The Two Tupperware Genders Are Spaghetti Sauce/tamatar Ki Salan (reddish) And Tumeric/haldi (yellowish).

While it's true that drugs aren't never the answer, they definitely aren't always the answer.

So much about The Hunchback of Notre Dame was lost on me as a sheltered child. My main memory from my first watch is thinking "I AM DISCOMFORT AND I DO NOT KNOW WHY. I NEED AN ADULT".

I think the most striking thing I noticed in this re-watch was the difference between Esmeralda's actual dancing and the way Frollo sees her in the flames. In her actual dance, there's sensuality and appeal, no doubt, but she's playful and mocking. She's messing with him and everyone else drooling over her. On the other hand, during his "Sorry 4 My Boner, Plz God Don't Send Me to Horny Hell Jail" song, Fake Flame Esmeralda is giggling and mincing in a way she never does in reality.

The modern versions of that most godly judge are dudes who think the stripper like totally wants him for real, trust me bro, she'd totally bone him if it weren't against the rules.

I can't believe I've never shared this story with the Internet before. It's how something some random person I don't know and have never met will live in me forever.

It was sometime in the late 90's or early aughts. I was in my early adolescence, so between 11 and 14. I used to regularly read the PennySaver cover to cover. Why? For me, it was one of the few scattered little windows into what everyday life was like for non-famous people outside of my niche world. I also was a fast and voracious reader, but never had enough to read, especially not periodicals.

If you don't know what the Pennysaver is, it was analog Craigslist: That cheaply-printed newsprint booklet that no one subscribed to arrived in everyone's mailbox once a week. Certain ad types cost money to run, plus it ran ads. It was a more family-friendly weekly than, say, your LA Weeklies or, further up the West Coast, The Strangers. Also minus the journalism, I suppose, but there were gay people in it!

Anyway, one week, I'd read something in the PennySaver that started the slow process of catalyzing a change in my life for the better. It wasn't a wanted ad for something I had that turned out to be worth a lot of money. It wasn't a job listing that started my career. It wasn't even for a garage sale that had an item that ended up being important to me.

It was a w4m personal ad. As continues to be the case, those were much rarer than m4[literally anything]. The first sentence was "Thin may be in, but fat's where it's at!"

It was the first time I'd ever seen someone call themself fat in a way that wasn't at all negative, apologetic, or angry. This lady was saying hey, I'm fat! And I think it's a selling point even if the overall culture says it isn't!

I don't recall anything else about the ad other than that it was a woman seeking a man, and that the rest of it was unremarkable. It took a lot of other things to get me to a point of real, lasting comfort with my fatness, of course. But that little quip is stuck in my head for the rest of my life.

Thank you, random lady. I hope you're still alive, kicking, and happy. I hope you found as much love and/or miles of d1ck as you wanted, whether through the ad or by other means.

maybe I'm just a cynic, but I swear, every progressive I know with a daughter or niece, especially if they are the dad/uncle, will claim that she will take over and run the world someday. and the kid is just a perfectly normal kid?

I'm old enough to where some of those kids are adults or close to it, and while they're certainly cool enough, they're not exactly taking the world by storm or whatever.

it's not that I don't love how loved and supported these kids are. more reflecting on what a weird cliche it is to me to make these grand statements about a child. it feels performative, like they're making up for past misogyny, where they suppressed a girl or woman. or maybe these men really don't know what girls are like before their inner fire is quenched by patriarchal reality. idk

I was today years old when I learned that not only do African Queen and European Queen exist, not only are they not joke edits, but also the original was European Queen.

tfw when I see a post in a group on Zuck's Overgrown Hot-or-Not™ that's comment-locked, and it takes me exactly one (1) second of glancing at the headline to understand wtf happened

Spoiler warning for relatively advanced level of plot in Hades 2. I've gotten pretty far in it.

I am beyond fucking heartbroken for Hades himself. I am devastated.

He fucked up raising Zagreus. Yes, he eventually reconciled, apologized, all that, but it took until Zag was well past childhood. Zag himself had to do the (flaming) leg(foot?)work to make it all happen, too.

By the true ending of Hades 1, you know that Hades knows that he fucked up with everyone, from his wife to his child to his Olympian relatives to his loyal Chthonic court members.

Melinoë is the child born of his rekindled relationship with Persephone. She is his chance to be a good father right from the get-go. He probably did whatever the Greek god equivalent of Lamaze classes and reading What to Expect When You're Expecting might be. I can imagine long and difficult yet loving conversations between Persephone, Hades, and Zagreus about how much they want the better version of their family to be the one that welcomes the new baby into the underworld.

And then, wham! Hades's own father shows up to be like "healing from ur toxic masculinity? learning that emotions are valid? caring about others? knowing better to do better? LOL BISH U THOUGHT" and takes it all away. Prior generations doing all they can to prevent cycle-breakers from healing. Too real.

I realized all this in the encounter where Hades tentatively and oh-so-tenderly asks after Mel's well-being and she responds with "LORD FATHER I AM AN INSTRUMENT OF VENGEANCE AND I HAVE NOT YET HAD IT SO HOW DO U THINK I AM DOING". Calling poor Hades "defeated" doesn't even begin to cover it.

Then, in the encounter right after that one, he expresses his regret that he, Persephone, and Zag weren't there to watch her grow up. And then HE ASKS HER WHAT HER HOBBIES ARE?!?! And seems saddened by the fact that her response is, yet again, "LORD FATHER I AM AN INSTRUMENT OF VENGEANCE AND I HAVE NOT YET HAD IT SO WHAT DO U THINK I DO WITH MY TIME". He is just so damn sad and full of regret.

He is the most dynamic character in the series, even without Hades 2 being unfinished. The series is named after him for a reason. Hades grows, changes, regrets, learns, all that.

My. Heart.

I'm trying to be charitable, but it's hard for me to not see strong beliefs in manifestation/The Secret/etc. as ultimately victim blaming but with extra steps.

I don't disagree with the idea of setting goals/intentions, focusing on a better future for yourself, speaking desires out loud, etc. Those things are how we as humans help ourselves and ask for help from each other. I do these things, but I don't think it's asking anyone but myself and other human beings for anything. I don't think I'm calling anything forth from the ether.

I also don't disagree with accepting things that we can't change, but I don't believe you have to tack on judgement to do that. This is the world we have, and there's no point in being constantly upset about that, but calling this the best of all possible worlds is dicey.

Like astrology, it seems to be an assumed belief on queer communities especially. It's weird that cis-hets don't generally assume my beliefs in casual conversation, but I'm supposed to go along with it when someone tells me I'm "manifesting" and I'm a big old meanie killjoy at best if I say that those aren't my beliefs.

I have a theory.

The Right thinks that DEI/affirmative action/etc. elevates mediocrity because of the dismal quality of their own tokens.

Look no further than the fashion designers, musicians, filmmakers, actors, drag performers, and other, ahem, "creative" types who went MAGA for proof, especially the queer and/or non-white among them. They're tiny-ass, undistinguished fish in ponds so small and undisturbed by talent that they're not even qualified to be tempests in teacups.

Maybe I'm just too Elevatorgate/Gamergate poisoned but