Bookoisseur

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 22:47:01 -0400

dreamyblackchild:
jaded-ace-of-spades:
generalgrievousdatingsim:

generalgrievousdatingsim:

generalgrievousdatingsim:

the one experience that unites all 90s and early 2000s kids is experiencing at least one work of fiction with a deceptively adorable illustration of cute animals on the cover who live in societies with an established political system, hierarchy of leadership and culture and are driven from their homes by human activity and/or engage in violent conflicts with other animals in similar communities that lead to many of the characters’ brutal deaths, which are described in graphic detail and which left you briefly emotionally traumatized by being confronted with the concept of your own fragile mortality before you were 10

the 4 horsemen

it has been brought to my attention that this was an ENTIRE GENRE of children’s fiction for some reason

You forgot An American Tail

Expectation: “Yay, cute talking animals going on fun adventures and learning about friendship!”
Reality: “These cute talking animals are going through a lot of traumatic shit. The world they live in is dangerous, the stakes are super high and these small critters deal with war, death, betrayal, and oppression. Have fun reading, kids!”

I love that this post was hash tagged with Don Bluth because yeah

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 00:10:41 -0400

great-and-small:

kermitlesbian:
i’m sorry for making your life more whimsical and serendipitous 🙄
-my cat when I yell at him for running around the house as fast as possible at 3am

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 00:10:28 -0400

arawol:

endbittersweet:
a friend of mine tried to sell his soul on ebay and the starter price was $10 and people were bidding on it but before anything happened ebay took it down and sent him an email explaining that if he was selling a soul that didn’t actually exist then it was against their policy and if he was selling a real soul then that is a human body part and it is also against their policy

tag by @ilthit

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 00:09:40 -0400

triflesandparsnips:

a-peculiar-potoo:

weeaboo-god:

pineaberry:

tearlessrain:

It just occurred to me that I kind of arbitrarily started referring to “first age” “second age” and “third age” tumblr one day because I realized during a discord conversation that it really can be divided up very effectively between a couple major events that changed the fabric of the site’s culture almost overnight, but nobody but me ever refers to them that way, so by way of explanation:

First Age: everything before Dashcon. Art communities were still largely thriving on the internet and social media still mostly existed out from under corporate monopolies, and people were just wildly guessing about how to use it. We were in the last hurrah of the internet wild west and lolcats were still a thing. Tumblr was just a fun and quirky place, we were blissfully writing unironic posts about tumblr university and fandom vs hipster and the “I like your shoelaces” thing, Hank Green wrote a goddamn song about tumblr, we were all like Adam and Eve dwelling in Eden unaware of their sin. Potterheads grab your wands.

Second Age: post-Dashcon, but pre-Purge. We have all eaten the fruit of knowledge and there is no going back. There are no more secret code or tumblr university posts because everyone knows firsthand how badly that would go. Fandom culture is forever changed. We are now aware that we live in a hellish cringetopia but have absolutely no plans to leave, because by now a combination of monopolies and a sneaky rise in purity culture has the internet by the throat (but not in a kinky way, that would scare off advertisers) so there aren’t a lot of better options, and at least our relatives can’t find us here. A lot of artists now have their primary presence on tumblr. The lax policies regarding nsfw and controversial content mean it’s a good space for queer creators and sex workers despite the many shortcomings we’re now aware of. The porn bot plague really kicks into full gear to the point that every time our follower counts go up we’re ready with the block/spam button like the uncles from Secondhand Lions picking off traveling salesmen. The drama starts to get really fucking weird, with classics such as the human pet guy and the bone-stealing witch.

Third Age: post-Purge. After changing corporate hands a few times, the drive to make the internet safe for our Good Christian Advertisers and hypothetical children has finally reached us, and brings with it TERFs, purity culture, and the Porn Ban, which was allegedly a solution to the porn bots except that it clearly wasn’t at all. The large community of sex workers and artists that was keeping tumblr afloat as anything resembling a viable social media site have made a mass exodus and a lot of the rest of the userbase followed them, mostly to twitter or a few doomed attempts at tumblr copycats. Tumblr is now a mad max clown car full of people too stubborn to pack up and leave for a functional website. It’s a post-apocalyptic wasteland whose only remaining merit is that even without the ability to post porn we’ve managed to make ourselves such a complete anathema to advertisers that we’re mostly just left alone. We’re all just tired. Some people still run art blogs but nobody outside of tumblr ever sees them. Literally all we have going for us is that we’re not twitter and we have +5 resistance to capitalism. And Xkit.

Tag yourself. At which era did you enter this hellsite?

