‪”You're A Catalyst, An Artery Through Which The Dark Gift Flows.

That's the most beautiful about this show. It isn't about the magic for us, well, maybe a little but mostly the fact that the writers are writing about real people, and that I think is more intoxicating in a good way because they screw up, they learn, get up and keep going. Although some of their stories carry heavy burdens, that doesn't deter them from trying to do good. One can relate with them. I love that about the show mostly.

So let’s talk about how The Magicians as a show about for with depression and/or trauma. Nearly everyone has a weight that’s constantly pushing them down, and they have to keep going and fighting anyway.

Quentin has literal, diagnosed depression, keeps losing people, is unable to fix things, and kind of had to pull the plug on his father in order to bring magic back - and it still didn’t fix things. Eliot is an abuse survivor who grew up in a toxic environment, doesn’t let himself be happy, is an addict and lives inside walls he’s built because of it. Alice’s family never allowed her power to grow, were selfish and sex-obsessed, and she’s so powerful it’s a burden, and was once pure magic, brought back, and now she has to remember, and now has to figure out to be a person. Penny’s abilities are a constant curse, both in never getting a silent day as long as there’s magic, and in either being in constant danger or tied down because of his travelling, and now he has to make sense out of a life after his life. Julia is a rape survivor who lost her soul for a while after her demon baby abortion and was tormented by her rapist nearly constantly, and then lost her god powers after working so hard to heal and find a way towards the light. Kady’s upringing was toxic, she didn’t let herself love anyone for the longest time - and once she did, he died and now she has to watch her love’s dopple ganger love someone else. Margo’s all armor, hard and glossy and so very angry because the world is undercutting her at every turn, trying to diminish her power, and even the one man she learned all that from, her dad, couldn’t handle it.

And then, there are the fights. They never cease, the bad guys are always upping their game, it’s from monsters to gods to uber-gods.

Which is not to say that there’s not joy. Or love. Or laughter. Or silliness. Or sex. Or bland old boredom. But there’s always something there with you in the room, or in your head, or in your arms, you don’t get to check out.

And magic comes from pain, right? And also, magic is a part of you. You don’t get to choose it. So maybe them being at the centre of all of these stories is really about them being cursed, cursed with power and rage and suffering. But they also need their respective curses to have a shot at fighting back. 

And I guess I’m writing this to remind myself how much everyone carries at all times in this show, and how that’s informing their actions. It’s not about doing the perfect, the perfectly right, or the perfectly moral thing. Usually, it’s about making it through, surviving to fight for another day. And I find that really complelling, true to reality and actually kind of beautiful.

Samuel Brett and Alien Ripley

Durin will come.

We had a family

for @myhobbitpippin

Tonight's episode of ITB, The Curse of the Red Rain.

Valteri Bottas, FrenchGP, 2019

We Found the Universe’s First Type of Molecule

For decades, astronomers searched the cosmos for what is thought to be the first kind of molecule to have formed after the Big Bang. Now, it has finally been found. The molecule is called helium hydride. It’s made of a combination of hydrogen and helium. Astronomers think the molecule appeared more than 13 billion years ago and was the beginning step in the evolution of the universe. Only a few kinds of atoms existed when the universe was very young. Over time, the universe transformed from a primordial soup of simple molecules to the complex place it is today — filled with a seemingly infinite number of planets, stars and galaxies. Using SOFIA, the world’s largest airborne observatory, scientists detected newly formed helium hydride in a planetary nebula 3,000 light-years away. It was the first ever detection of the molecule in the modern universe. Learn more about the discovery:

Helium hydride is created when hydrogen and helium combine. 

Since the 1970s, scientists thought planetary nebula NGC 7027—a giant cloud of gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus—had the right environment for helium hydride to exist. 

But space telescopes could not pick out its chemical signal from a medley of molecules. 

Enter SOFIA, the world’s largest flying observatory! 

By pointing the aircraft’s 106-inch telescope at the planetary nebula and using a tool that works like a radio receiver to tune in to the “frequency” of helium hydride, similar to tuning a radio to a favorite station…

…the molecule’s chemical signal came through loud and clear, bringing a decades-long search to a happy end.

The discovery serves as proof that helium hydride can, in fact, exist in space. This confirms a key part of our basic understanding of the chemistry of the early universe. SOFIA is a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that allows astronomers to study the solar system and beyond in ways that are not possible with ground-based telescopes. Find out more about the mission at www.nasa.gov/SOFIA

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Whoever wrote this, this is perfection.😆🔥

F1 drivers as people you work with

Lewis: low level management, email signature is #Blessed, goes to the gym every day before work and tells you about it, brings his own lunch every day and always offers to let you try some

Valtteri: also goes to the gym every day but doesnt talk about it, talks all the time about how impressive his wife is, the first person to say “so, we’re all going out for drinks tonight right?”, has like 4 drinks more than anyone else but is never hungover

Sebastian: wants a management position but is just a little too oblivious and plays obvious favorites, accidental snitch (asks you “hey, how was the concert last night?” right in front of the manager that you called out ‘sick’ to), weirdly anal retentive about the coffee maker in the break room

Kimi: probably liked this job once but is now just here for the paycheck, bribed the IT guy to get him off of the weekly office-wide corporate emails, seems like the most boring guy but is actually a great cook and does tons of fun stuff over the weekend, can’t work the fancy new coffee machine to work so Seb makes him coffee every day

