Frequent and/or recent fandoms include: Leverage, Dimension 20, Doctor Who, Good Omens, West Wing, SPN, Brooklyn 99, The Good Place, MCU, Percy Jackson, and Harry Potter (though I strongly condemn JKR’s bigotry and trans exclusionary radical feminism).
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My username comes from a field trip in 5th grade to a nature preserve where we were learning about how streams naturally wind and meander, which slows down the water flow, and my favorite teacher joked with me that if I had a descriptive name it would be Meandering Stream because I’ve always been one to stop and smell the roses (and then probably go back for the daffodils, tulips, carnations, and honeysuckle as well). Years later I’m still a wanderlusting, procrastinating dreamer, and I rather like the name. I also joined AO3 under the same username.
The reason I am harping in on spiderverse so much is because it is otherwise a really good film and story and premise.
People are not wrong for enjoying it. I don't want people to stop enjoying it. But I want them to acknowledge that it's not normal for many even non neurodiverse people to leave the cinema with a headache. You don't need epilepsy to have a photosensitive seizure.
There is a lot of great art and great ideas in this movie beyond the rapid Glitch effects, highly contrasting bright colors on large screen areas, pulsing lights and patterns etc
The film goes on to inspire other main stream and indie animation projects to take after its visuals
But if a large part of those inspiring visuals is inaccessible then I am just worried this inaccessibility will invade media that has otherwise been safe for me or others to consume.
Spiderverse is a trend setting piece of art but the execution and apparently exploitative work environment has lead to the film being a real safety hazard.
Looking at the discourse and responses I keep seeing to the photosensitivity posts surrounding it, I worry that more than just the viewers , but also many great artists may think the bright flashing dangerous lights and colors are the reason the art is good, rather than creative scene transitions or fantastic character design and the excellent blending of various frame rates.
And if strobe lights and all these effects are realy what gets you hyped and pumped for any type of art. Then that is okay too. I suppose there is an audience for everything.
But it would still be nice if there was a safe viewing option for people to whom these things are genuinely dangerous.
I want to be wrong about strobes and the dangerous art direction decisions of spiderverse spreading. But I have not yet reason to think otherwise.
Sara Jacobsen, 19, grew up eating family dinners beneath a stunning Native American robe.
Not
that she gave it much thought. Until, that is, her senior year of high
school, when she saw a picture of a strikingly similar robe in an art
history class.
The teacher told the class about how the robe was
used in spiritual ceremonies, Sara Jacobsen said. “I started to wonder
why we have it in our house when we’re not Native American.”
She said she asked her dad a few questions about this robe. Her dad, Bruce Jacobsen, called that an understatement.
“I
felt like I was on the wrong side of a protest rally, with terms like
‘cultural appropriation’ and ‘sacred ceremonial robes’ and ‘completely
inappropriate,’ and terms like that,” he said.
“I got defensive
at first, of course,” he said. “I was like, ‘C’mon, Sara! This is more
of the political stuff you all say these days.’”
But Sara didn’t
back down. “I feel like in our country there are so many things that
white people have taken that are not theirs, and I didn’t want to
continue that pattern in our family,” she said.
The robe had been
a centerpiece in the Jacobsen home. Bruce Jacobsen bought it from a
gallery in Pioneer Square in 1986, when he first moved to Seattle. He
had wanted to find a piece of Native art to express his appreciation of
the region.
The Chilkat robe that hung over the Jacobsen dining room table for years. Credit Courtesy of the Jacobsens
“I just thought it was so beautiful, and it was like nothing I had seen before,” Jacobsen said.
The
robe was a Chilkat robe, or blanket, as it’s also known. They are woven
by the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples of Alaska and British
Columbia and are traditionally made from mountain goat wool. The tribal
or clan origin of this particular 6-foot-long piece was unclear, but it
dated back to around 1900 and was beautifully preserved down to its long
fringe.
“It’s a completely symmetric pattern of geometric
shapes, and also shapes that come from the culture,” like birds,
Jacobsen said. “And then it’s just perfectly made — you can see no seams
in it at all.”
Jacobsen hung the robe on his dining room wall.