Second age

Third Age

First Age, but I had already survived Strikethrough on Livejournal, I knew what was to come

First age. We who survived bway message boards and Live Journal have thick skins and expected it all.

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 00:07:21 -0400

captain-noot:

nightsistersmerrin:
The assassin you sent after me is part of my found family now

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 00:06:49 -0400

hoshifromkpop:

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 00:00:36 -0400

incorrectvillanevequotes:

Mon, 03 May 2021 23:54:38 -0400

babyanimalgifs:

A kind person found a tired red-tailed bumblebee and offered her a bit of lavender
(via)

Mon, 03 May 2021 23:48:27 -0400

shiftythrifting:

Tiny novelty hands, advertised almost exclusively as cat bothering tools

Mon, 03 May 2021 23:48:21 -0400

icharous:

Marina di Novaglie, Alessano, Italy

Mon, 29 Mar 2021 00:44:27 -0400

melisscan:

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 00:06:20 -0400

urban-hieroglyphs:

Sun, 21 Mar 2021 23:27:45 -0400

biggest-gaudiest-patronuses:

biggest-gaudiest-patronuses:
veeaziel:
every day i am percieved™️

There is a reason for this though!
The original tweet summarizes it pretty well. Fanfic tends to be popular among certain types of neurodivergent people (aka people most likely to read excessively as a child, and have burnout as an adult) for the same reasons that we tend to hyperfixate–neurochemical signaling (I hope I’m using that phrase correctly). What I mean is, for people who are really dependent on changes in dopamine/serotonin/neurotransmitter levels, who have low levels or wonky neural reward systems (perhaps the most common types of neurodivergence)…people like us rely on dependable external sources of those neurochemicals. In order to function, we spend a lot of our free time trying to level out our brain chemistry using things that can reliably bring us a steady stream of joyful moments (rewards) without costing too much of the mental effort that is already in short supply.
significantly: the investment of reading has to be balanced with a steady “return on investment”–and this return has to start fairly quickly. because again, we don’t have a lot of attention/energy to invest on tiring things. we have perpetual “low batteries” in that regard.
that doesn’t mean these stories are “simple,” or that they lack complexity or value–only that the reward has to come in short regular intervals, and it has to have a low “upfront cost.” these stories are only “easy” to read in the sense that the effort we put into them is rewarded in a timely manner. which is why fanfic stories are so perfectly formulated for neurodivergent readers–they are often beautifully written, but skip a lot of the upfront costs (of introducing new characters, of world-building, of getting the audience emotionally connected to the story elements).
the nature of fanfiction is that the reader has a pre-existing relationship with this world and these characters. that–combined with the shorter average length of fics–means that fan fics very quickly start rewarding the reader in a way that traditional fiction struggles to. that’s not a bad thing! ~~and maybe it’s something more traditionally published writers should be paying attention to.~~
Fanfic, as a genre, has been uniquely helpful and accessible to many neurodivergent readers who would otherwise struggle to immerse themselves in stories. I’m glad so many of you have found a way to love and enjoy reading again! The important thing is that you are spending time inside stories you love–the way those stories are published or presented to the world is just one detail. The fact that you find joy in the process of reading (or listening!) to stories–that is what matters.

some collected tips from people in the notes, for readers interested in getting back into traditional fiction:
try re-reading old favorites/books from childhood. your brain knows what to expect & already has positive associations, so there’s a lower upfront cost
try a book series with recurring characters. again, it’s an emotional investment vs payoff thing. if you can power through the first book long enough to become familiar with the protagonist/world, you’ve then got a huge amount of literature to choose from.
(fantasy, mystery, YA & children’s series are useful for this btw. bonus points if it doesn’t have to be read in a particular order)
short story collections! these are great bc if you come across a story you don’t vibe with, you can just skip to a new one
if you don’t mind spoilers, consider reading a plot summary online to 1) introduce yourself to the characters 2) be able to skip ahead when the narration isn’t as gripping 3) ease your anxiety about a satisfying ending
similarly, reading the book after seeing the movie

Sun, 21 Mar 2021 23:18:25 -0400

enbytonis:

i need people to understand that “save the bees” means saving the native pollinators that are actually in danger right now.
domestic honey bees are doing just fine, and in fact are out-competing native pollinators because they have human intervention giving them the leg up. meanwhile local pollinators are disappearing and with them a lot of the plants they co-evolved with will likely disappear too, along with every species that relies on those plants including us.
save your local wild bees, do that by planting native flowers, cutting out pesticides, and letting the dandelion/clover and other “weeds” grow. honey bees don’t need your help.

