Kitten Night Farts

imma say it. “kung fu panda” did more for body positivity and saying that  you can be fat and still be healthy and liked than ANYTHING any beauty companies trying to get your money.

kfp also respects women more than any beauty company too.

It also did “letting go of physical attatchments” MUCH better than certain other franchises did, as @tyrantisterror can clarify.

Well I’m not really an expert on that subject but people have yelled at me about it a lot so I’ll try my best.

Ok so, as many tumblr Buddhists and Star Wars prequel apologists have informed me recently, “letting go of attachments” is supposed to mean that you don’t let your love for others or yourself to become obsessive.  It’s sort of a combination “if you love it set it free” and accepting that bad things can happen without dwelling on them - an acceptance that you can’t be in control of everything, and that the world doesn’t revolve around you.

In Kung Fu Panda 2, Po, compassionate and heroic though he may be, is weighed down by a great deal of anxiety about his life.  He still isn’t sure if he really deserves to be treated as a hero, he discovers he was adopted and is filled with anxiety about his family, and just as he’s finally making friends with his fellow martial artists a threat rises that is trying to kill them all.  Po’s friends, family, and very sense of self are threatened in this story.

His antagonist, Lord Shen, is a perfect foil for him.  Shen was born into a wealthy family that was renowned for making fireworks, but wants to use that technology to make canons and guns - weapons that, in the world of this story, are unthinkably powerful - which he can then use to conquer all of China.  He is warned that if pursues this scheme that a hero of black and white - a panda, he assumes - will rise to kill him.  Rather than pursue a less horrible goal, Shen opts to wipe out all the Pandas in China.  Horrified at what he has done, Shen’s parents exile him from their family home, and later die of grief.

Yet despite being given palpable evidence that his current course is wrong, Shen remains committed to his mad dream.  He refuses to question the morality of his actions, or accept the consequences of it.  He paints his parents as traitors who rebuked his love of him, believing that they were the ones who wronged him by exiling him rather than supporting his ambitions.  After all, wouldn’t his plan have benefited them as well?  Did they not see that he was trying to bring glory to his family, to increase their wealth and status?  Did they not see how special and important and perfect he was?

Shen is defined by his attachments.  He obsesses over what he feels he is owed, what he deserves, and is incapable of seeing any of his own actions as wrong as a result.  He’s incapable of accepting the consequences of his mistakes, even when they cost him things he loves and values.  Every setback he faces can’t be accepted as an accident or a result of his own mistakes - it HAS to be a result of other peoples’ faults, of some monstrous conspiracy to keep him from claiming his rightful place.

He assumes others think like this as well.  When Po finally confronts Shen, Shen assumes Po would be furious and vengeful at him for, y’know, exterminating Po’s race.  The fact that Po is unaware of their personal connection is amusing to him, and being the egotist that he is, Shen can’t help taunting Po about it.

When Po finally presses Shen to tell him what Shen knows about his family, Shen tells a horrible lie.  “ Oh, you want to know so badly? You think knowing will heal you, eh? Fill some… crater in your soul? Well, here’s your answer: your parents didn’t love you.”  Interestingly, this exact lie is what Shen has told himself to justify his actions - he knows how much it hurts to believe your parents hated you, how much of a betrayal that is, how much you suffer when someone you’re attached to does not share the sentiment, and tries to trick Po into suffering the same way.

Of course, we learn that this is false for both Po and Shen - Shen’s parents did love him, and were killed by the grief of what they allowed their son to become.

By Shen’s logic, Po should be consumed with grief and anger over what Shen has taken of him.  Shen expects Po to be just as deranged and vicious as he is - he expects Po to be broken.

Instead, when Po learns the truth, including what Shen has taken from him, Po… let’s go.  He let’s go of the sorrow. of the anger, of the grief.  He let’s go because he knows he was loved and, more importantly, is loved.  He let’s go because he knows that while there are bad times, there are also good times.  He let’s go because he knows he can’t control the past.  He can’t control what happened to his mother or to his people.  He can’t control Shen’s actions.  The past is history - it’s the here and now, the present, that matters.  Po has people he loves and who loves him, and he has the opportunity to act on their behalf now.

