September 21, 2020 - Ron Cobb, best known for being the production designer for several major films, has died at 83 years of age. Cobb brought to life several cantina creatures for Star Wars (1977) and came up with weaponry and sets for Conan the Barbarian (1982), the exterior and interior of the Nostromo ship in Alien (1978) and the earth colony complex in Aliens (1986), and the DeLorean time machine in Back to the Future (1985).
More interestingly, to me at least, is that in the 1960s and 70s he was a great radical political cartoonist, and sadly, many cartoons of those days are still just as relevant today. A small selection:
the thing with romance for me is that you need to convince me through behavior and dialogue that the characters enjoy spending time with each other and seek each other out. even with enemies to lovers a foundation of mutual respect goes a long way. you can be like “he’s the youngest ever general of the dragon slaying guild and I’m secretly a dragon, but he’s the best swordsman I’ve ever fought and our sparring matches are the only thing that make me feel alive ever since my family was killed.” if he implies something similar then bam, you have a reason for the two of them to hang out even though one of them knows it’s dangerous. you can’t be like “he’s a dragon slayer and he’s mean to me all the time but the flex of his arms when he swings his sword is just too sexy.” it does not matter how many times you have your protagonist say “I shouldn’t be drawn to him… but I am” if you never show a real moment of connection between them that draws them together
There is an alternate dimension where random nepali won
On that note, I am very curious abt the three candidates who had enough support to get on the poll, but not enough support to beat a random nepali.
Random Nepali is actually a famous nepali youtuber and a lawyer. he’s a specific individual with a long history of political activism, education, and advocacy (they weren’t just trying to see if people wanted a random nepali to be interim prime minister)
he’s better known by his screen name than his legal name, which I assume is why they used that for the poll
it does still make me insane specifically how many queer people lovingly embrace astrology. I went to a poetry workshop yesterday that was genuinely quite good but also included an option to disclose astrology designations during introductions and so many people broke out some variation of “I’m a [x] sum but I have a [y] placement and it SHOWS” girl no it doesn’t. that’s meaningless correlation you completely invented the causation
I’d say that rejecting biological determinism in favor of space gas determinism isn’t the slay the astrology queers think it is but if I’m being completely honest I fear that many members of our community haven’t even really rejected biological determinism so much as sprinkled a layer of glitter on it
yes that’s how confirmation bias works
People get their panties up in a twist about astrology because they think it’s people shoving themselves into boxes that are not pre-existing.
Most people who like astrology like it because it reflects things about themselves that they relate to that they have difficulty vocalizing themselves. And things like doing a chart reading can allow you to gaze deeply into yourself
This is something a lot of people don’t acknowledge about chronic illness but it is so hard to be niceys and patient when you don’t feel good. I have ulcerative colitis and the tummy aches make me feel like an actual demon. I’m not me when I don’t feel good. I don’t usually snap at people but I have a habit of isolating myself during flareups because I have the self awareness to detect that I am grumpy. “You don’t feel good? Maybe I can come visit you and bring you a little get well soon basket and cheer you up.” FUCK NO. I mean, thank you so much, that’s very sweet. Any donations for the needy can be left on the porch.
There are gonna be people who won’t like hearing this but if you want to live in a world where mixed marriages, families, and adoptions (particularly POC adopting outside their “race”) aren’t maligned and discriminated against, then you have got to get more chill about seeing someone partaking in something cultural that you don’t think fits the “race” you perceive them as.
It’s a vague memory now, it was a vague memory even at the time I made this post, but I think what sparked this was remembering stupid comments I saw about a Chinese-American cookbook that were complaining about it being written by a white woman and then I looked the white woman up and the briefest research showed she was adopted as a child into a Chinese-American family and just….
*pinches nose*
Fellas, is it cultural appropriation to inherit your family’s culture but you don’t pass the blood quantum test?
All of you are literally just racist. You’ve come full-circle. You’re working under the belief that people are supposed to “keep to their own kind” and that means the socially invented concept of “race”, and “race mixing” of any sort is unnatural.
Putting this in a separate reblog because it involves fictional media but it was still implying a messed up worldview….
This reminded me of a post I saw about someone theorizing what MCU Morgan Stark’s middle name was because we just knew her middle initial was “H” and they considered that the namesake might be Yinsen Ho but they didn’t want to believe that because it would be, quote, “cultural appropriation”.
Cultural appropriation. To name your child after someone you personally knew and was very important to you.
Don’t you know it’s unnatural for someone of a different race to be important to you? The races are not supposed to mix!
It’s literally just racism. Why do people think they’re being anti-racist activists by being some of the highest level of racist?
Yeah this trend has been gaining strength for years of “the races shouldn’t mix (but in a Marx honoring way)” and it’s seriously fuckin concerning.
Occasionally as an Australian you’ll be talking to someone from overseas, and you’ll discover a common phrase you took for granted is, in fact, not universally known outside of our country.
Turns out casually dropping “fuck me dead” into conversation will give unsuspecting Americans an aneurism.
The more you know.
Imagine being on a work call with an Aussie and they suddenly announce they’re gonna blow a load in response to a problem.
Not Aussie but I asked an American once if she was taking the piss ( i.e. pulling my leg, joking. Perfectly cromulent and friendly english expression)
and she got really upset because she thought I was threatening to piss ON her
This is killing me
Rifling through the tags, here’s some other terms which are apparently causing mass carnage whenever they escape our borders:
Having a goon (i.e. Sipping on a delightful wine)
Having a gaytime (Eating an icecream)
Having a sticky beak (Investigating)
Take a squiz (To have a sticky beak)
Get stuffed (To express a revelation is most frightful)
Chuck a sickie (Take a day off work due to the humours being misaligned)
Chuck a wobbly (When one’s temperament becomes visibly upset)
Carry on like a pork chop (Acting most silly indeed)
Thongs (flip flops)
Hot chook (Pre-cooked supermarket rotisserie chicken, otherwise known as the Bachelor’s Handbag)
Fair suck of the sauce bottle (Let’s be real)
Shits me to tears (Something is mildly annoying)
Not here to fuck spiders (Expressing a situation is serious)
Having a piss-up (A social gathering)
I’ll shout you (offering to goon an old chum)
A cruisy place (a relaxed atmosphere, where one might shout and goon the night away while enjoying many a gaytime in your favourite thongs)
When you fuck up a work call so bad it gets your entire country trending on social media
A NATIONAL NEWS HOST has now weighed in on this post 😭
We are not a serious country
I can’t believe nobody mentioned “don’t piss in my pocket”, meaning “don’t pretend you’re doing me a favour”
I’m not american but I swear to god some of these if not most had to have been made up on the spot… It’s like someone fell off Babel and hit their head really fucking hard
The real issue between Tim Allen’s Jason and Alan Rickman’s Alexander in Galaxy Quest was that Jason was blissfully unaware of any of the fanfic people had written about their two characters while Alexander had been asked in detail about some of the finer points of Mak'tar “biology” at every con since the 80s
