you have every right to stay upset and grouchy and unhappy until you’re at a point where that can change. Oscar the Grouch teaches you that you have a right to your emotions, whatever they are.
On a more advanced level, the point of Oscar is to start teaching kids that it’s okay to have boundaries, it’s okay to want to just go into your trash can (home/safe place) and not be bothered, it’s okay to defend those boundaries and say “go away!” when you want people to go the fuck away and that you can still have a place on Sesame Street. That not everyone has to be shiny, happy Big Bird.
That’s the point of Oscar the Grouch.
“what is the point of oscar the grouch” who even made you
Also Oscar the Grouch *likes* things that no one else likes and he’s completely unapologetic about it.
The fact that people tell you things you like are stupid doesn’t make it’s true. He loves trash. He loves it because it’s trash. That’s important too.
As is the fact that *even though everyone thinks his interests are stupid*, people don’t take his trash away and they don’t drag him out of his can.
Also he has *fantastic* body language. Boundary laden but also very emotional. And just the way he likes stuff and expresses interest…
…Oscar the Grouch = awesome.
This is a wonderful series of texts post that needs to be shared with all of you
Thing of it is, they don’t even think his interests are stupid. Weird, yes. But here’s the great part.
THE DENIZENS OF SESAME STREET FREQUENTLY INDULGE OSCAR IN HIS WEIRD LIKES, AND END UP HAVING FUN DOING SO.
At least back in the 80′s, Oscar had a whole troupe of grouch scouts who enjoyed looking for nifty trash, a group of kids and even Telly Monster. Susan and Gordon end up at a Grouch club with Oscar after their original dinner and dance plans fall apart, and end up having a great night dancing the award-winning Trash Can Tango.
And there’s Oscar’s beloved pet Slimey the worm, possibly the only being Oscar openly admits he likes. Not everyone goes the puppy or kitten route, and thus the idea of unconventional and less-than-cuddly yet no less beloved pets is brought to kids (on top of Slimey’s own adventures).
Oscar teaches that it’s okay to be weird, okay to be different, and that maybe if you don’t reject the weird and different at first glance, you may very well find something (or someone) interesting and fun. And that even when someone can be prickly and dour at times, you can still be their friend. He also subtly teaches a bit of Henson’s love of subversion, of quiet rebellion, of questioning and skepticism and snark.
what is the point of oscar the grouch on sesame street?
It’s okay to not like things and it’s okay to be unhappy. He was created from the idea that “non-destructive deviance” would go over well with kids.
THANK YOU!
Basically, the point of Oscar the Grouch is so that kids know it’s okay to have fucking emotions and moods that aren’t all cheery. That’s the fucking point. And that’s even more important to the kids who are living in harsh realities. Realities where their families are falling apart or they’re not getting food every day or they’re getting abused. Telling them it’s okay to express that they are NOT HAPPY because they are HURTING is so fucking important I cannot even say it.
Big Bird is nice, but goddamn, when you’re a kid who’s hungry and you just got beat by your caretaker and all you wanna do is hole up somewhere and tell everyone else to go away because you don’t even have words for how bad things feel? Big Bird is not your dude. Cheery happy, “well, let’s play a happy game!” Big Bird ain’t cutting it for you. Oscar the Grouch is your dude. Oscar the Grouch is the dude who tells you it’s okay to put the lid on your garbage can and be alone and be upset.
Big Bird tries to talk you out of being upset (and maybe sometimes that’s okay). But Oscar the Grouch teaches you that, no, it’s okay to be upset and you have every right to stay upset and grouchy and unhappy until you’re at a point where that can change. Oscar the Grouch teaches you that you have a right to your emotions, whatever they are.
On a more advanced level, the point of Oscar is to start teaching kids that it’s okay to have boundaries, it’s okay to want to just go into your trash can (home/safe place) and not be bothered, it’s okay to defend those boundaries and say “go away!” when you want people to go the fuck away and that you can still have a place on Sesame Street. That not everyone has to be shiny, happy Big Bird.
That’s the point of Oscar the Grouch.
“what is the point of oscar the grouch” who even made you
Also Oscar the Grouch *likes* things that no one else likes and he’s completely unapologetic about it.
The fact that people tell you things you like are stupid doesn’t make it’s true. He loves trash. He loves it because it’s trash. That’s important too.
As is the fact that *even though everyone thinks his interests are stupid*, people don’t take his trash away and they don’t drag him out of his can.
Also he has *fantastic* body language. Boundary laden but also very emotional. And just the way he likes stuff and expresses interest…
…Oscar the Grouch = awesome.
This is a wonderful series of texts post that needs to be shared with all of you
The actual definition of what some guys think when the girl says “no”.
“OMG I did this and that for YOU, you must date me!”
Hell no. If I don’t like you, I won’t date you.
This movie is fucking golden.
YES CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS MOVIE
Megamind has the ultimate example of a “nice guy”, Hal, who liked Roxanne - and he was clear about it. He “complimented” several things to her in the beginning, which guess what - were not flattering at all, but downright creepy, so really, it was no wonder Roxanne didn’t like him.