After
more needling from Sara, Jacobsen decided to investigate her claims. He
emailed experts at the Burke Museum, which has a huge collection of
Native American art and artifacts.
“I got this eloquent email
back that said, ‘We’re not gonna tell you what to go do,’ but then they
confirmed what Sara said: It was an important ceremonial piece, that it
was usually owned by an entire clan, that it would be passed down
generation to generation, and that it had a ton of cultural significance
to them.“
Jacobsen
says he was a bit disappointed to learn that his daughter was right
about his beloved Chilkat robe. But he and his wife Gretchen now no
longer thought of the robe as theirs. Bruce Jacobsen asked the curators
at the Burke Museum for suggestions of institutions that would do the
Chilkat robe justice. They told him about the Sealaska Heritage
Institute in Juneau.
When Jacobsen emailed, SHI Executive
Director Rosita Worl couldn’t believe the offer. “I was stunned. I was
shocked. I was in awe. And I was so grateful to the Jacobsen family.”
Worl said the robe has a huge monetary value. But that’s not why it’s precious to local tribes.
“It’s
what we call ‘atoow’: a sacred clan object,” she said. “Our beliefs are
that it is imbued with the spirit of not only the craft itself, but
also of our ancestors. We use [Chilkat robes] in our ceremonies when we
are paying respect to our elders. And also it unites us as a people.”
Since
the Jacobsens returned the robe to the institute, Worl said, master
weavers have been examining it and marveling at the handiwork. Chilkat
robes can take a year to make – and hardly anyone still weaves them.
“Our
master artist, Delores Churchill, said it was absolutely a spectacular
robe. The circles were absolutely perfect. So it does have that
importance to us that it could also be used by our younger weavers to
study the art form itself.”
Worl said private collectors hardly ever return anything to her organization. The federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires
museums and other institutions that receive federal funding to
repatriate significant cultural relics to Native tribes. But no such law
exists for private collectors.
Bruce
and Gretchen Jacobsen hold the Chilkat robe they donated to the
Sealaska Heritage Institute as Joe Zuboff, Deisheetaan, sings and drums
and Brian Katzeek (behind robe) dances during the robe’s homecoming
ceremony Saturday, August 26, 2017. Credit NOBU KOCH / SEALASKA HERITAGE INSTITUTE
Worl
says the institute is lobbying Congress to improve the chances of
getting more artifacts repatriated. “We are working on a better tax
credit system that would benefit collectors so that they could be
compensated,” she said.
Worl hopes stories like this will encourage people to look differently at the Native art and artifacts they possess.
The Sealaska Heritage Institute welcomed home the Chilkat robe in a two-hour ceremony over the weekend. Bruce and Gretchen Jacobsen traveled to Juneau to celebrate the robe’s homecoming.
So, here are just a few the things that have happened this week so far
Orcas are attacking yachts off the coast of Spain.
Approximately 600 refugees drown in a maritime disaster off the coast of Greece. Grecian Coast Guard observes the carnage without intervening.
Billionaires undergo journey to the Titanic in DIY death trap built in the backyard of a guy who reads Ayn Rand unironically. Everyone on board dies when the “submersible” suffers a catastrophic implosion.
The UPS Teamsters Union has voted to go on strike, demanding, among other things, AC in their trucks. Something I’m sure you thought they already had. Because why don’t they? UPS is one of the largest private postage companies in the United States, and if the strike proceeds long enough, it will undoubtedly be broken up by the Biden Administration, much like the potential railway strike last December.
The trial date of former US President Donald Trump is set for August. This is the trial for the nuclear docs he was storing in his shower in Florida, not the shady business practices he held in New York or the election fraud he is currently being investigated for in Georgia.
Hunter Biden, son of current US President Joe Biden, has plead guilty to tax crimes and the illegal possession of a firearm. Opponents of the administration are displeased because Hunter was not charged with what they feel is his most serious offense, being Joe Biden’s son.
Violence has once again broken out in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, as Israeli settlers and the IDF continue to encroach and commit atrocities further and further into Palestinian territory.
