I would like to hear more about the shadow men please.

gallusrostromegalus:

When I was nine, I tried to learn how to ride a bike.

It did not go well- I couldn’t get the hang of balancing without training wheels, and was too easily distracted to brake in time or would fail to notice cars.  One evening in July, I was making some progress in that I’d traveled to the neighbor’s cul-de-sac to practice without traffic, and  was making some balance progress in that i realized going faster made it easier to balance.  It was going great until the crappy brakes on my bike failed and plowed into the curb and went flying, head-first into Mrs. Chin’s yard, and directly onto the hoe she’d forgotten to take in.

My helmet did do it’s job in that I did not immediately die from impact, though it did split in two and I had to be taken to the hospital for the large gash in my scalp.  The Doctors couldn’t see signs of severe trauma, but agreed i definitely had a bad concussion and that I was lucky to be alive.

That’s about when I started seeing flickering shapes in my peripheral vision whenever I had to take pain or allergy meds, or if I got too tired or dehydrated.  This wasn’t particularly upsetting, becuase at the time I also had two very strange cats.

When my mother was two months from my mother’s due date with me, her neighbor’s prize-winning purebred Angora Cat got out and had a night on the town with every inbred tom in East Palo Alto, and possibly some space aliens.  Two weeks after my due date when I was still stubbornly refusing to vacate, the neighbor came back with two kittens and asked my mother if she wanted these thigns before he threw them in the river.  becuase threatening a heavily pregnant woman with dead kittens is a great way to make friends.  Mom grabbed the kittens, not even weaned yet, and menaced him with the kitchen knife until he left.

Mom tried to socialize them really, but there was a new baby in the house and so the task largely fell to Mazel, The wolf-hybrid who barely qualified as a dog.  She adored them, and did her best to raise them, grooming and cuddling and carrying them to the play blanket with me so she could watch all three of us, but there is only so much one can do in the face of severe genetic and nutritional impairment, and the cats grew up Strange.  The orange male was Boris, the Black Female was Natasha.

Boris grew into a rangy degenerate that never groomed himself, Sharp-faced and snaggle-toothed, and with the object permanence and coordination of a todder on jagermiester. He’d often wander the house, either half-shaved or covered in mats  despite Mazel and Natasha’s best efforts, screaming becuase he’d forgotten where his food or litter box was.  We couldn’t brush him without being clawed half to death, and he’d hide, shaking and crying afterwards.  Curiously, he was the more affectionate of the two, occasionally being possessed by a mood where he’d want to sit on the back of your neck or on your feet, and you could pet him as long as you didn’t actually look at him.  These moods usually happened in the dead of night.

Natasha was solid black and unfathomably soft, softer than any cat I’ve met since.   She was also clever, managing to catch songbirds through the plastic mesh of the “cat enclosure” my parents built on the side of the house so they could go outdoors without endangering themselves.  I’m not sure HOW she managed to catch robins through a 1-inch heavy duty construction net but we’d find the bodies, picked clean save for the head and wings.  She’d come sit in the room with you, but only if she had adequate cover, like hiding under the dresser or behind the couch.  The only way to pet her was to lay on your stomach, reach an arm into her space without looking at her, and then she might allow you to scratch her ears or touch her back.

After living with them for all my life, shadowy living presences I couldn’t really see properly was the norm.

I didn’t even realize that this was abnormal until I was 19 and trying to describe a migraine to my Violently Catholic roommate, telling her I needed to take my meds now becuase I was starting to see shadow people on the edge of my vision.  Turns out hallucinating shadowy entities isn’t a normal migraine symptom, also having your well-meaning roommate say the Rosary over you in case of demons is weirdly soothing.

Since then I’ve kept track of when they appear, and a particularly significant change in sinus/skull/barometric pressure is a good indicator, which is why the doctors and I think it’s the result of that impact injury.  Anti-inflammatory meds, allergies, allergy meds, thunderstorms or migraines can all summon them.  Or driving up the side of a mountain too fast.  I once had a very nice hike up in the alpine Rockies with them.  They appreciated the delicately tiny wildflowers up there.

They’re not frightening, and they occupy the same category of “real” as some of the recurring dreams I have.  Not really, but an integral part of my expiriences as human.

wilwheaton:

scarlettohairdye:

killerchickadee:

buttheadhatesthetcc:

lauralot89:

Jesus Christ was a brown Jew in the Middle East, conceived out of wedlock in an arguably interracial if not interspecies (deity and human) relationship, raised by his mother and stepfather in place of his absent father.  He may not have had a Y chromosome.  He spent his early youth as a refugee in Egypt, where his family no doubt survived initially on handouts from the wealthy (You think they kept that gold, frankincense, and myrrh from the wise men?  Hell no, they sold that stuff for food and lodging).  He later returned with his parents to their occupied homeland and lived in poverty.

