note to self: just because someone did the thing you were thinking about doing, and did it way better than you could ever hope to do, doesn’t mean it would be stupid or pointless to go ahead and try to still do the thing anyway.
Also, when it comes to creative things? There really is no “better”.
Sure, someone might be more technically accomplished than you – you might not be able to colour as nicely or craft a sentence that rings as poetically – but art is only really secondarily about that. It’s firstmost about what you, uniquely, have to express, and how the precise way you express it might be what others need to relate to it – even if it’s less flashy, less “beautiful”, and gets fewer notes.
I promise you this: there are obscure fanfics with only a handful of notes that are the read-and-re-read favourites of someone too anxious to comment. There are drawings done by 14-year-olds in poorly-blended markers that are someone’s favourite because they spoke to something that nothing else did. There are covers of songs where your voice cracks and you cringe every time you hear it but someone thinks the way it cracked just at that moment added beauty to the song. There are angsty three-line poems you wrote at 4am that someone once called “pretentious emo trash” that are loved by someone else going through the same thing as you.
And I guarantee you, there is something unique about your art. Even if you’re “saying something someone else has said”. Even if you’re the thousandth person to take on the subject. Even if you feel like you’re not at all unique. You’re bound to express something, however subtle, that didn’t exist until then.
Art is about connection. And the more you create, the more chance you have of finding other people who experience the world the way you do.
“But the one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.“ via @neil-gaiman
The “two cakes” theory of content production.
It was only yesterday that I was lamenting thing I no longer felt allowed to do because someone had done similar.
I ought to read this post daily. Maybe twice daily.
I wonder how many people actually fall all the way down the rabbit hole from “I’m gonna take up crochet or knitting” to “a drop-spindle is inexpensive; what if I tried spinning some yarn” to “oh look you can get a rigid heddle loom for less than a new gaming console let’s learn to weave” to “fuck it let’s move to the mountains and raise alpacas”
Crochet hooks in the sewing basket, mom knits, drop spindles are in the chest in the other room, the rigid heddle loom is with mom, and it’s tempting to add alpacas to list of things for the ideal living space. Not to the point of being able to move somewhere with enough room to raise ‘em, though.
*makes several rude gestures at the brain weasels, the weather, and the local tree population for good measure*
At least there was sun today, that was good. I managed to do things today, this is also good. I have not been on IM because I currently want to kill things, just to kill things. Also, brain decided to ruminate on why I hate the character Q in Star Trek so very damned much. (If I never have to see his smug, arrogant, pasty ass mediocre white fuck-boy face on my screen again, I will be a very happy Morgyn. Just. *lots of loud screaming* I am a little too cranky right now to manage to put it into a coherent narrative of Why Morgyn Thinks Q Is the Worst Idea Ever.)
And now, I am going to go get dinner and then go back to doing the thing I have been doing today because at least I can make progress on something.
It has come to my attention as of late that people do not fully understand the difference in the punks. Some people seem to think that Steampunk is pretty much everything when you see it.
Let us review the fundamentals. Steampunk is set in an alternate future where steam was the primary technology and they continued on that path till now. That’s basically it. However there are MANY alternate futures with alternate technology’s, and lumping all of them into steampunk is just cheapening them. So let me just show you an example of each.
CLOCK/STEAMPUNK: This era is often Victorian in style for some reason and the steam powered robots often use lots of smoke stacks, gears, clockwork, belts and goggles.
TESLAPUNK: Unlike steampunk, this world functions as if Nikola Tesla had revolutionized the world with his electricity. Lots of lightning rods, Tesla rods and power cables. Often this is confused as steampunk because they often have the a similar look.
DIESELPUNK: This universe takes place in a world where diesel engines and machines using oil are everywhere. This is criminally underused. They usually use a more art deco and WW1/2 style.
ATOMIC/RAYPUNK: This one uses atomic technology. Lasers, blasters, radiation, green glows, aliens and giant robots. Also rarely used but I dare you to watch “The Iron Giant” and tell me you don’t love it.
CYBERPUNK: Possibly more well known than steampunk. A future, in which technology is so advanced people are more technologically advanced than some of the robots. Chainsaw arms, robotic eyes, hooking your brain up to the internet and evil corporations.
BIOPUNK: Imagine a future where technology has advanced so much that we construct living organisms as easily as building a robots. Living machines, weapons, organic clothing and new and improved limbs.
