Please remember that almost everyone around you is traumatized. I didn’t understand this when I was younger. I wondered why people acted so strangely and irrationally. Maybe all children wonder this. The author Robert Anton Wilson said (paraphrasing), “We have never seen a completely sane adult human.” No one makes it out of this life alive. It’s not their fault. Mercy, kindness, forgiving — these are what makes one human. They are other names for love. People break in the strangest of ways.

“Under the present brutal and primitive conditions on this planet, every person you meet should be regarded as one of the walking wounded. we have never seen a man or woman not slightly deranged by either anxiety or grief. we have never seen a totally sane human being." — Robert Anton Wilson

i dont consider myself a 'fashion guru' by any means but one thing i will say is guys you dont need to know the specific brand an item you like is - you need to know what the item is called. very rarely does a brand matter, but knowing that pair of pants is called 'cargo' vs 'boot cut' or the names of dress styles is going to help you find clothes you like WAAAYYYY faster than brand shopping

this also goes for aesthetic or -core titles. 'y2k tank top' is going to get you resellers and fast fashion brands advertising to people looking to meet a current trend. 'thin strap crop tank top' is going to get you a diverse group of results and not upcharge you to hell and back

additionally, shop second hand when you can, second hand and thrift sites typically organize clothes by the cut and color. theyll be more affordable than a depop seller curating you a style to sell you

useful terminology for different kinds of clothing shapes :)

Quark as too Ferengi for the Federation and too Federation for the Ferengi

Malevolent series finale leak 🤯

First Time Fanzine | Shelley Butler (1994-98)

Fun Fact! This incredible artist, Shelley Butler, is still creating gorgeous traditional pencil K/S art in 2025, most recently for the KiScon Spring Fever event in March!! I adore Butler's work for its incredible sensuality and tactile, lifelike appearance.

Several of Butler's pieces (including the most recent ones) are available to view on AO3, including charming little backstories in the artist's notes on some of them (cw: some pieces contain nudity and suggestive poses): https://archiveofourown.org/series/3560914

From the artist's notes:

My personal favorites are "Swimming with Spock," of which the artist says, "I love the idea that Spock, a desert-born Vulcan, would go into the water with his t'hy'la." AND ALSO THE LIGHT UNDERWATER OMG (cw: asscrack, https://archiveofourown.org/works/37758499) and "Cuddle," of which the artist says, "They are infinitely vulnerable with each other and infinitely in love" (https://archiveofourown.org/works/37757494).

Fun Fact 2: Shelley Butler will be one of the artists contributing art for The Zine Directive!

Thank you, Shelley, for being a part of this with us. My personal favorite by her is this piece:

At least, it's my favorite that Tumblr will allow me to share here ;) I'm also a big fan of "Baptism."

Do you have a favorite drawing by the legendary Shelley Butler? Don't forget to show her some love on ao3!

-Kat

A Study in Scarlet

Wilhelmine Norman-Neruda (1839–1911), later known as Lady Hallé, was a virtuoso solo violinist who, like Holmes, played on a Stradivarius. She was an international star at a time when the instrument was still seen as ‘unlady-like’.

As many have noted before, Chopin never wrote any pieces for solo violin, nor was he part of Norman-Neruda’s usual repertoire. If she did perform a Chopin piece, it would most likely have been as an encore or during a private concert, and would have to have been arranged before the events of A Study in Scarlet.

Theories range from assigning specific Chopin (and controversially non-Chopin) pieces to the vague “Tra-la-la-lira-lira-lay”, to suggesting that Holmes never actually said “Tra-la-la-lira-lira-lay”. In Vera Mazzotta’s extensively researched article for The Watsonian (Vol. 5 No. 2), she selects Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 34 No. 1. In the 1989 BBC Radio adaptation, the problem is solved by removing any reference to the composer and using a piece from the more recent Carmen.

I’ve always been content to think that Watson would remember the composer but not necessarily the tune, and the “little thing” could be, well, anything Chopinesque, yet there still remains a probability that Holmes himself, who has been guilty of misquoting once or twice, could as easily get it wrong.

Our Little Adventures 01/60 | Tumblr | RSS | Newsletter

Animated one of my favorite scenes from part 26 for Arthur's birthday!

Hey, fellow artists, do you think it's time we break the pattern of having to be meek and humble to a massive fault?

Be loud and proud about what you've made and achieved. Dont shrink under the shadows of your great works. Stop acting like your design job was unimportant. Stop acting like your personal project is just embarrassing.

You're great, and you deserve greatness.

Malevolent Big Bang 2025!

[ID: A banner with the words "Malevolent Big Bang 2025" in the middle in a black and yellow serif font. Surrounding the words are orange and yellow tentacles with spiral patterns atop a black background with spiral patterns. /End ID]

Hello all! The mod team would like to formally announce that we will be hosting the Malevolent Big Bang again this year, 2025! We're excited to see what everyone creates this year, both new faces and old 💜

Here are the dates you should mark down if you are interested in participating in this event as a writer, beta, artist, or pinch hitter!