The religion of Jesus’s people has no concept of a permanent hell and instructed its priests on how to induce miscarriages.  Jesus explicitly rejected the concept of disability as a divine punishment.  He spoke out against religious hypocrites.  He had enough respect for women to let his mother choose the time of his first miracle.  He blessed a same sex couple.  He told a rich man that he must give up his wealth to get to heaven, and also told a parable about a rich man suffering in agony in presumably Gehinnom (basically Purgatory) just to hammer the point home.  He told people to pay their taxes.  He declared “love your neighbor” to be one of the two commandments on which all laws hang.  He commanded his followers to help the poor.  He commanded them to help the sick and the needy.  He spent time with social outcasts.  He healed the servant of a high priest during his arrest rather than fighting back.  He was put to death by the occupying government because he was a political radical.

Trump and his administration are xenophobic, misogynistic, racist, fear-mongering, warmongering, tax-dodging, anti-Semitic, anti-choice, anti-welfare, anti-equal pay, anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-immigration, support tax cuts for the rich, support Citizen’s United, want to keep refugees out of this country, want to limit our ability to speak against the government, plan to abolish the Affordable Care Act, and they wrap all of that up behind a banner of “Christian family values.”  If you support them, you have no right to call yourself a follower of Christ.

it’s so rare, yet so fulfilling, to see the J-man on my dash

One of my friends is literally the most religious Christian I have ever met. What does that mean in regards to her lifestyle and outlook? She loves everyone. EVERYONE. Unconditionally. And she supports healthcare and education and birth control and everything that’s necessary to have a healthy, stable society.

Because that’s what her homeboy JC would want.

Canon Jesus is better than Fandom Jesus.

OMG 

“Canon Jesus is better than Fandom Jesus.”

 FTW.

lemonwicky:

jaxblade:

cari28ch3-me:

mymahoushoujo:

rip-roaring-muffin:

everyonelovesrobots:

where is the lie though?

It’s a lie of omission.

You’re comparing highly polished mainstream examples of iconic Japanese media to low budget, indie, and amateur american works. If you wanted to be fair the second image should look more like this:

The cultural exchange between American and Japanese art, particularly in animation, is hardly a one way streak.

Here we have Panty and Stocking, which boasts an artistic style that draws heavily upon modern western animation with it’s hard outlines and comical proportions. Shows like Dexter’s Laboratory barrow dynamic posses, dramatic framing, and highly expressive faces form anime and manga. Early anime and manga developed it’s distinct big eyes and childlike features by taking cues from western animation of the 20′s and 30′s

Betty Boop, in particular, was immensely popular in Japan. Her creators even made this short in appreciation of her Japanese fan-base.

WAIT I CAN ADD TO THIS ALREADY OBSCENELY LONG POST.

The entire Magical Girl genre is a big example of Western (primarily U.S.) and Japanese cultural exchange!

BeWitched (which was inspired by the 1940′s American movie “I Married a Witch”) was incredibly popular with young girls! This prompted the creation of the first popular Magical Girl Sally the Witch.

When the “Little Witch” Subgenre was big in the 70s the U.S. countered with animated Sabrina (from the Archie comics) which followed the same formula albeit with an older girl.

The 80s we start seeing more “flash of light” henshins/transformations being utilized along with the rise of the “Magical Idol” sub-genre in Japan it gave birth to shows like Creamy Mami and Magical Emi, in the U.S. it made way for Jem and the Holograms and She-Re Princess of Power (not a magical idol but still uses “flash of light” transformations). Jem was even a collab with U.S. doing the writing and Japan doing the animation!

The “Magical Warrior” sub-genre emerges in the 90s (even tho it has roots in the 70s with shows like Cutie Honey). This doesn’t catch on in America until the early 00′s with Atomic Betty (Canadian creation) and The Life and Times of Juniper Lee but we did see the start of it with the Canadian/Argentinian collab called Cyber Six. We also get W.I.T.C.H. and WINX Club in the early 00s from Italy which are both probably the most heavily influenced from Japan’s then current MG show structure.

Today we have Steven Universe, Bee and Puppycat, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Lolirock, The Miraculous Ladybug, and if it gets picked up Twelve Forever which are all great Western MG shows that are influenced by Japan!

I could go on, I haven’t even scraped the ice berg on this! I have a whole hour panel I run on this subject called “Magical Girls from Around The World”

The point is the Magical Girl genre- and tbh animation in general- has been Japan and America (with some other Western countries thrown in) talking back and forth since the 60s. I leave you with probably the most direct influence:

image

can I add to this that Osamu Tezuka aka “the God of modern Manga”

was inspired by Bambi 

into deciding to give big eyes to his drawings so that they would look more expresive. He also remained a big fan of a certain Jewish American animator until his death, oh yeah this guy

Walt Disney himself was also intrested in Tezuka’s work, with Astroboy being one of his favorites. A similar case exists now between John Lasseter (Pixar and Disney fame) and Hayao Miyasaki (Studio Ghibli) who are big fans of each other’s work.

Japan and America are less of a competition to those who work on it and more of an inspiration, it is very often the fans and not the creators who create rivalries between people that would be friends in real life.

SWEET JESUS HALLELUJAH THIS SITE CAN PRODUCE SOME GOOD I LOVE POSTS LIKE THESE.

postcitywave:

egowave:

comrade is gay now. im so glad. straight people you can no longer use this word

This may sound like shitposting but it’s actually 100% true. 