SCOTUS delivers a highly unexpected ruling on how the Biden Administration has handled immigration, allowing it to proceed with its current plans. This is one in a serious of surprisingly progressive decisions by the court. Given the far right leanings of the court, many suspect this is simply SCOTUS setting up to cushion the blow of their inevitable strike down of a student loan forgiveness program. A decision that will likely be just as unpopular as the strike down of Roe v Wade, given the millions of US citizens relying on said debt forgiveness.
Speaking of which, this week is the one year anniversary of SCOTUS striking down the court’s previous decision on Roe v Wade, robbing women across the US of the right to an abortion.
Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk set up a cage fight.
A massive gas explosion rocks central Paris, injuring dozens of people.
Logitech suffers an immense blow to its stock prices as a result of their involvement in the Titan Comedy. Conversely, independent video game Iron Lung sees its downloads shoot through the roof.
The Wagner Group, a Russian PCM with numerous neo-nazi affiliations, launches and then abandons a coup against Russian High Command in a period of less than 36 hours.
Can someone PLEASE explain to me just what the fuck is going on here?
Hazel: Yeah I actually died at 13 in the 1940s but I'm alive now.
Thalia: *stares for a second* Okay sure. Why not?
Percy: Y-Your not gonna question that?
Thalia: Percy, I died at 12 years old and was turned into a tree by my father. I was then brought back to life 7 years later by my evil grandfather in hopes I would help him destroy my father and weirdly related aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings.
Percy: Yeah okay-
Thalia: And even though it had been 7 years since I was turned into a tree I had only aged about 3 years leaving me at 15 years old.
Nico: Oh-
Thalia: And only several months after I was brought back to life I accepted partial immortality so I will remain a day before 16 years old until I am killed.
Hazel:...... Wow
Thalia: Yup. Also he's *points to Nico* technically an 80 year old man and my brother was literally raised by wolves. Nothing can surprise me at this point.
Marchers in Pride parade on Capitol Hill, Seattle, June 27, 1993
This photo of the 1993 Pride parade shows a group of women, some wearing t-shirts printed with “I’m not a BOY,” carrying a banner reading “Women often mistaken for men in public restrooms.”
Description: Tiktok from user theomasters stitching user jascoombs. The first video shows a girl with a text to speech voice saying "apparently you're meant to look like your boyfriend's fave disney princess." It cuts to a person sitting at a computer and the person behind the camera says "Emma who's your favorite disney princess?" Emma says "Chicken little." The camera flips around to reveal a guy with short red hair and round glasses. He pauses for a second and then wheezes.
Man, what I wish people would talk about in meaningful interviews like this is that the people making this legislation and banning these books think if the kid doesn’t have a word for what they are–or if they do and they only ever hear about what they are reaping eternal ans indescribable torture, never a happy ordinary life–that they just wont be Queer★.
They genuinely believe that a suicidally depressed+ “cisgender” “heterosexual” child is better off than a happy, thriving Queer★ child.
They genuinely believe that a dead “cisgender” “heterosexual” child is better off than a happy, thriving Queer★ child.
They genuinely believe in their own heads that they’re fighting a battle for children’s souls–or that the people who genuinely believe that are a voting bloc they can’t afford to lose.
They want obedient children who grow up into obedient adults, not knowledgeable and self-empowered children who scream “NO,” and run away when their youth pastor tries to rape them.
The fear that their child might be “possessed by a demon of rebellion” is far, far greater than their desire to protect their child from real abusers who self select into positions of authority over children in communities known to shelter abusers.
The only counter to that thinking, that lifestyle choice, is complete and unyielding rejection of it by the community¹, at least for now: “what you’re doing is child abuse, and your child’s right to not be abused ranks over your right to “teach them your religion” and “parent them according to your morals and conscience.”
*
1. Look, you have to put a tourniquet on the stump before you can think about reattaching a missing limb, and what the Millerite Family Of American Christian Apocalypse Cults, who have significantly influenced American Christianity as a whole is, is a missing limb in our community.
Talking about community in community outreach and deradicalization and family reunification is something we can talk about after Queer★ children are no longer dying of their progenitors’ “parenting choices” and after houses of worship in general are no longer funneling child rapists into positions of authority and then protecting them from the consequences of their actions.
For now, pass me the fucking bungee cord, our nation is bleeding out here.