But after he gets his superpowers, he expects her to - he expects to be rewarded for being the “good guy”, despite the fact that he hasn’t really done anything for her. When she rejects him and later finds out that she had dated Megamind for a time, he’s furious that she would date the “bad guy” when he is the “good guy”.
Yet despite Megamind being “bad” and Hal being “good”, it’s Megamind who respects what she wants - when she told him to back off, he backed off, and then later apologized, while Hal was legit going to kill her for rejecting him. So really, who is the good guy?
I have seriously never seen a more frightening movie villain than Hal.
Hal is basically what every single MRA and ‘Nice Guy’ in the world would be like if they ever got superpowers…
This POST is goddamn golden. I’ve got a shitload of reasons to see this film. Films that tackle these issues no matter what they look like are my fucking favourite.
I’m having a hard time stringing my thoughts and emotions together in coherent form, but suffice to say that it takes a special kind of ignorance born of white Christian privilege to think that making Steve Rogers Hydra could ever be a good idea.
I expected erasure and lack of nuance regarding Jewish characters from Marvel. It never occurred to me to brace myself for this. More the fool me, I suppose, especially after the MCU’s treatment of the Maximoff twins and Marvel’s treatment of Magneto in general.
For the people who worked on the Steve Rogers comic, this was about “rejuvenating” the character. It was an impersonal decision made for the sake of the story… and for the sake of free shock value publicity. Readers who are Jewish? Don’t have that luxury. Stories such as these will always be deeply personal.
I’m grateful now that I never purchased Steve Rogers #1, and I can only begin to imagine how violated Jewish Captain America fans who bought and read this comic felt.
Turning a symbol of Jewish hope and defiance into a Nazi is disrespectful in the extreme. It spits on the memory of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby z”l and it spits on Marvel’s Jewish and Romani fans.
Will this retcon last? Probably not. ~Comics~ and all that. But that isn’t the point. The point is that Marvel ever let this idea get past the drawing board. The point is that Marvel valued their oh so dark and edgy twist over the Jewish origins of the character and the feelings of their Jewish and Romani readership. The point is all of those thinkpiece articles with titles like “Everyone, Please Stop Freaking Out About That Ridiculous Captain America Reveal”, which miss the point entirely.
To be fair, I’m certain Marvel will do something fun with it—this is hardly the first example of comics doing something inexplicably goofy for the sake of catchy headlines, and had a ball with the aftermath. Comics are built on gimmicks like this and playing with them. I’m looking forward to seeing where Nick Spencer and Jesus Saiz take this plot line.
It’s always exciting to be at the start of something completely ludicrous, and just see where it goes—because this is definitely right up there in the “ludicrous comics nonsense” category. I look forward to Steve Rogers eventually being revealed as a quintuple agent or something.
But please, let’s not pretend this is real, or permanent, or won’t be utterly undone in a storyarc or two.
You see, this isn’t personal for the people writing these sorts of thinkpiece articles either. They have the luxury of enjoying the ridiculousness, of eagerly anticipating what the writers will do with a Hydra Steve Rogers instead of feeling sick to their stomachs. They have the luxury of this not affecting their love of the franchise or their feelings about the Captain America merchandise they own. They have the luxury of knowing that (Hydra) Captain America wouldn’t want to kill them for the crime of their mere existence.
Yes, Hydra!Cap will probably be explained away or retconned back out of the main 616 continuity’s existence within a few years. Yes, Hydra!Cap makes little to no sense.
That doesn’t mean that this wasn’t all too real. And it is insulting to tell those who are personally affected otherwise.
This is all fantastic, but I have one extra comment about the linked article:
What kind of antisemitic asshole do you have to be to call a character created by two Jews during WWII being turned into a Nazi a “goofy” plot twist?
^^^^^^^ Antisemitism is so pervasive, people literally have no concept of when they’re engaging in it.
The power of positive reinforcement. Jonathan Wall shared shared this story on Twitter just a few weeks before his 2016 graduation from Harvard Law. And he’s no ordinary graduate.
you know how jean in the silver age is the perfect girl, with hair always nicely in place and well-bred and polite and willing to help with the cooking and willing to repair her teammate’s costumes and obviously that’s bc she was a girl in silver age marvel but like
we know that jean’s father was a professor and her mother was a strict housewife and she’s got four older siblings so it’s entirely possible that she would’ve been raised like that. dinner parties full of academics, red brick house with a perfectly tended garden, piano lessons and dance recitals, making her bed every morning and helping her mother with dinner every night, going to college preparatory school, her future already set, and nothing, not her best friend dying or the time that comes after it- a time her mind slides sideways off of when she tries to think about- can stop that inevitable course of perfect respectability
do you ever think about how repressed jean was. how lonely she would’ve been after annie, before the x-men, how she- so like scott but in a completely different way- never learned to prioritize her own emotions, how she loved and loved and loved but didn’t invest any of that same energy into taking care of herself
that’s the context of the phoenix. and of dark phoenix
’…sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is.’
‘It’s a lot more complicated than that…’
‘No. It ain’t. When people say things are more complicated than that, they means they’re getting worried that they won’t like the truth. People as things, that’s where it starts.’
‘Oh, I’m sure there are worse crimes–’
‘But they STARTS with thinking about people as things…’