Since its introduction into the Chinese Language by revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, the term 同志 (tongzhi, literally “same-will”), had been used to refer to party members by both the CPC and KMT, who founded the current Chinese and Taiwanese governments respectively.

The reclaiming of tongzhi, however, took place in British Hong Kong in the 90s. Following the decriminalisation of male homosexuality in 1991 (which was in turn the result of a huge scandal over the suicide of gay police officer John MacLennan), there were growing media attention on the local gay community, but most reports were homophobic, stereotypical and voyeuristic. 

Gay writer Michael Lam (邁克) then begun appropriating the term tongzhi in his film criticism column in City Magazine. His reasoning was this: Since zhi can also mean “orientation”, tongzhi can stand in for “homo-sexuality” without the baggage of negative connotations that were already attached to other often derogatory terms (FYI: the term 基, a homophonic transformation of ‘gay’, was used in similar veins as ‘fags’ and ‘queers’ have been in the West). 

Tongzhi was later further popularised by playwright Edward Lam (林奕華), who curated the first gay and lesbian film festival in Hong Kong under the Chinese name 同志電影節 (Tongzhi Film Festival). This later spread to Taiwan and Mainland China over the years, and is, arguably equivalent of the umbrella term “LGBT” in the Greater China regions.

What’s your superpower? No rerolls!

deans–chevy–baby:

oriona75:

femmedplume:

sammit-janet:

jael-paris:

jackiefour:

castielspahdehrah:

tattooedluci:

lucifer-in-leather:

carry-on-my-wayward-girl:

high-functioning-time-idjits:

huntersheaven:

hyrulehearts1123:

someonebeatmetotheurl:

carryonmarveling:

booksquirmy:

charminglyantiquated:

johnlockbees:

fullmetalbeansprout:

bunnywith:

mortalengine95:

teacandy:

kalgalen:

http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Random

wow. what a superpower.

“No rerolls!” Says the guy who definitely rolled something cool and not… Sand magic

adhesion manipulation. I can make things sticky or not sticky.

I WILL DEFINITELY ONLY USE THIS POWER FOR GOOD AND NOT EVIL.

Digital aura: the power to surround oneself with data.
Perfect.

Mindscape Materialization

The ability to materialize an inner world onto reality

The possibilities are endless. I’m basically master of AU

Reality awareness – I can’t do jack to reality, but I know when other people do

Ergokinetic Blade Construction: I can contract a weapon from pure energy.

Come at me bro

Acid-Fire Manipulation
“The user has the power to manipulate, shape, and may produce acid fire. Using and manipulating acidic fire will make the victims suffer devastatingly.”

Fraud Embodiment

The user of this power can become the embodiment of fraud and can deceive others with their lies and trickery. The user can influence the truth of what anyone says to make it a lie and can also become anyone to gain influence over powerful people and gain status.

Bow before your new queen

Friction Negation

The user can negate friction, the the force that resists motion, which allows them to run on, hold onto, or move on any surface, regardless of how slippery or even rough and movement dampening/sticky the friction is. This allows them to run on surfaces like ice without falling down, and move at high speed, even when running on surfaces of high friction that would otherwise slow them down. The user may even do things on any surfaces others would have trouble doing, whether it is on slippery surfaces or on sticky surfaces.

I found my new favorite thing to do. *runs away from school*  

Mummification….
Sweet.

Meta Space-Time Absorption

“User can absorb all time and space, while removing them from the source, into their body and use it in various ways, gaining some form of advantage, either by enhancing themselves, gaining the drained power, using it as power source etc., either temporarily or permanently.”

Cool.

Highly resistant to atomic attacks = I’M AWESOME.

Goo Generation

The user may create ooze, slime, and goo of every consistency or viscosity, whether sticky, slippery, etc. Some types of goo may be toxic or carry a disease of some kind, or may have other effects upon contact with living beings.

… So…

Power embodiment

The user is the embodiment of supernatural power. They have free access to most, if not all, superpowers, and are able to manipulate the superpowers of others with little to no limit.

Vampire Toxicity….I’m suddenly picturing being bitten by a vampire and it reacting like the ones the Leviathan’s “poisoned” in SPN S7….that’d be cool AF. heh heh.

Flat Body

Suddenly ok to be two dimensional. You called me shallow? Apparently it’s my super power.

Electrokinetic Wing Manifestation – I have Archangel wings, bitches!

Heaven Manipulation. I am God!!!

Mental Plane Manipulation

“The user can manipulate the mental plane of thoughts, one of the seven planes of existence, which allows them to read and control the thoughts and minds of others and project their thoughts into reality.”

Is anyone surprised this is my superpower? I’mma control all y’all’s superpowered thoughts –dance, puppets!! 😈

I accidentally closed out the page but it was Fungal Kingdom Manipulation.
I always knew I was Poison Ivy……

Multi-Focus

The user is capable of consciously focusing, and being fully aware of multiple people, dangers, locations, tasks, e.t.c., at once without any trouble or confusion, through either their physical senses and/or supernatural means.