@haljathefangirlcat / haljathefangirlcat.tumblr.com
inspiration struck in a really, really weird way
I like how the wolf has stitches on his belly, implying that the woodsman still cut it open and filled it full of stones and threw him into the river, but they talked it out and decided to be cool with one another so they could give Uncle Steve a proper intervention
OOHHHHH sopranos like the singers
HBO’s Sopranos: hark at the ducks 🦆 give zero fucks 🦆 in Tony’s pool 🦆 pasta fazool 🍝
altos: bada biNg 🔫 bada boOm 🔫 bada biNg 🔫 bada boOm 🔫
Few facts that need correcting here. “Carol of the Bells” is a newer arrangement of an ancient Ukranian folk melody called Shchedryk [wikipedia]. The alto line actually does sound quite haunting if you sing it with the Ukranian lyrics (which have nothing to do with bells or Christmas) instead of the obnoxious “ding dong” English lyrics that Wilhousky wrote in 1936:
My gosh! Take 2 minutes for a little bit of beauty. You won’t regret it.
I love my job, but reblogging employment jelly for someone else I love.
i want to coin a phrase that's the opposite of writer's block. call it the muse's fire hydrant. thirty thousand story ideas are being beamed directly into your brain and if you don't write them all at once you will die.
yknow what i mean?
[ID: A greyscale digital sketch drawing showing a brick building labeled, "Writer's Block", with a firehydrant in front of it labeled, "The Muse's Fire Hydrant", blasting out a steam of water, with a dog standing in front of the steam with its mouth open and exaggerated eyes. End ID.]
Okay so this is a big deal
To me, and to a significant subset of Sir Terry's fans (including most of you who've found this by the tags), his writing is serious commentary on the human condition - politics, prejudice, self-control, revenge vs. justice, religion, idealism, faith in people vs. cynicism, and more - dressed up with fantasy settings and a hefty leavening of humor to make it fun to read. And it is WILDLY fun to read, actual laugh-out-loud or at least a snicker averaging about every page.
But there's this common idea among the "important literature" people that fun and funny books are not also worthwhile or important in the same way.
This is a Discworld book being released WITH ACADEMIC COMMENTARY and AS A PENGUIN CLASSIC. That's a HUGE amount of recognition.
Oh, I’m about to tear up. I had to fight so hard to do my thesis on Pratchett because the university didn't like what they considered pop culture being studied as literature and this is just... Existing. 🥹
Carl Hallström. 1850-1929.
Cats of Ulthar
Aron Wiesenfeld (American, b. 1972, Washington D.C., USA, based San Diego, CA, USA) - Sacred Night, 2024, Paintings: Oil on Panel
✨⋆✦₊⊹⋆ ₊˚⊹
I love how Discworld introduces Granny Weatherwax.
She is introduced as a witch, but it's not actually clear if she can do any magic for quite some time. At first all she does is herbal medicine and Headology, aka make-believe, mind tricks, placebos and basically tricking people.
Even when it becomes clear that she flies around on a broomstick and can project her mind into other living things, it's still not obvious if she can do any magic beyond that.
And then she and her buddies magically move an entire country 15 years into the future, and it becomes very clear that she's not only very much capable of doing magic, but she's one of the strongest, if not the strongest magic user in the entire world who can do stuff like summon death himself with nothing but a candle, and I am not even sure she really needs the candle.
Compare that to the wizards. The first impression you get of them is that they're powerful magic users, I mean they are wizards in a fantasy world, people fear them for their magic, and they got a whole magic college, so they must be powerful, right? They even look down on witches because they "don't use real magic"... and because they're usually women.
Granted, the very first (and best) wizzard we're introduced to can't even do any magic, but he seems like an outlier. Then you hear more and more about the magic college and other wizards, and it becomes clear that most wizards are arrogant and lazy fucks who can't do much magic beyond basic fireballs, turning people into frogs and maybe teleportation. Even the head-wizard of the college was completely helpless after running out of juice from a single teleportation spell.
Even when all the wizards become incredibly powerful, thanks to circumstances beyond their control, all they use their magic for is building really tall wizard towers and raging wars against each other. Wars which are ripping holes into reality, which threaten to release unspeakable horrors from the unspeakable horrors dimension.
Like... the books used most reader's assumptions and expectations, aka 'Headology', to make them underestimate Granny Weatherwax while overestimating the Wizards.
Just *chef's kiss* world building.
'Die Nibelungen (Siegfried)' 1924. Movie Posters.
'Die Nibelungen (Siegfried)' 1924. Promotional Photos.
'Die Nibelungen (Siegfried)' 1924. Promotional Photos.
'Die Nibelungen (Siegfried)' 1924. Promotional Photos.