Even after learning everything that Shen has taken from him, Po tries to heal and teach Shen during their final battle.  He doesn’t dwell on the grief, he doesn’t succumb to hatred, he simply tries to stop the violence by any means, the ideal way would be to change Shen’s mind rather than to kill him.  Shen ultimately forces Po to fight back, and in the process kills himself.  Shen was the warrior of black and white who spelled his own doom all along.

But Po isn’t the best example of a character letting go of attachments in the Buddhist sense that this series has to offer.  No, the best, most literal example, would be Master Oogway.

In the first Kung Fu Panda movie, Oogway selects what is, essentially, an heir to his role as the ultimate master of Kung Fu.  His choice is Po, which surprises everyone since Po is a big, out-of-shape noodle vender, and has no training in kung fu.  Yet Oogway is confident that Po is the correct choice, even though everyone else, including his greatest student Master Shifu, insists it was an accident.  “There are no accidents,” Oogway says to Shifu, “You must learn to let go of the illusion of control.”

Oogway’s final words to Shifu are to accept that, while we can affect important change in the world, we cannot control everything - that we have to work with what we are given, and accept that things will not go the way we expect or want them to.  His plea for Shifu to believe in Po is also a plea to try and work with the situation as it is, instead of stubbornly trying to force it back into the plan that Shifu had concocted in his head.

And when Shifu agrees to do so, Oogway lets go in the exact way Buddha intended - he leaves the material plane and ascends to a higher existence.

In Kung Fu Panda 3, Po briefly ascends to the same spiritual realm that Oogway currently resides in, and Oogway explains how he knew Po would live up to his legacy - how he saw the past, present, and future of Kung Fu in Po, and knew that the world would be safe in the panda’s hands.  Oogway’s last attachment to the physical world was his concern for its safety in his absence, and since Po could and would ensure its safety, Oogway was finally ready to let go completely.

Completely letting go of attachments does not work for a traditional hero’s narrative, because the concept isn’t about heroism - it’s not meant to be, either.  It’s a philosophy geared towards breaking the cycle of reincarnation, and transcending the problems of a mortal life.  Letting go of attachments is what you do to prepare to die, not what you do to prepare for a fight with the Evil Empire.

But letting go of some attachments can be used in a heroic narrative, which is what the Kung Fu Panda series does.  It applies Buddhist and Taoist philosophies to a heroic story in a way that makes sense and stays true to both, because it was written by people who are much smarter than George Lucas.

bro tf most people are snickering about sniddies here you got a full on heavily sourced essay on this….hello take my post???

Thank you!  I’m just very fond of Kung Fu Panda.

Masha The Hero

They forgot the part where the ambulance actually stopped to let the cat in

oh good I was worried

What a good cat. What a kind cat. How can anyone not love cats they are so good and loving.

they also forgot the part where they only found the baby because masha was screaming her head off bc she knew this baby was in danger. she went around outside the alley the next morning and yelled at passerby until she got one to follow her to the baby. she kept him warm all night and then made sure someone found him. she was adopted after this bc she was a stray and is in a loving home and is a hero

Hero cat

Thank you, Masha, you’re such a good girl.

See.

Kittens can’t regulate their own body temperature. That’s why they pile up.

Cats see us as colony members.

Masha saw a kitten that was on its own, no mommy, no other kittens to cuddle with. She instinctively knew that was a cold kitten. She knew that a kitten alone on a cold night was very likely to die. Because a kitten would have died too.

So, all she was doing was what any good colony member does - protecting the abandoned kitten. Then when the abandoned kitten’s mommy didn’t come back, she called the rest of the colony for help.

People have this bizarre idea that housecats don’t have a social sense. They do, and it saved this kid’s life. And possibly Masha’s too, as life on the streets is dangerous for a kitty.

We say “good dog” all the time, but Masha was being a very, very good cat…not just by human moral standards but by feline ones.

Chiune Sugihara. This man saved 6000 Jews. He was a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania. When the Nazis began rounding up Jews, Sugihara risked his life to start issuing unlawful travel visas to Jews. He hand-wrote them 18 hrs a day. The day his consulate closed and he had to evacuate, witnesses claim he was STILL writing visas and throwing from the train as he pulled away. He saved 6000 lives. The world didn’t know what he’d done until Israel honored him in 1985, the year before he died.