Daniel: wanted to be a comedian or an actor or something but figured he needed a 'fall back’ with a steady paycheck, always roasting everyone but is the first person to defend you from angry clients or management, always knows about the best restaurants and microbreweries, the person who remembers everyone’s birthdays and brings in treats

Max: kind of gets a bad rap because of an Incident with a Family Member that no one will let him live down and also because he makes a bunch of mistakes, but when he’s good he’s GOOD so they probably won’t fire him, always asking to borrow your charger and just leaves it somewhere in the break room, goes to get water like 11 times a day because he won’t just bring a water bottle

Pierre: impeccable fashion sense, if only he’d do something decent with his hair he could be super hot, every year gives his secret santa fancy cool patterned socks, drinks water out of a blender bottle

Brendon: super chill and easy to get along with but for some reason management doesn’t like him, brings in the good coffee for the break room coffee machine, breaks the copier at least once a week, had anxiety over whether or not to invite the whole office to his wedding or just his friends

Lance: got his job because his dad owns the company, pretty ok guy but no one wants to be friends with him because of his dad, prints out pictures of memes and hangs them up at his desk, always gets chinese food delivered for lunch but can’t use chopsticks

Sergey: got the job because he’s friend of Lance’s, is either the nicest guy or will 100% burn this place to the ground but no one can get a read on him, always tries to leave early on thursdays because that’s when he has dinners with his mom, always wants to see your dog pictures

Fernando: definitely loves this job even though no one can figure out why, always turning down better offers from better companies, total snitch (tells management “so did you see the cool pictures that X posted of the concert they went to last night?”), has a private Instagram but always complains when anyone else does, constantly leaving the coffee maker a mess to make Seb mad

Stoffel: was trained by Fernando, either only has 2 pairs of pants or just several of the same 2 pairs, always smells really good even though apparently he just wears knock-off cologne, signs birthday cards really big so that everyone else in the office runs out of room

Carlos: everyone’s office crush, completely unaware of how hot he is, most consistent member of the team even though he’s never recognized for it, the guy who inexplicably signs the back of every card even if there’s tons of room to write on the inside, will always eat the last donut/cookie/piece of cake

Nico: serial dater, never in dress code but management never notices, will tell you “there’s donuts in the breakroom” even though he KNOWS there’s just one half of a smooshed maple glaze left, thinks he’s “The Jim” when really he’s Andy, always says he wants overtime but will literally hang up a phone call if it’s even 5 minutes before closing time

Romain: complains so much that no one really pays attention to him, clients are always mispronouncing his name and he doesn’t even correct them anymore (“yes, this is Gross Jeans, how can i help you?”), has a million pictures of his wife and kids, will screenshot his facebook status to then post on Instagram

Kevin: absolutely the funniest guy in the office without trying to be, always drinking energy drinks you’ve never heard of, always has his sleeves up so you can see his tattoos, compliments everyone else on their tattoos, holds grudges for days

Sergio: tells everyone that taco bell isn’t real mexican food but eats taco bell twice a week, super in to charity work and volunteers almost every weekend, wears futbol jerseys to work all season even though he always gets in trouble for it, the guy who’s just good at literally everything he ever does

Esteban: totally the most petty guy you’ve ever worked with, was on student council in high school and listed that on his resume, leaves the premises for lunch but never tells anyone where he goes, but always returns phone chargers that Max leaves laying around

Marcus: always wants to order food, always signs up to bring something for the office party but then forgets and is late that day because he has to stop and get chips and dip on the way in to work, other than the party food has a great memory, remembers everyone’s kid’s and spouse’s names and birthdays, lives for crossfit

Charles: has had a rough life but is always so positive, seriously NEVER ask him about his family, goes to the gym after work so that he can say “sorry guys id love to go to happy hour but my gym buddy is counting on me” even though everyone knows it’s because he’s not 21 yet, always brings ramen in to work even though there’s no way to cook it so he just leaves it in the breakroom

BONUS:

Nico Rosberg: transferred branches when he got a promotion and Lewis is hella salty about it

Daniil: was fired for making the same mistake that Max makes constantly but is still out there living his best life i guess

The loves of my life!

Some Niki Lauda gifs. The true Formula 1 legend. Stars’ Speed The Computer. 🙏🏻

The last gif is him and Alain Prost.

Rest easy old friend. Thank you for the memories, always and forever.

Without you, our childhoods, would have been less fun.

Alas, you're now with the rest of those who formed us. Theres a racing shoe stuck in my throat as I write this so bear with me.

Give Beco, Julio, and Hervé, Alain, and James, our love.

Ciao Niki. Thank you,

Forever. 🏎🏎🏎🏁🏁🏁

The track is all yours now, dear friend, and guess what?

This one doesn't go in circles! 🙏🏻😭

Niki Lauda

Formula 1 Racing Legend

Born Andreas Nikolaus Lauda

in Vienna on February 22, 1949

three-time F1 World Champion

The only driver in history to have driven and won for both Ferrari and McLaren.

May 20th, 2019, when death couldn't meet him on the tracks, so, it decided to meet Niki Lauda on his sleep and take him because to quote Niki:

“You appreciate that it is very easy to die and you have to arrange your life to cope with that reality...

A race isn’t won until it’s over.

Really, you should always discuss the defeats because you can learn much more from failure than from success.

Giving up is something a Lauda doesn't do.”

~ Niki Lauda