Sun, 21 Mar 2021 23:18:11 -0400

anyroads:

kaijutegu:
spindercatscher:
kaijutegu:
Gotta love seeing a golf course turn back into prairie.
Life uhh finds a way
It’s THE coolest thing about my hometown. This is a huge chunk of land in the middle of town, and it’s incredibly popular. There’s two miles of walking paths of varying difficulties (it’s actually really wheelchair friendly; the paved paths are nicely maintained and the hills have incredibly smooth switchbacks so that the pushing or wheeling angle isn’t too steep), play places thoughtfully carved into the prairie and woods, three lakes- one of which is stocked with bass, but the others not for fishing, just for looking, and a pavilion for meetings, parties, etc. The town has totally embraced it- it’s our busiest park and people really do respect the park rules ( respect wildlife, pick up after your dog, no off-leash dogs) and just… come out to walk and enjoy nature. There’s a smallish wetland area, 25 acres of woodland, and almost 50 acres of prairie.
And the wildlife- I’ve seen so many birds. Deer. Foxes. Bobcats have come back to the area after being extirpated for decades. Native bees. There was a lot of pushback originally- people were worried that it would be an eyesore- but now it’s something the town really takes pride in. As it developed, people got really excited. Without any parks department solicitation, the park got two million dollars in donations and a whole bunch of in-kind donations from the hospital (four outdoor exercise ponds), the local Kiwanis club (a musical playground), and one of the local construction companies (the most beautiful tree fort you’ve ever seen… also the only tree fort I’ve ever seen with ramps). People love this place, and I really hope other towns see that you can turn a golf course into something really fun for everyone.
me reading this post:

Sun, 07 Mar 2021 01:10:54 -0500

pluckyyoungdonna:

tiktoksthataregood-ish:
kitty looks like it fell asleep playing hide and seek

Sun, 07 Mar 2021 01:09:39 -0500

wildnoutinwildemount:

I love how Rosamund Pike was wearing pretty much the same dress to the Golden Globes that Villanelle wore to her psych evaluation in season 1 of Killing Eve lol. Sociopathic characters think alike!

Sun, 07 Mar 2021 01:07:59 -0500

ravynfyre:

