magic-and-mythology-and-owls

Latest Posts by magic-and-mythology-and-owls

Is it hard to improve and shit when you have hundreds (thousands?) of people immediately telling you either you're incredibly talented or like the worst ever to try something??? I feel like it would all feel arbitrary no matter what

Obviously getting direct feedback on anything I want, whenever I want is an absolute blessing for my creative growth. Everything is arbitrary - that's why you don't pursue hobbies for someone other than yourself.

🗡️🍷✨

I finally made the meme I've had in my head for over a year

Fuck it, Elden Ring text posts

Since Im ranting about The State of Things, Ill keep going.

I just saw 3 anti AI things in a row (good) and like aside from the fact that AI is stupid and wrong a lot or the catastrophic environmental impact, but do people really, *really* not see how AI is Bad as a concept period?

Like, The Youths who use it to cheat, especially at a University level, do they REALLY think the point of class is to get the answers? Your professor knows the answers. They are not literally asking you to find the answers they need like your boss might. The Point is to show that you know how to get Good Answers on your own and apply them correctly or to build the skills to solve problems? No one expects you to unveil Brand New Information. Do they know that?

And then the people using it to cheat at life, you know the point of reading a book isnt JUST to know what happens right? Like, theres more? I spoiled myself for Nosferatu bc I am afraid of Horror movies and while I KNOW what happens now, Im fully aware I'm missing out. I do not want to miss out! I want to experience it myself! Why would you choose not to experience something that interests you? (Unless, like me, youre a scared little bitch who will get nightmares but at least I would never claim to have Seen The Movie now).

The only metaphor I can come up with is a snow cone food truck who advertises theyre Real Snow and people get their cup of shaved ice and say "now I know what snow is like." Do you really think that???? I feel like so many people are admitting that yes they would think they get the snow experience from a snow cone and I feel insane because it is absolutely not the same, its but one little point in a much bigger whatever. You want the art but dont want to make the art??? You want the fic but dont want it to have any heart?? You have a book written by a human but want a robot to interpret it for you? Whyyy????

Second metaphor, I apologize. Its been a long time since I took Philosophy (2003?) but it almost reminds me of like a reverse Allegory of the Cave. We are currently outside the cave with the ability to see things as they are and people are choosing instead to go in the cave and see a weak projection instead and then arguing that its Good without any hint of embarrassment. Well Im embarrassed for them. They're embarrassing.

A demon simply called The Brother. It doesn't have siblings or any family, and it's ambiguous whether that creature itself is even male at all. It just keeps turning everything and everyone into broth.

Okay, so, friends. Occasionally I see an American post on here about “guillotine the rich,” and it turns out that “rich” means “anyone making over $50k.”

We need to clear this shit up REAL fast, because otherwise it’s gonna wind up like the French Revolution, where more middle class and poor people were killed for being “class traitors” than actual nobles. (Did you know that France has more nobles today than during the French Revolution? While there were a few showy executions, many nobles did just fine or experienced minor setbacks.)

If someone makes $60,000 a year, they are making about twice as much as a full time worker making minimum wage in California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, or Washington State.

Brian Thompson, the CEO of United HealthCare who was just assassinated in New York City, earned $10 million a year, which means he earned 333 times minimum wage in those states. Basically, he cleared an annual minimum wage salary in just over a day. And that “rich” person making $60k/year that you want to guillotine? He made their salary in a bit over two days of a year.

So he was rich, right?

Well. Tesla is trying to give Elon Musk a pay package of $101 billion. That is 10,100 times what Brian Thompson earned and 3,366,667 times more than a minimum wage worker. (Tesla hasn’t been successful yet because of a complicated lawsuit from a shareholder, but they’ll get there.) If you are a minimum wage worker, Elon Musk makes more every SECOND than you do in a year. And that “rich” person who you want to guillotine? He makes their salary in about 1.6 seconds. Even when he’s sleeping.

Now, remember. The Muskrat also is the head of SpaceX, the Boring Company, X.ai, and X.com, so this is just ONE pay package for him.

What I’m saying is — you have much more in common when it comes to economic grievances with someone earning $60,000 (or even $200,000) than the ultra wealthy that have real power. They are not the people you should expend your energy on.

Lately I feel so jaded when it comes to violence and abuse against women in media. It feels like it's everywhere, especially in books and tv spaces and I'm so bleh about it. I don't even have a better word just bleh, I'm sick of it. I'm tired. It feels draining.