Keep an eye on this space as we get closer to those dates for more information, and make sure to check our FAQ and rules to see if this event would work for you! Note for returning members that there have been a few changes to our rules this year, including minimum word count for writers and clarifying expectations for artists, so please make sure to read them over.

If you have any questions, feel free to send us an ask and we'll be happy to answer them!

Oh god, I saw the Moby-Dick opera yesterday afternoon before it closed and... it almost took me out.

I'm sure I'll come back and add some more stuff in here, but I was so moved and impressed and so much happier with the adaptation than Dave Malloy's Moby-Dick musical (didn't take itself seriously, casting choices diluted the impact of the work, multi-genre attempts took the audience out of the work and stifled the dramatic impact... basically too captivated with the Factual Chapters—which is fair, I love them too, but it narratively shoots the musical in the foot!), or the 2011 miniseries (not musical but I think had some of the other pitfalls related to how the book is unique. It makes Ishmael too important to be able to account for the scenes which are narrated by him but for which he wasn't actually present). I really hope never to forget it.

It's my birthday today, and that means art, so have...

This

I guess

emperor kuzco was clearly gay

hes 19, with unlimited power, and he ain’t got a gf. the only time we see him interact with any women his own age is when he’s rejecting like 7 of them rapid fire. he pretends to date pacha in a gag that lasts like 10 solid minutes. listen to me god damnit

Okay, but just in case anyone is coming to tumblr dot com for my hot takes on 20+ year old kids' movies: Kuzco super WAS gay (or at least coded as such) and of course, I didn't get it until I watched it as a gay grownup.

He is played obviously camp and dramatic, for a start, and there is the aforementioned "hate your hair/not likely/yikes yikes yikes/let me guess you have a great personality" summary dismissal of all his potential brides. Then he spends dinner asking Yzma about Kronk ("so he seems nice? He's what, in his late twenties?") and otherwise being slightly obsessed with him.

Then there is the whole Adventure of Doom with Pacha, him being ever huffy about the Kiss of Life, and then the restaurant gag where Kuzco takes to playing Pacha's fake wife and dressing up in ladies' clothing with great gusto (reinforced by the waitress' "bless you for coming out in public" remark when Pacha says they're on their honeymoon). Then when he is finally de-llamafied, we don't see him paired off with the obligatory girl from the lineup earlier, as might otherwise be expected in a Disney movie. Instead he is still single, but goes to found family it up with Pacha, Chica, Kronk, etc, which dare we remark is a very queer trope.

In short, I have no idea how a Disney movie with no white people (all the characters are Indigenous/people of color), a gay king, cross-dressing jokes, and the most offbeat plot of all time actually ever got made (can you imagine the Family Friendly Mouse doing that today? Let us also talk about Kronk because he is a brilliant deconstruction of both toxic masculinity and the musclebound henchman stereotype.) Other than that this was the Chaos Hour of animated movies in the late 90s/early 2000s, and yes.

So yes. There you have it. I will not be taking criticism at this time.

In response to the question “How did a movie like this get made at all much less by fucking Disney?” there was a recent Vulture article that outlines the whole shit show of a history behind this film according to everyone (writers, directors, VAs, Stings) involved. The gist of the story is that they fucked up making a whole, true-to-form Disney musical that never came to see the light of day SO BADLY that Disney switched directors, locked the writer’s room, and didn’t review a single script until weeks after the film was in theaters.

Please, read this article if you have some time. This story is wild, and involves directors being pitted against each other Bake-Off style and a shockingly intimate documentary created by the wife of Sting who, himself was heartbroken by the decimation of the songs he wrote for the film including cutting a fantastic Yzma villain song sung by Eartha Kitt that is SO DAMN GOOD but would not ever have fit the more nailed-down Yzma we would eventually come to know and love. It’s so catchy though, I’m doubling up on calls to action but please listen now:

holy shit read the article. it’s worth it and completely batshit

This is fucking insane

I've never adequately appreciated the batshit brilliance of this joke, I've taken it for granted

We watched this with the FC literally last night so I'm delighted to reblog this again. What a fucking movie.

Just said to @petermorwood last night, "I'd say it's time for a rewatch." Gonna do that right now. (If I have to sit here doing this Mailchimp crap, at least I can have Yzma yelling "Why do we even have this lever?!" in the background.

Remember that time that Trudie Styler was allowed to make a Making Of Documentary about Kingdom of the Sun/Emperor's New Groove because her husband (Sting) was hired to do the music and this was part of his contract, but the doc showed how much of a disaster the making of this movie was so Disney refused to release it but then it got leaked on the internet and now the internet archive has it?

This is for all y’all who don’t understand how terrifying these suckers are. 

OHMYGOD IT’S ATTACKING THE STATUE OF LIBERTY SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING

I know just the man for the job.

This is a good joke. This is such a solid, quality joke.

You’re not the only one not having any fun - Submitted by: fastman27

#8D95FF #8E5FC0 #8A4670 #792938 #451A25

Just Straight Up Word Salad - Submitted by: fastman27

#FCDEDE #FBC7D7 #E8AFD8 #CF9EDF #A493E4