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Latest Posts by roebert - Page 3
The thing that gets me the most about critics of Terry Pratchett’s novels who say they’re not important or “literature” because they’re “not realistic” is this:
By what yardstick are we supposed to be measuring “realism”?
See, I’m willing to bet that the yardstick these critics use is that oh so popular model of “the real world is really a terrible place, so the world of this piece of media is full of barbarism and grotesque cruelty.”* And Terry Pratchett never, ever fell into that dismal trope. He didn’t hunt his characters for sport. There’s no gratuitous sexual violence (no sexual violence at all, that I can think of). Even if a death or an act of evil is senseless from an in-world point of view, it isn’t random and senseless from a narrative perspective, thrown in to shock or to remind readers/viewers that “that’s reality.” The Discworld isn’t a happy rainbow place all the time. But it’s not a bleak pit of despair, either. There are bad people of all stripes, from literal torturers and megalomaniacs to regular folk who perpetuate the kind of small mundane badness pretty much every human is guilty of at one time or another. But there are good people too. And sometimes some of them die along the way, but ultimately the good people win and the world is changed for the better or at least doesn’t get any worse. Is that really “unrealistic”?
Terry Pratchett didn’t write a bunch of books about people being brutal to each other because “that’s human nature.” Terry Pratchett acknowledged–often, even–that humanity is prone to base acts. But what his books are really about, is humanity’s ability to rise above that. Terry Pratchett wrote about protagonists who are imperfect, doing good in the world often against their first instincts. He wrote about situations where it is hard to be good, but where his protagonists choose it anyway.
Rincewind is a coward who craves only boredom, but he steps up to the plate and saves the world whenever it turns out no one else can.
Sam Vimes is a bitter, cynical recovering alcoholic who is desperate to be a better man and to do what’s just for everyone.
Granny Weatherwax is an aloof, blunt loner who finds “being the good one” a burden, but she works tirelessly to protect and serve her steading, just so everyone else can be free to go about their normal little everyday lives.
Brutha starts off blindly believing that “purifying” sinners is necessary, but he learns to think for himself and when later on he has the chance to kill the worst of the Quisition’s torturers? He carries him through a desert, instead, and ends up reforming a religion.
These are just a few of so many examples. And are they “unrealistic”? Is the idea that imperfect beings can choose to do good even if it is difficult “fantasy”? Is it really too hard to believe that maybe even if the nature of humanity inclines toward selfishness and greed and all that terrible stuff, humanity can also do better than that, if individuals choose to?
Because, wow, to me that’s an awfully uninspiring view of “reality”. It’s kind of a boring one, too, when it comes to media. If all you’re going to show me is a series of escalating cruelty for shock value, because “in the real world good people suffer” or whatever edgy thing you think is “realistic”, I’m not interested, sorry.
Give me Terry Pratchett’s world, where readers can think that if a screwup like Rincewind or someone as bad-tempered as Granny can do good maybe they, the readers, can do good too. That if Vimes can turn his life around and work for justice, and if Brutha can question authority and stand up to oppression, maybe they could help change things, too. Give me that “fantasy” any day.
That’s the kind of “literature” I want.
*Either that or they just see books where magic is real and immediately put on their “I’m a grown up, grown ups don’t believe in magic” hats and roll their eyes, sure in the knowledge of their superiority, because what value could there ever be in having a little imagination, right?
Hello! It’s been a while. I’ve been meaning to do an update post on Doris’ new tank setup but honestly I did not have the motivation to write it. To make it up to everyone I’ve decided to write on something equally if not more exciting:
Doris’ first shed (with me) !!!!
For a while I’d found Doris to be more reclusive. She’d stopped asking for handling sessions, was fully hiding under her substrate (whereas she would usually keep her head on the surface) and would make puffing sounds to signify irritability. While at first worrying, after discussing these changes with my mentor, we figured out the reasoning for this behaviour change… she was starting her shedding cycle!
I very quickly got to work accommodating her shed; I bumped the humidity up to 90% and gave her more moss to hide under. Within a few days her eyes started clouding over, her skin started dulling and her face seemed somewhat baggy. She was definitely not looking her best…
Then, one day as I came back from uni, a wonderful thing happened. As I entered my room, I noticed an odd stick that wasn’t usually in Doris’ tank. And then I realised… it wasn’t a stick! Doris had shed in one long piece; it was a perfect shed!!
I was overjoyed! My first shed with Doris coming out so perfectly was a sign that she was healthy and comfortable with the conditions I had provided for her.
I very quickly grabbed my microscope to have a close up look at her shed. There is so much beauty in how life is constructed and I felt so privileged to be able to have such a personal relationship with it.
And when I saw Doris again… she was stunning.
GOd okay I went to my neighbor’s housewarming, and don’t get me wrong, I love parties (if everybody doesn’t give me all of their attention all the time and tell me that i’m smart and funny and pretty I’ll DIE), but I forget how stressful it is to introduce yourself to new people when you work in a politically charged field. The whole evening was this:
Party Guest: So, have you lived in the area long?
[Okay, let’s think. White male, thirties, tall, muscle tee, sandals, wedding ring, but here without a partner. I just overheard him complaining about tariffs, so he’s either left-leaning or a disillusioned republican. Good sign, definitely not MAGA. Ah, that’s right, he brought his daughters – ages 5 and 7, well-behaved in a crowd – and they’re wearing princess dresses… doting father with an active role in raising his kids, lets them choose their own outfits… my gut is telling me heterosexual male feminist. That could be good or bad – statistically speaking, he believes in climate change… but that means 50/50 odds of anti-nuclear sentiment. I need more information, but I must answer carefully. We’re rapidly approaching the Question.]
Me: Not long! I just moved down from Boston a few months ago –
[Ball is in his court. Boston has been in the news lately for being an immigrant sanctuary city, but that’s mostly local news – I’ll get information based on body language. Oh, I may have made a tactical error. This is an opportunity for sports rivalry to come up, and I am ill-educated on the subject. Quick, I need a counter maneuver.]
Me: – but I actually grew up in the area.
[Good save, and a decent delaying action. If he takes the bait, I can redirect the conversation to local childhood reminiscence. He’s had two margaritas, and they’re starting to affect him – talking a bit too loud, and his expansive hand gestures bespeak more than typical New Jerseyan gregariousness. That could be to my advantage… unless it makes him too bold].
Party Guest: Coming back home for family, or is it a work thing?
[Shit, okay, he asked about work. This could be the endgame… but he’s foolishly thrown me a lifeline. I can’t lie, the hosts already know the real answer, but I can dissemble by playing to his fatherly conversational weak spots.]
Me: I moved for work, but my family does live nearby, so that’s a nice perk as well. I get to see my nephews a lot more often! The eldest just turned five.
[That should do it. My nephews are about the same age as his kids, which will build a rapport and redirect the conversation back to himself. It should be easy to get him talking about his daughters. Unless… oh no. He’s two drinks in on a Sunday night and working on a third in front of his children, while his wife stays home. She wakes up earlier than him, potentially much earlier. He’s been talking about the economy a lot. Damn, recently laid off? He’s going to focus on work.]
Party Guest: That’s awesome. What sort of job?
[The brilliant bastard. He’s good, he’s very good. Truly a worthy opponent. Pierced right through every single gambit and went straight to the Question. Have I met my match? Will I finally be humbled? It’s do or die.]
Me: I’m an engineer at an energy company.
[Alea iacta est.]
Party Guest: Energy?
[Last chance. He's intelligent and fiendishly clever, but hope against hope that he’s more well-read in Aristotle than Rutherford. This should dead-end him]
Me: Nuclear, kind of. Fusion, not fission.
Party Guest: Oh, that sounds cool.
Me: Mhm. So, how do you know Bill and Stephanie?
Party Guest: I was in film school with Bill. Have you seen his documentary?
[Ha. Another victory, all the sweeter for having been hard-fought. Time for a celebratory cornichon, maybe some crackers]
Janelle Monae at Met Gala 2025, in custom Thom Browne
Janelle Monae at the Afterparty
Ugbad Abdi at the 2025 Met Gala
My entry for the Met Gala 2025 theme: Superfine: Tailoring Black Style
Suit made by me
submitted by @edwardian-girl-next-door 🖤🩷
Has there ever been an anti-anti pope (not the pope, not an anti pope but a secret third thing)
You mean the Pisan popes?
So we had the pope in Rome and the antipope in Avignon. This whole thing was called the Western Schism.
There was a council and a conclave, with cardinals from both sides that attended a council and appointed a THIRD pope in Pisa in the hopes that it would end the Western Schism (spoiler alert, it did not).
See it was kind of difficult to determine if it was valid because only one cardinal that attended was appointed BEFORE the schism. The others had all been appointed by either the popes or the antipopes and so they were evidently biased.
They did try to agree to abdicate at the same time at one point but then they both went back on it...
There was also discussion about wether they could even call for a council because the pope is the one who is supposed to do that. So both Pisan popes are largely considered as antipopes and the roman line is considered the 'true' line of popes.
So eventually the Roman pope agreed to resign, the Pisan pope was removed. The Avignon pope was not co-operating so he was excommunicated and a whole new pope was elected.
The Avignon popes kind of kept going for a little bit longer but eventually the next Avignon pope resigned too and recognised the Roman pope as the true pope
The thing about parrots is that they will fuck with you for fun. On the outside a parrot is a small flying dinosaur with bolt cutters on its face. On the inside a parrot is a toddler with a GED who you might have unwisely trapped in your house. Humans are usually the most entertaining thing in a parrot's environment (aside from other parrots).
My parrot knows all the words for his favorite foods: peanut, berry, carrot, and noodle are the most frequently requested. I often demonstrate how good he is at naming foods when I have guests over by saying, "Ripley, what is this?" And Ripley, seeing a roasted, unsalted peanut in my hand, will answer, "a peanut." He does this for many foods, multiple times a day, knowing that if he answers correctly I'll give him several of whatever he can name.
I also offer my houseguests a chance to participate, holding a treat about a foot away from Ripley and asking him what it is. Ripley is always very gentle when treats are involved. But for the past few months, when someone he doesn't know attempts this trick with him, he deliberately gets the answer wrong.
"What is this?" my friend asks Ripley as she holds out a peanut. He confidently answers, "a berry." We laugh. "No, what is it!" she tries again. "A berry." She laughs.
I hand her dried cranberry. "What's this?" she asks, holding it up. Without hesitation Ripley answers "a peanut." She holds up the peanut again. "What is it!!" "A berry," he answers. Both my friend and my parrot laugh. Apparently this joke is worth more to my bird than getting the treat.
Sir Terry Pratchett is a master of the written word but he ain’t shit for the way he trained me to accept dumb naming conventions because i got three missed calls on my phone from Scam Likely and I spent like half a day wondering who I knew named Scam.
Astronaut readjusts to life back on Earth
> Don’t give him a baby for a while.
BIG TRANS RIGHTS UK TO DO LIST POST. PLEASE READ, DISSEMINATE, AND DO THE SHIT IN IT.
Trans Actual: We heard last week that the anti-trans lot write to Keir Starmer very regularly, some write at least once a week. And that’s all he’s hearing. He needs to hear from us. Write to him today, then put a note in your diary to write to him again next week, and the next...
Read our guide: buff.ly/4D2xGXs
@natacha.bsky.social
The best advice right now, from @janefae.bsky.social; If you're trans or non-binary, If you're a cis ally, If you oppose stripping an entire demographic of their human rights, Write; Use theyworkforyou.comcontact.no10.gov.uk Be polite, but WRITE. NOW.
Comedian @brainmage.bsky.social:
A bit rambly, but I think I got my point across. Cis folks! Write to your MP! It's real easy to do www.writetothem.com And important! Try to also ask specific things so you actually get a specific answer instead of a boilerplate one!
[TEXT:
Dear Fleur Anderson,
I am writing to you today to once again express concern at how trans rights are being eroded by the Labour government. I have previously written to you before about this (see case ref FA, FA &c.).
Today's letter is about the recent Supreme Court ruling which included in it a judgement about the definition of "women" under the Equality Act 2010.
This ruling is appalling. I am a cisgender man. I have trans friends and family, as I also have cis friends and family. The rhetoric whipped up around trans people is not a belief held by the vast majority of the UK population, and there is good evidence that it is pushed from extreme sectors of the American Evalgelical Christian right, who wish to use it as the thin end of the wedge to erode women's rights to contraceptive medications and abortions, as well as the rights of gay people to get married (see this piece in the Guardian, for example https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/09/us-religious-right-lgbtq-global-culture-fronts). Crucially, even were this not the thin end of a wedge, it would still be a cruel, harmful and unjustifiable attack on a minority group who are just trying to live their lives.
With regard to the ruling that trans women cannot use women's toilets, this ruling is both unenforcable, and will only result in more women, trans and cis, being attacked for not looking "sufficiently feminine". This will not protect anyone. I have a dear friend who is a cisgender woman who is over six feet tall. She has, since the "trans issue" has been pushed further into the national conversation, faced increasing holsility and fear when using toilets in public. My wife, who is also a cis woman and has previously had short hair and dressed in a gender non-conforming way, also been met with harassment when using toilets. I am not saying this to suggest that cis women's experiences are more important than trans women's - I also have many trans friends who have reported experiences of public transphobia - I am instead saying this to emphasis that, in spite of the anti-trans activists' insistance that they wish to "protect women", the results of their actions lead to exactly the opposite outcome.
All this ruling will do is empower people to harass women - both cis and trans - who are just going about their day.
The ruling is also unenforcable. Will there be an attendent checking the genitals of people using these bathrooms? If so, by what basis will they check? Will they check everyone, or only women deemed "insufficiently feminine"? If that is the case, please explain how this is anything other than a regressive, patriarchal step that will set back women's rights.
It has also been widely-reported the the Supreme Court did not consult with any transgender people in its ruling, but five dedicated anti-trans organisations were permitted to submit lengthy arguments. I find that staggering.
In summary, please directly address the following points in your reply:
1) Do you support this ruling? 2) Do you agree with Kier Starmer, whose spokesperson recently confirmed that he no longer agrees that trans women are women, and that trans women should use men's bathrooms? 3) If you do support the ruling, or agree with the Prime Minister that trans women should use men's bathrooms, please clearly state how this will be enforced, including the criteria that would deem a person insufficiently feminine, and therefore require intervention, as well as the scope of the intervention 4) If this ruling is upheld, and trans women cannot use female toilets, and feel unsafe in male toilets, where do you expect them to go when in public, given the relative infrequency of mixed-gender toilets? 5) If you do NOT support the ruling, what do you intend to do to push back against this, given your letter to me on December 15th 2023, case ref FA, where you said "I am a strong supporter of trans and LGBTQIA+ rights and I am disappointed that we still have such a long way to go. The safety, dignity, personal freedom and equal opportunity of all people is very important to me."?
I look forward to your reply.
Yours sincerely,
Guy Kelly
P.S. If you are a staffer reading, categorising, and responding to these on behalf of my MP, please think very carefully about the role you are playing, how can you can take an opportunity to stand up for and help protect a marginalised group, and do your part to be on the right side of history.
@nancymk.bsky.social
Want to contact your MP about the Supreme Court ruling?
@transsolidarity.bsky.social has created an MP letter template to help get you started:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17g6X6jR2Xa6mPXY0hTib089xIdzmu5Y_2t6fVfHiDKQ/mobilebasic
if you're not either in the uk or from the uk, please feel free to just reblog. if you're bri'ish or resident here: get writing.
"But I've already written."
Girl (non-gender specific), the TERFs are writing every day. they have an uncontested field. Outweigh their bullshit. There's more of us than there are of them. Make it LOOK like that.
@madgrad
Another stone/creature.
I made a small series of these, I'm pretty sure I've posted these before - but I'm looking at them again because I like it when the edge becomes so important in a piece, and want to capture that in some new work.
Part 3: Combining shapes, braids, and textures! And utilizing parts and fros!
Anrealage Fall 2025 Ready-To-Wear
dandelions deserve more respect than they get
you say “weeds” I say “widespread non-native edible plant and early-blooming pollinator resource that is not considered invasive because it behaves politely and does not cause deleterious ecological consequences”
Dress
c. 1901
unknown maker
American
RISD Museum
I studied this in class for about 4 months, the idea is for it to be perceived differently at different tides. At certain points in the day you can walk all the way through it! If you like it you might also enjoy the (slightly more anatomically correct) snake he did for his "Empires" piece as part of the Monumenta series in Paris https://francetravelplanner.com/go/paris/museums/monumenta.html
150 meter aluminum sea serpent skeleton sculpture in Nantes, France. Artist Huang Yong Ping
Sorry if you have to see ads, here's my cat Cassie to soften the blow
Women's pocket watch in Art Deco style to be opened,
Gruen Watch Manufacturing Company, Biel, Switzerland, around 1920
Dorotheum
first you create the circle then you fold yourself through it recursively until you find what you are looking for it's a subtle art
hello fellow non-Black tumblr users. welcome to my saw trap. if you'd like to leave, please name one (1) Black woman author who is not Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Octavia Butler, or N.K. Jemisin. bonus points if she's published a book in the last five years.
Search is turning up nothing, but that's Tumblr even if there is something, so:
Have I told you guys about my many adventures with the brothel massage parlour around the corner from my house yet?