JUNKPUNK: Almost as unknown as candlepunk but still one to remember. This world all technology is composed of random parts you might find in a junkyard. Kind of like the ‘Coolest’ cooler.
SOLARPUNK: This one has been getting some recent attention. However in a world where technology is powered by the sun I have yet to find one robot picture so sorry about this one.
PUNKPUNK: You have gone off the far side of the spectrum. Turn back.
Hopefully now you can tell the different alternate futures apart and can better survive in the world with this Essential information.
(Note this is not my artwork just a quick google search, but I am working on a series that will clarify these examples better with my own work.)
Yo, just saying, but Cyberpunk ISN’T just an aesthetic.
Cyberpunk is a genre about contrast between high technologies and low life, and as such they focus on sadder/violent parts of people’s lives, like crime, law enforcement (treated realistically and not like in cop dramas), cybercrime, drug dealing, terrorism or warfare.
Common themes include any variation on a concept of identity (from identity theft, through search for identity, to identity politics), loneliness in digital age, anti-capitalism focusing on unchecked power of corporations, anti-fascism focusing on technological surveillance state, ethics of artificial intelligence and other technologies.
Best known examples are probably Robocop, Ghost in the Shell, Matrix (especially the first movie, sequels are more like post-apo war stories), Neuromancer, Snow Crash, Deus Ex, Shadowrun, System Shock.
Steampunk was an offshoot of cyberpunk, but since stopped being a genre and became only an aesthetic.
Biopunk is offshoot of cyberpunk, and usually contains similar themes (just with genetic engineering). Other offshoots include nanopunk (with nanotechnology) and, which has recently been getting more attention, nowpunk – stories that use concepts and themes of cyberpunk, but are set in contemporary times – we’re talking stuff like Mr Robot tv show, or Watch_Dogs video games.
Honestly, a lot of the punk settings and ideas are in some way political, or at least VERY good at exploring issues relevant to the time period they pull inspiration from.
Steampunk for imperialism, biopunk for ethical issues of biotechnology, atompunk for the red scare and cold war, etc. etc.
Not saying every story with these looks NEEDS to deal with those specific issues, but each punk type opens itself up to discussing those types of issues much more easily.
Also, each punk doesn’t need to exist separate from each other. I have a setting that is bio, solar, and junkpunk all at once.
These genres and aesthetics are tools, and the rules about ‘em aren’t hard and fast to say the least.
The “punk” part of all of these is a political analysis and a rebellion.
Steampunk without addressing the imperialism and class privilege of the Victorian era is “gaslamp fantasy” or “alternative history sci-fi”, depending on how sci-magical it goes.
Cyberpunk without the dystopia of a world ruled by megacorporations, and the small rebellions people engage in just to survive, is just gritty sci-fi.
Dieselpunk that doesn’t analyze how the imperialism of the late 19th century evolved into the rise of fascism in the early 20th is just more alternative history sci-fi.
Teslapunk have some similar imperialism themes to steampunk plus some of the anti-corporate vibe of cyberpunk. It’s an analysis of thing like “what would the world be like if an autistic dreamer like Tesla hadn’t been ground into the dirt by the corporate greed of Edison and others?” or “what if Edison and the other corporatists had stolen EVEN MORE of Tesla’s work?”
Solarpunk seeks to build clean energy, green spaces, and sustainable industries in response to the real threat of climate change.
The “punk” part is important. It gives us tools to dismantle injustice in the real world by analyzing or overcoming the injustice in a fictional one.
I’ve been talking with a few fandom
people lately about comments they’ve received on their fic. One writer felt so
badly about the feedback they were ready to delete their AO3 account.
Because of fucking comments.
“I love this but here’s how you’ve failed me…” comments.
“I love this but there wasn’t
enough sex,” comments.
“I love this but here’s how
the plot went all wrong,” comments.
“I love this except you didn’t write me the perfect thing I
wanted and you were meant to know, so I’m going to shit in your kitchen,”
comments.
How god damn dare.
How dare anyone come into your home and stink the place up with their
cruelties.
No one has the right to say one
peeping word to you about things you love if what they say makes you sad,
ashamed, or hopeless.
No one ever ever ever has the right to take away your joy
with their pissy “honesty.”
The world sucks. There’s cancer in
it, guns, depression, difficult choices to make about money, religion, family,
jobs.
Fan fiction is many things and one
of those things is an oasis from pain. A place to create your own happiness,
find community. No one has the right to damage that for you.
No one.
No one.
One of the writers I’ve been
talking with said they wanted to stop writing after some of the negative
comments they got. This writer never asked for critique. Very few fan fic
writers do. Even when they do we
don’t “help” them when our critique hurts them. At no time is our
goal ever, ever to cause someone to
question their joy.
If you think critiquing means
telling someone what “they did wrong,” you are wrong. You are wrong. You.
When we praise what a writer does well not only do they improve just as much, they write more. If we
really want to “help a writer get better” that’s how we do it.
That’s it. That’s the secret.
If you’re one of the writers who
get or got crappy comments know this:
Any critique that makes you want to
stop writing is shit critique.
So fuck
that noise. Fuck it right in the fucking ear.
Delete negative
comments. Delete them. You wouldn’t leave a stranger’s shit on your kitchen
floor, well your AO3 or Tumblr is your online home. Keep it as tidy as you want it to be. Delete any words that
give you an empty-in-the-belly feel about your writing because those words are wrong. Unfollow anyone who’s “just
being honest.”
If someone
else’s words stop yours, those words are wrong. Ignore them. Delete them. Laugh
at them. When commenters say cruel things, they want their words to stop you
from doing what you’re doing. Don’t.
Keep
writing.
Keep.
Writing.
Do it for us, because we want your
words, we want your joy, we—and the world—sorely needs that joy.
** If someone else’s words stop yours, those words are wrong.**
Fucking Holla. Exactly what I needed to hear regarding Pirates Heart
The only reason you should be saying “I love this, but…” Is if there are formatting problems that are easily fixed. Anything else, something story related or plot related that you don’t like? Fuck off and go write your own. That’s literally what fanfiction is for.
y’all notice how black panther quietly but fervently rejects western assumptions about women in non-western countries by not only displaying Wakandan women in a variety of influential positions but by making clear that only outsiders question them
women are shown in all levels of Wakandan society – Ramonda as a trusted advisor for her son, Shuri as the country’s leading innovator, Okoye and the Dora as respected warriors, Nakia as a spy and philosophical compass, unnamed women who serve as tribal representatives and spiritual leaders. it is not at any point suggested that their gender is a barrier to achieving anything in Wakanda.
there’s a moment during T’Challa’s crowning that’s small but very good, when M’baku questions letting a child handle the country’s technological advancement. he specifically calls her a child, not a girl, questioning her youth and perceived lack of respect for tradition but not her gender, which flies in direct defiance of many western assumptions about how masculine non-western men like M’baku treat women and girls.
that moment, as far as I recall, the most any Wakandan man ever directly disrespects a woman. a lot has been made of how much faith T’challa places in his female relatives and warriors, so I won’t rehash that, but it’s Good.
Ross briefly insults Okoye with his assumption that she doesn’t speak English, but 1.) the narrative and the audience both understand this to be an ignorant statement on Ross’ part for which he is promptly put in his place by Okoye herself and 2.) Ross immediately learns and does better. when he wakes up in Wakanda his disbelief is only for the level of the technology, not that a teenage girl is the mastermind behind it, and during the final fight he defers to Shuri’s guidance despite his piloting expertise.
a lot of words have already been written about Killmonger’s treatment of black women: the casual murder of his partner, his disregard and abuse of a spiritual leader, the slaughter of a Dora. it’s just one of many parts of his ideology that mark him as fundamentally misunderstanding Wakanda and being an Other in the kingdom.
Wakanda is a futuristic fantasyland that makes absolutely no narrative room for men who don’t respect the authority of women.
In addition to the Killmonger point –
I love how it circles back to the cultural disparity between Wakanda and the Western world. It demonstrates how similar ideologies – the drive for resource sharing and international responsibly – can appear so vastly different (ie Killmonger and Nakia). It speaks to the cultural environment in which they existed. I believe Killmonger to be a reflection of the internalised toxic values Western society presents poor Black boys – essentially following the well trodden path from vulnerability to violence.
Returning to Ross for a moment – I didn’t read that as disrespect at all? She’d never spoken English in front of him, he had no way of knowing whether or not she did, and she seemed very angry about something. Verifying how much she actually understood what everyone around her was saying was kind of important? His delivery could have been better but…am I missing something?
I mean, it’s a more subtle moment than a lot of the shit Killmonger pulls for sure, but I think we have to consider the implications of a white American assuming that an African woman, despite her high-ranking position, is unable to take part in or understand a conversation being held in her presence. this is especially true given that the movie’s point of view is Wakandan, allowing us as viewers to know exactly how wrong Ross is, and Okoye’s expression and tone when she corrects him, at least to me, seem to suggest that she finds the question an insulting one.
I’m not trying to say that Ross is a bad guy for asking, but it was undoubtedly one of the many examples in the movie of white Westerners underestimating Wakandans at every turn because of their own preconceived ideas.
Also, he asks T’Challa whether Okoye speaks english, rather than asking her himself.
The temptation to henna my hair rn is unreal. Wonder if I have any left…
so you know how some people use coffee to darken their hair? do you think that when you drink coffee daily, it slowly dyes/darken the hair on your upper lip?
Unless they’re sitting with their face buried in it I wouldnt think so. I know it stains my teeth like hell if I drink too much.
This literally reminded me to go get more coffee.
And are there henna dyes in pastel colors? I’ve researching, but either my skills are crap or I’m getting mixed results.
Henna (Lawsone) actually only comes in one form which is red/orange.
“Black henna”, the kind used for temporary tattoos, is fake dye, and has been known to cause fatal reactions in people years down the line when they use other things to dye their hair. (Especially anything containing para-phenylenedmine)
“Black henna” is often a term used to refer to red henna mixed with indigo to create a blackish blue hue, which is safe. (It’s one of Lush’s best sellers) Anything that is any color other than red however is not natural henna and is mixed with something else, like metal salts which are not always safe because henna doesn’t like metal. (Always mix henna with plastic or wooden spoon, yes even your Lush stuff)
You can use the leaves of walnuts to make henna a rich dark brown, but being walnuts, many people are allergic so the “brown henna” most people use is henna mixed with woad or something else. I think lush uses coffee grounds mixed with henna and indigo to get their brown mix.
You can also mix henna with saffron to get golden tones, but to me it looks more brassy. Cassia is often misold as “blonde henna” when it’s actually just cassia which can tinge the hair yellowish gold and can help thicken the hair shaft, cause it coats hair the same way henna does.
So to answer your question, nope, no such thing as pastel hair colors that contain henna, and if they claim it does they’re lying and there’s a chance the metal salts used will make your hair brittle or damaged. That’s why so many hair stylists balk at henna, the fake stuff can really mess your hair up. And also you really shouldn’t dye your hair with conventional dyes after that until it grows out cause the metal salts can cause a reaction and burn your scalp or make your hair fall out.
Real henna is safe for most people. And because someone asked me already, yea the stuff at Lush is fine. Overpriced, but fine. It’s a good option if you don’t want to have to mix your own powders 🙂
Does henna tint your hair or outright dye it?
It’s technically a stain, and the resulting color will depend on your natural hair. I could mix a batch and due to my hair being white in places (thank you illness), I’ll have orange strands. Someone else with darker hair would get something closer to chestnut from the same batch.
How you prep it will change the color outcome too (using an acid like lemon or vinegar will make it develop quicker but it’ll be brassier)and you can layer it to deepen the color too over time, though some people will find that makes their hair “heavy”. I can layer my hair 3 times in quick succession to get a deeper color, but if I try for a fourth my hair loses all it’s bounce from the weight.
So it’s not like a regular dye that penetrates the hair shaft to color it, but it’s not an easily washed out tint either.
Thank you! I lost a lot of my hair natural reds and such do to illness. I wanted to bring it back, but I am allergic to //chemicals// in most readily available hair and skin products (and foods unfortunately). My mother managed to passes on some good funky generic Illness and we had to become
🌞🌞organic free trade natural hippies🌞🌞
just so we both stop literally dying so I thought I could never dye my hair. Thank you for posting this.
Lol i know that feeling well! Make sure you do a skin test on the inside of your elbow first if you do choose to try it. Reactions to authentic henna are not that common but not impossible.
I didnt even realise Lush sold henna. Go to an Indian shop if you want it cheaper.
Agreed. I think they retail at something like $30 per block that does only 1-2 treatments for short hair. The box of henna I have is $12 and I can get 6 treatments out of it over a year, but some people prefer not having to mix their own ratios.
There's a Mirror on the Wall 