Why can’t we have a movie about him?

He was often called “Sempo”, an alternative reading of the characters of his first name, as that was easier for Westerners to pronounce.

His wife, Yukiko, was also a part of this; she is often credited with suggesting the plan. The Sugihara family was held in a Soviet POW camp for 18 months until the end of the war; within a year of returning home, Sugihara was asked to resign - officially due to downsizing, but most likely because the government disagreed with his actions.

He didn’t simply grant visas - he granted visas against direct orders, after attempting three times to receive permission from the Japanese Foreign Ministry and being turned down each time. He did not “misread” orders; he was in direct violation of them, with the encouragement and support of his wife.

He was honoured as Righteous Among the Nations in 1985, a year before he died in Kamakura; he and his descendants have also been granted permanent Israeli citizenship. He was also posthumously awarded the Life Saving Cross of Lithuania (1993); Commander’s Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1996); and the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2007). Though not canonized, some Eastern Orthodox Christians recognize him as a saint.

Sugihara was born in Gifu on the first day of 1900, January 1. He achieved top marks in his schooling; his father wanted him to become a physician, but Sugihara wished to pursue learning English. He deliberately failed the exam by writing only his name and then entered Waseda, where he majored in English. He joined the Foreign Ministry after graduation and worked in the Manchurian Foreign Office in Harbin (where he learned Russian and German; he also converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church during this time). He resigned his post in protest over how the Japanese government treated the local Chinese citizens. He eventually married Yukiko Kikuchi, who would suggest and encourage his acts in Lithuania; they had four sons together. Chiune Sugihara passed away July 31, 1986, at the age of 86. Until her own passing in 2008, Yukiko continued as an ambassador of his legacy.

It is estimated that the Sugiharas saved between 6,000-10,000 Lithuanian and Polish Jewish people.

It’s a tragedy that the Sugiharas aren’t household names. They are among the greatest heroes of WWII. Is it because they were from an Axis Power? Is it because they aren’t European? I don’t know. But I’ve decided to always reblog them when they come across my dash. If I had the money, I would finance a movie about them.

He told an interviewer:

You want to know about my motivation, don’t you? Well. It is the kind of sentiments anyone would have when he actually sees refugees face to face, begging with tears in their eyes. He just cannot help but sympathize with them. Among the refugees were the elderly and women. They were so desperate that they went so far as to kiss my shoes, Yes, I actually witnessed such scenes with my own eyes. Also, I felt at that time, that the Japanese government did not have any uniform opinion in Tokyo. Some Japanese military leaders were just scared because of the pressure from the Nazis; while other officials in the Home Ministry were simply ambivalent.

People in Tokyo were not united. I felt it silly to deal with them. So, I made up my mind not to wait for their reply. I knew that somebody would surely complain about me in the future. But, I myself thought this would be the right thing to do. There is nothing wrong in saving many people’s lives….The spirit of humanity, philanthropy…neighborly friendship…with this spirit, I ventured to do what I did, confronting this most difficult situation—and because of this reason, I went ahead with redoubled courage.

He died in nearly complete obscurity in Japan. His neighbors were shocked when people from all over, including Israeli diplomatic personnel, showed up at quiet little Mr. Sugihara’s funeral.

I will forever reblog this, I wish more people would know about them!

I liked this before when it had way less information. Thank you, history-sharers.

Tucked away in a corner in L.A.’s Little Tokyo is a life-sized statue of Chiune, seated on a bench and smiling gently as he holds out a visa. 

The stone next to him bears a quote from the Talmud; “He who saves one life, saves the entire world.”  

I had no idea it existed until a few weeks ago, but it’s since become one of my favorite pieces of public art. 

Chiune Sugihara.  Original antifa.

PBS made a documentary about Chiune Sugihara in 2005. If you’re interested in him, it’s definitely worth checking out. (The PBS link above even has some interactive information to go along with the film.) Ask your local library if they have a copy/can order you one from another library. You won’t be disappointed!

kate beaton wasn’t kidding when she said look him up

i am going to find this and take him a present

always reblog mr sugihara

dont you dare fucking sleep on this

less “chosen one” heroes, more heroes that chose THEMSELVES. give me heroes that see a problem, look around, and think, “WELP, clearly no one ELSE is gonna fix it, so APPARENTLY it has to be me” and goes to their friends and is like “Y’ALL, GET YOUR SHIT, WE’RE GOING ON A QUEST”

“what wait why”

“the world is broken and the people in charge aren’t doing anything, so we’re gonna do something for them”

“didn’t the prophecy say a wise and noble mage would choose someone to conquer the evil?”

“yeah well, i can do magic, and i’m pretty fucking wise and noble, right?”

“…..”

“……………….RIGHT?!”

*hasty statements of agreement*

“exactly. so, i’ve come to the conclusion that i’m the mage of the prophecy. and guess what. i choose myself. now let’s go.”

Good stuff people have done.

super hero!!!! #BlackPride 

NAME NAME?

Reneita Smith. A God sent angel

via

Guards! Guards! (Terry Pratchett)

so roseapprentice and I have been musing about the way, in Agent Carter, the size of Peggy’s body is not minimized, in contrast to how she’s made to appear in Captain America. It’s one of the really great things about the series, and we’ve spent quite a bit of time discussing how and why they...

They’ve got civilians trapped.

I love that while the avengers fought the aliens you also see them helping to evacuate people so they are safe. It’s not just fighting, it’s rescue as well.

YES THANK YOU! This was my huge and horrible problem with Man of Steel. No help. Buildings falling left and right. I just kept saying “There’s another 10,000 dead people…oooh, and another 10,000 right there!” And no one cared. It left me feeling a bit sick, actually.

In the same movie Captain American *repeatedly* goes out of his way to rescue civilians, order the local police to make sure that the civilians are safe, tells people to get underground in a deleted scene, and leaves the main battle to rescue an entire bank full of terrified people from the Chitauri.  He damn near gets blown to pieces doing the last, after losing his cowl so that the entire world can see his face and realize that the guy in the Captain America outfit is the lost hero from 1945 who sacrificed himself to save the entire Eastern Seaboard.  

Want more?  Don’t forget that Thor offers himself to save an entire town of people he doesn’t even know, and that a couple of years later Jane runs through a library screaming at people to get away from Malekith and his ships as they ravage Greenwich.  And what the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Nova Corps banding together to save an entire planet?  Tony Stark sending his precious armor to save Pepper, then ordering her to remove Maya from the battle zone before thinking of himself?  Bruce Banner going underground to heal people in the most literal sense?  Sharon Carter taking the extra second to kick the launch technician’s chair out from under him just in time to prevent Crossbones from blowing him to hell?  All those poor doomed SHIELD agents trying to take on STRIKE teams with hand guns to prevent those helicarriers from getting intot he air?

Best of all, after spending two years working beside Cap and going on the lam with him, Black Widow, the most morally ambiguous character of them all, shouts “Get out of the way!  RUN!” as she flees for her life from the Winter Soldier.  This is a woman who a worldwide reputation for black ops, and even she puts non-combatants above her own life.

It’s one of the things I love best about Marvel:  their characters are more than muscle and speed and grandstanding against impossible odds.  They have heart and soul and spirit, and every single one of them, without exception, is willing to take the extra second or two to protect the innocent and the defenseless even if it means their own lives.  There’s a moral core there that the Superman of Man of Steel lacks, and it’s a reason why these movies are so popular:

We know in our bones that if we lived in their universe, they’d do what true heroes do, and they’d save us.  

Superman, at least in Man of Steel, doesn’t.  

That makes all the difference.

I will never not reblog this gif set whenever it comes across my dash.

She is a heroine

One of the things I like about Iron Man is that while he is physically fit and capable, he relies on his mental agility, and his ability to deftly use the technology he has created, to get himself through tough situations. We saw the same thing from Nick Fury in the Winter Soldier ambush scene. He calmly assessed the situation and used the tech and tools at his disposal to get out safely (mostly).

As a child all I cared about was athleticism and I did not focus on mental agility. As I train my own children to be heroes, I hope to teach them that athleticism is great, but the ultimate weapon is their mind.