tisfan:
girlfriendsofthegalaxy:
official-lucifers-child:
teaboot:
durpacerangerrogjro:
teaboot:
lazodiac:
teaboot:
Wait what’s a buildings fire evacuation plan if you aren’t supposed to use the elevator to get down
You go down the stairwell/fire escape. Is that weird?
But what if you have a walker or a wheelchair??
in america at least, in this situation, there isnt one. either your loved ones or the firemen can get you out using the emergency fire escapes or stairs, or you die
That’s fucking horrific, thank you
“fun” little story:
last summer my friend who is an amazingly talented artist and i were in this super tall building, and she’s in a wheelchair and i’m pushing her around the room. it’s an art exhibit and some of her art was chosen to be showcased there and so it’s all fine and dandy until suddenly an alarm starts going off
a FIRE ALARM
everyone starts running for the stairs and my friend just looks at me with this forlorn look on her face
“i can’t go down the stairs”
but i’m a stubborn bitch “i’ll carry you”
“what about my chair? it’s too expensive for me to be able to get another one if i can’t get this one back”
“i’ll carry that too”
and i did. we went to the stairs (by then most people from our floor were gone) and i lifted her up in a fireman’s carry over my shoulder and then lifted her chair up and used the ridiculous amount of adrenaline that was coursing through my veins to make it down approximately 20 half-flights of stairs until we met some people exiting lower floors, one of which who kindly took the chair. I changed positions so i was holding my friend bridal-style which was, somehow, easier and the person who took her wheelchair (with her permission to handle it of course) accompanied me to the ground floor and then out the doors
basically there is no real protocol for people who can’t use the stairs in an emergency. it’s up to the people with them, if anyone, to help them or the person to somehow make it down the stairs alone, unassisted
thank fuck that it was just a faulty alarm system, because if i was unable to carry her down those stairs and the building was on fucking fire???? then i don’t know what would have happened to her, but i don’t think it would have been very good.
it’s fucking ridiculous and ableist to the absolute max.
I use a cane. When I did a day-long fire safety training at my northeast American university (UMass Amherst), I asked that exact same question: “what am I supposed to do if the fire alarm goes off and I’m in my lab on the twelfth floor?”
the fire marshal hemmed and hawed for a while and then said to take the elevator- you’re supposed to leave it free for the fire department to use and they want able-bodied people out fast not waiting for elevators. if the fire alarm has just gone off the building probably hasn’t suffered enough structural damage to make using the elevator dangerous, and modern elevator wells are heavily reinforced. many large and high-trafficked buildings on my campus have fire rated elevators that link in with the fire alarm system so they won’t let you off on a floor with a possible fire.
if the elevator isn’t working, wait in the stairwell and call the fire department to let them know where you are. modern stairwells are also heavily reinforced- it might not be pleasant but modern building code usually requires fire-resistant stairwell doors in office and big residential buildings, also to help firefighters get in and out safely. older buildings’ stairwells may or may not be retrofitted with fire-resistant doors but a stairwell is generally the safest place to wait if you can’t get out.
what happened to your friend was horrible, and i’m very glad you were there to help her out, but you can absolutely use the elevator to evacuate if it’s not shut down. those don’t-use-the-elevator rules are for abled people.
This is GOOD TO KNOW. why do they not tell people this??
Okay, firefighter here. If you are not physically able to use the stairs, and the elevator is NOT compromised, use the elevator. But you MUST be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that the elevator is NOT compromised before you get into it, because there is always the chance that once you get into it, you may not exit it. Power could go out. The elevator may actually BE compromised and you just couldn’t tell from where you were until you were in there, and it suddenly shuts down on you. Something else could happen.
Understand that once you enter the elevator, you could POTENTIALLY be taking your life into your hands there.
It is NOT LIKELY, to be perfectly honest. It’s only in a pretty catastrophic scenario - think the Twin Towers, USA, on September 11th - that the elevators will be compromised and out of service. But there is a NOT ZERO PERCENT CHANCE and you need to understand that and accept it.
As for leaving the elevators free for the firefighters, okay, here’s the deal. Unless your nearest fire station is literally right next door? Your first on scene fire truck is NOT likely to be there on scene and needing that elevator before you get to the ground. It takes us TIME to find the address, gear up, and drive to the building. Then we need to hoof it into where the elevators even ARE, so YOU HAVE TIME to use the elevator to get down to the ground floor… BUT ONLY IF THERE’S NOT A RUSH ON THE ELEVATOR! And THAT is WHY we don’t tell people this shit. That’s WHY we tell people to NEVER USE THE ELEVATOR… because every self-entitled asshole will use it because they don’t feel like walking, and then put YOU in danger by delaying the elevator’s arrival to you.
IF, however, the elevator IS compromised, or you just can’t get it to come for you, or whatever, and you either don’t have anyone with you who has the adrenaline fueled BALLS to be able to toss you over their shoulder and hoof it down the stairs with you - because, let’s face it, that is RARE AS FUCK, then HERE IS WHAT YOU DO:
You call 911 and tell the call taker that you are in the building that has a fire alarm going off, and you are not able to evacuate because of a physical disability, and you tell them what floor you are on, and EXACTLY what stairwell you are waiting at. And the very FIRST thing that the firefighters are going to do once they arrive, if it is, indeed, a REAL emergency, and not a false alarm, is come get your ass and bring you down. Whether that means carrying you down the stairs, or whether that means locking out the elevators so that no one else can override them and coming to get you themselves, they WILL come get you FIRST THING if it is a real event. And if it is a false alarm? You will probably be the first person who is not involved with the building to know, because the call-taker is going to stay on the line with you until you are under someone’s care and out of danger, or until the scene has been sorted out as real or false, and you are out of danger that way.
These are pretty standard operations in the fire service throughout the United States. There may be some minor variations based on specific municipalities, but, for the most part, this is pretty typical: LIFE BEFORE PROPERTY. So, as long as SOMEONE knows where you are - hence why you call 911 - Firefighters will come get you. You are NOT alone, and you have NOT been abandoned. I PROMISE. It’s like, our whole reason for doing the shit we do: to save lives and to break shit. Sometimes, we get lucky enough to do both at the same time.
High rise fires suck ass, and I always hated them. But the very FIRST thing I asked anytime we got one was if we had “any entrapments” - which is what we call anyone who could not self-evacuate for ANY reason. We ain’t leaving you behind. And yes, your friend who doesn’t have the stamina to carry you down can stay with you, too. Because I would never ask that of someone, honestly.
Also, just a little FYI… MOST fire alarms are false alarms. Not to make anyone complacent or anything, but, yeah. Most of them are either system malfunctions, someone accidentally hit a pull station, or someone burned popcorn in a break room. So don’t let a fire alarm freak you out until you need it to - by smelling or seeing smoke or flames.

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 00:15:07 -0500

rslashrats:

mentally i am here

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 00:30:40 -0500

kaijuno: