More Examples Of The WORST Mansplaining Here.

Just thinking about how much Robin Hobb had to do to force her OTP back together at the end of Fools Fate and being salty. It required:

-Burrich to be depicted as a decrepit old man when he’s like in his 50s and conveniently die, gifting Fitz with his family (!) as his last wish

-Fitz to finally realize and accept what “no limits” means with Beloved after an entire trilogy where this is a central theme and raise him from the dead because he refuses to live in a world that he isn’t part of, and then for this to not matter at all because Beloved decides actually he’s just an obstacle to Fitz’s true love Molly (?!) and leaves

-Fitz not being allowed to choose what he wants, because when he tries to choose Beloved he’s told no that’s not actually what’s good for you

-Molly not being able to choose if she would be ok with her ex bringing along his queerplatonic life partner because it’s already been decided for her that of course she wouldn’t

-Fitz getting lost in a Skill pillar for a month so he can’t have a rational discussion with Beloved about it as Prilkop the conveniently located agent of Clerres tells him all about how of course their Path is finished and staying by his Catalyst will only do harm

-Prilkop convincing Beloved that he should go back to Clerres, a place where he was physically and sexually abused before running away, because apparently it’s his job to fix them, and this actually working (!!!)

-Literally everyone in Fitz’s life, up to and including Burrich and Mollys eldest son who Fitz never speaks to on page again after this, pushing him to pursue her and telling him not to take no for an answer

-Molly and Burrich (actually Nettle) being granted Withywoods and a noble title by Patience so they no longer have to deal with the obvious issue of the class divide

-Molly magically accepting that he let her believe he was dead for 16 years and abandoned their daughter because he was upset she married someone else because her role in this book is to be his prize for completing the quest

-Neither Fitz nor Molly ever mentioning or even thinking about Burrich, his foster father and major formative influence and her husband of many years and father of her sons, except for a few passing references

So yeah, in a series where the characters generally act in believable ways even when it’s frustrating, this whole plot was just contrived as hell

being in my 20s is like I understand more of my mother and less than i ever have. My childhood friends are strangers to me and there’s no one i know better. i want to drink wine. i never stopped wanting to climb trees. i know more than I’ve ever known before. I don’t know anything at all. i’m seven years old and sixteen and twenty nine and seventy. I can’t tell when i'm happy. I think the only thing that will make me happy is to be little again. i want to be really old. i go to the ocean and feel like nothing matters more than that. in my bedroom everything matters so much. I go to the grocery store every day. i know how to cook a lot of things but the only thing i know how to eat is fried eggs. I can take care of myself but i want to be taken care of. i want to go home and I don't know where that is. i think it may be somewhere inside of me but i’m not sure

for those who would like to support Palestinian olive farmers, equal exchange has Palestine-sourced olive oil! they're an amazing worker owned co-op that works closely with local farmers to support sustainability and pay fair wages.

i frankly cannot afford it, but i know some folks can and would like to get some. it comes in packs of 6 bottles, so if you can get 6 friends together, each person can pay for one bottle!

they also have some of the most delicious coffee and hot cocoa mixes that i've ever gotten, and the same approach applies. given how horrific farming and labor practices are in both of those industries, i highly recommend supporting them and getting some amazing products in return if you can afford it.

Fool’s Errand, p. 365

I undressed and got into bed, refusing to let my mind wander beyond that closed door. I felt no envy, I told myself, only the sharper bite of my loneliness in contrast to what they might be sharing. 

Golden Fool, p. 455

Garetha bored a basket of dried flowers. As I gazed at her, startled, she glanced up and her eyes met mine. She suddenly flushed a scarlet that all but obscured her freckles. Then she looked away from me and rushed off down the hall, but not before I had caught sight of the necklace she wore. It was a single charm on a leather strand. The little carved rose was painted white, with a stem inked black. I knew the Fool’s work when I saw it. Had he taken my ill-conceived advice? Inexplicably, my heart sank in my chest.

Fool’s Assassin, p. 112

Instead, I had discovered that perhaps I had not known him as well as I had thought. Had his friendship with Jofron meant so much more to him than what we had shared? A startling thought pricked me. Had she been more to him than a friend or follower of the White Prophet? 

(…) 

‘I would not have begrudged him that,’ I said aloud, and wondered if I lied so that I need not be ashamed of myself. 

or, fitz’ jealousy is absolutely not platonic. 

There's a super famous singing festival in italy that airs for a week every year. This year, one of the singers, Ghali, did some very remarkable things on that stage. Ghali was born in Italy from Tunisian parents, his career has been going on for a while, but this was his first time on that stage.

He made a song where he references Palestine where he sings: "how can you say everything is fine down here, where in order to trace borders with imaginary lines you bomb an hospital, for a piece of land or for a piece of bread there is no peace" . He also did a medley, singing also in arabic for the first time in the history of the festival.

Last night, during the final, he ended his performance asking to "stop the genocide!" I don't have to tell you that there's absolutely nothing pro-Palestine on italian media... and he used the biggest stage he could use to say that.

Today on a tv programme he was accused by the Isra*li ambassador of spreading hate and violence, to which he replied with those words in the following video (credits to the person who translated it here):

The italian TV broadcaster quickly posted a press release to distance themselves from this speech and to reiterate their whole support to Isr*el lol Towards the end of this tv programme, a few hours after Ghali said what you can hear in this video, they read the press release out loud. This is how Isra*li propaganda works everywhere, thanks to the complicity of our governments.

Just want to post about him because he really risked it all and I appreciate him incredibly for everything he did...if only everyone could do the same. And fuck italy and its fascist government.

have you ever seen the english subtitles for a chinese bootleg of harry potter and the chamber of secrets?

because

they’re

great

full album here

The Iranian Regime is going to execute rapper Toomaj Salehi for supporting protests of Jina Amini’s murder by the regime in his songs.

Iranian activist Elica Le Bon says, “Iranians in the diaspora picked up on the fact that the regime tends not to execute people who become known to the international community. We have seen many examples of prisoners that were either released on bail or had their sentences commuted through our “say their names to save their lives” campaign on social media, using hashtags to garner attention for their causes, and even before social media existed, through getting the stories of political prisoners to international media outlets. Once reported on, and once the eyes shift to the regime and the reality of its pending brutality, realizing that the action is not worth the repercussions, we have seen them back down and not execute. For that reason, this is part of an urgent campaign for readers to talk about Toomaj as much as you can, using the hashtag #FreeToomaj or #ToomajSalehi. Every comment makes a difference, and if we were wrong, what did we lose by trying?”

Rolling Stone

Iranian Rapper Toomaj Salehi Sentenced to Death for Songs Critical of Government

Toomaj Salehi, a dissident Iranian rapper, was sentenced to death on charges related to the antigovernment music he released during the 2022

i promised clown movie fanart and by god if im not gonna deliver (two months late)

~quarantine vibes masterpost~

as requested (though this is more resources and less vibes) and with a bigggg caveat that, obviously, life looks very very different for all of us right now. hopefully something on the list below will be useful to you. (art)

activities

this is gonna sound stupid but i really recommend deep-cleaning your house/apt, for a number of reasons. one, you’re gonna be spending some serious time in there, you deserve a nice space. two, you will inevitably unearth fun stuff you forgot you had. case in point: i found a deck of cards and now all we do is play rummy 500.

reading. so hot right now. trends really do come back. 

comfort reads (and these) (and these). personally i’ve been alternating between bon-bon YA and slow, lush works by writers i already know i love, like melville & anne carson.

pandemic reads (and these).

scribd (unlimited ebooks & audiobooks) has a one month free offer rn; it’s usually $9/month. kindle unlimited also has a 2-month free subscription but i’m not linking to that, stop giving your money to amazon.

crafts!! producing an object with my own two hands feels like the best thing right now. i’ve been making kitschy potholders because i am emotionally in the third grade, but that spring cleaning will probably turn up all sorts of good crafty objects. if the adult coloring book your aunt gave you is lost for good, i recommend checking out #colorourcollections pages from years past.

go for walks/runs/whatever, but keep it local (no driving 4 hours away and infecting a new town with your old town’s germs), isolated (no popular jogging trails!), and legal (state parks & beaches are closed for a reason). 

shopping, but make it free

PC games: here + here

print-and-play boardgames (& also cards against humanity, family edition)

magazines (through RBD + your library)

tv/movie streaming: HBO is free rn! & here are 10 other free streaming services. feel-good show plug: leverage is available on IMDB tv :-)

academic books: biiig long list here; does not include de gruyter (not all books are free rn, but a lot are–i downloaded 27 the other night. you may need to use a university VPN in order to have access, i can’t quite tell); cambridge UP; or manchester UP.

life, but make it virtual

free exercise classes (big list here; i hate working out so i’ve just been doing yoga with adriene.) 

museum tours

theater & opera (the UK’s national theatre at home; the shows must go on; the met)

NPR has an ongoing list of free virtual concerts, sorted by genre & time.

nikon is offering all of their photography classes for free during april

fender’s offering 3 months of free online guitar lessons

adobe creative cloud is free for students until june

also there are a million academic MOOCs available right now, if your brain is in a place where that seems doable. 

food

supercook lets you input the ingredients you’ve got and suggests recipes that make use of them! good for figuring out to do with those weird beans in the back of your pantry.

in my house: we’re working through the stupid big tea stash i unearthed and eating a lot of big-batch comfort food–soups, homemade mac & cheese, etc. 

maybe this is only happening in california but we haven’t had flour in a full month so here is a roommate-approved chocolate cake recipe that only uses 1 tbs of flour

keep track of local food service strikes! if you’re ordering delivery from local businesses, please tip generously. 

oh you’re trying to work?

(wheeze)

i hate working at home because i am really, really bad at it. the only thing that’s done the trick for me is physically changing workspaces (i never work at the dining room table downstairs but i live there now), wearing headphones, and lighting a candle.

ambient sound: coffitivity; DIY mixer.

cold turkey. 

in general i’m just trying to be gentle with myself and acknowledge that doing work right now is absurd–it’s has to happen but it doesn’t have to be good or graceful.

coronavirus-specific resources:

facemask template. this is the handsewing one i’ve been using, from the NYT; if you have fabric + a basic sewing kit (needle, pins, thread) you’ll be good to go. if you don’t have access to a sewing kit, the CDC has two new-sew options here.

healthdata.org. this website has been good for helping my brain be reasonable about the situation; data is saturating the news rn but this site has concrete region-specific projections about fatality rates and resource use and is good for reminding you that this thing has an end point.