I'm sick of being recommended movies or shows that romanticize abuse and male violence, I'm sick of enemies to lovers being so prevalent and popular when 99.9% of the time they're not enemies it's just oppressor x oppressed or abused x victim. I'm sick of people acting like things can't be interesting or high stakes or "realistic" if the female character isn't being physically or emotionally hurt. I'm sick of male characters who are no better than actual shit stains being the favourite book/fictional boyfriend and seeing them romanticized everywhere yet the women they abuse aren't good enough. I'm sick of female authors and female audiences spreading and lapping this shit up. I'm sick of the apathy that it's so very clearly causing. I'm sick of the normalization because it's "just fiction" or "it's fantasy". I'm sick of dark romance being an excuse for a r*pists wet dream to be published and forgetting about the romance part. I'm sick of the rampant misogny that it gives space to

I'm sick of the desensitization and the romanticization and the unrelenting onslaught of these themes. I'm not saying it should never be present in media ever but jesus

10 Non-Lethal Injuries to Add Pain to Your Writing

While lethal injuries often take center stage, non-lethal injuries can create lasting effects on characters, shaping their journeys in unique ways. If you need a simple way to make your characters feel pain during a scene, here are some ideas: 

Sprained Ankle

A common injury that can severely limit mobility, forcing characters to adapt their plans and experience frustration as they navigate their environment.

Rib Contusion

A painful bruise on the ribs can make breathing difficult and create tension, especially during action scenes, where every breath becomes a reminder of vulnerability.

Concussion

This brain injury can lead to confusion, dizziness, and mood swings, affecting a character’s judgment and creating a sense of unpredictability in their actions.

Fractured Finger

A broken finger can complicate tasks that require fine motor skills, causing frustration and emphasizing a character’s dependence on their hands.

Road Rash

The raw, painful skin resulting from a fall can symbolize struggle and endurance, highlighting a character's resilience in the face of physical hardship.

Shoulder Dislocation

This injury can be excruciating and often leads to an inability to use one arm, forcing characters to confront their limitations while adding urgency to their situation.

Deep Laceration

A cut that requires stitches can evoke visceral imagery and tension, especially if the character has to navigate their surroundings while in pain.

Burns

Whether from fire, chemicals, or hot surfaces, burns can cause intense suffering and lingering trauma, serving as a physical reminder of a character’s past mistakes or battles.

Pulled Muscle

This can create ongoing pain and restrict movement, providing an opportunity for characters to experience frustration or the need to lean on others for support.

Tendonitis

Inflammation of a tendon can cause chronic pain and limit a character's ability to perform tasks they usually take for granted, highlighting their struggle to adapt and overcome.

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks? 

Check out the rest of Quillology with Haya; a blog dedicated to writing and publishing tips for authors! Instagram Tiktok

I like how Falin experiences the opposite of Laius being nerfed by autism. She’s rendered op by autism. Everyone is like wow Falin is such a free spirit and so mysterious and intelligent and powerful and kind I want her fuck her brother though and Falin is just there splitting a thought bubble with Laius about what a big bug they just saw tastes like based on its observable taxonomic properties.

Your personal triggers and squicks do not get to determine what kind of art other people make.

People make shit. It's what we do. We make shit to explore, to inspire, to explain, to understand, but also to cope, to process, to educate, to warn, to go, "hey, wouldn't that be fucked up? Wild, right?"

Yes, sure, there are things that should be handled with care if they are used at all. But plenty more things are subjective. Some things are just not going to be to your tastes. So go find something that is to your tastes and stop worrying so much about what other people are doing and trying to dictate universal moral precepts about art based on your personal triggers and squicks.

I find possession stories super fucking triggering if I encounter them without warning, especially if they function as a sexual abuse metaphor. I'm not over here campaigning for every horror artist to stop writing possession stories because they make me feel shaky and dissociated. I just check Does The Dog Die before watching certain genres, and I have my husband or roommate preview anything I think might upset me so they can give me more detail. And if I genuinely don't think I can't handle it, I don't watch it. It's that simple.

I will never hate Taryn and I stand by that.

I think everyone dogs on Taryn because this is Jude’s pov. We get an insider look into how much she’s hurt and that it’s coming from her own twin. But if Jude can break bread then the taryn’s haters should to. If they dislike taryn as a person, they need to take that hate up with the man who made her the she is: Madoc.

I also have a head cannon that in the future Jude and Taryn continue to grow as people, now that they can finally get out of the constant survival mode. I think they grow closer the older they get.

you're absolutely correct, nonnie.

i think people will be shocked to find out how Taryn-neutral i am. despite everything i've said to defend her, my thought when finishing the series for the first time was exactly that: if Jude can forgive her, then we should be able to, as well. it was a very simple, no bells-and-whistles forgiveness. i think Taryn is extremely interesting, i think her character is poised and ready for a beautiful arc, but i wouldn't trust her as far as i could throw her.

also, i've said this before and i will say it again: Madoc getting every single exemption and grace from the same people who condemn Taryn to shame on main is some kind of bullshit.

the mental gymnastics you'd have to do to say that the dude who continuously tries to manipulate Jude and her actions for his own gain, who continuously patronises/underestimates her throughout the series, and who straight up murdered her parents in cold blood in front of her cos he felt slighted, is more redeemable than a teenage girl who was 1) just trying to survive in a cutthroat world and 2) honestly was just doing what Madoc told her to do? would be laughable if it weren't so damn sad.

this isn't to knock on Madoc, either. i think he's a fantastic villain, an extremely fascinating character, and i love the dynamic between him and Jude. but there's no denying he's done some straight up reprehensible things to all of his daughters. and the lengths some people will go to defend him while at the same time tarnishing Taryn's name is wild to me.

now, i'm not saying people can't dislike a character just because. Taryn is Not a likeable character. so if your opinion of her is "she's just not for me", i think that's valid.

what i am saying, however, is Not Liking Things to the point where you make hate posts using main fandom tags, send people asks demanding they defend why they like a certain character, start discourse in the comments of posts celebrating the character you dislike, is the antithesis of fandom.

fandom is meant to be a joyous celebration of the fictional worlds/characters/things we love. if you don't like something in fiction, that's fine. but the moment you make your poor opinion of something other people's problem is the moment i take issue.

–Em 🖤🗡

p.s. i love and agree with your HC. i think that is an accurate representation of irl sibling dynamics, as well.

In Defence of Taryn Duarte

more theories/analysis/opinions

I made a sketch of Annabeth. I actually wanted to make an actual picture but...procrastination.

how to fucking flag pedophiles

call me the fucking ~internet police~ BUT I DIDN’T KNOW UNTIL TODAY THAT THERE’S LITERALLY A COMMUNITY OF “PEDOPHILE POSITIVITY” ON THIS HELLSITE

THERE ARE PEOPLE OPENLY ADMITTING THAT THEY ARE ATTRACTED TO CHILDREN/CONSUMING CHILD PORN ON THIS WEBSITE!?!??! THERE’S 13 YEAR OLDS ON HERE!!!

so my dudes, how to flag “maps” (minor attracted people aka pedophiles)

1. click “flag this blog”

2. click “this violates tumblr’s community guildlines”

3. click “someone is at risk of harm”

4. click “harm to minors”

5. type “pedophile” in the box

I first saw your posts on Instagram. And now I feel like I’m meeting a celebrity every time I see your posts here

ITS YOU! IVE SEEN YOU ON EVERY SINGLE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM THAT EXISTS

Despite the fact that I’m only on two?

i think that the portrayal of women in the pjoverse is. interesting! like i am fond of how clarisse is portrayed like she’s not extremely compassionate and definitely not feminine but she isn’t vilified because of it. however i do find it odd how drew IS villainized for her femininity and showing that she is attracted to men and isn’t scared to get what she wants. it’s faux feminism at its finest as rick tries so hard to be progressive and create ‘strong women’ that he creates ‘women who are only strong if they don’t act *traditionally feminine and obey my ideals of what a woman is’ rather than actually creating feminine three dimensional female characters and showing that a stereotypically feminine personality does not equal weakness. it’s just! very odd to me ..

Seriously. Do y’all not remember Hazel cursing Octavian out after she brought Percy to him? Or all the other instances she cursed...

It's funny how fanon and canon versions of Nico and Hazel are completely reversed because like Hazel is cannonically very bold and sort of like a rebel almost? She also curses and stuff (unlike the fanon "omg hazel faints if she hears someone curse" version) and whereas Nico is rather polite and not at all rude and mean as some people interpret him, interesting how their personalities are reversed in fanon interpretations

I have issues with the Hunters of Artemis

I fear this could be quite controversial with how popular the hunters are, but it’s something I really have to say and it’s not like I can lose followers over this    The hunters of Artemis aren’t the icons you think they are. Bold take, I know, but I hope you still hear me out. Still there? Nice. Okay, first thing.

The hunters aren’t feminists. I read that every now and then, but no, they aren’t feminists. They are misandrists, aka sexists. And it’s really not funny. They hate men, think of them as lower than women, as untrustworthy, as weaker than women, etc. the list goes on. Which for me is reason enough to be iffy about them, but I have more. They also hate women or at least think lowly of women who choose to date. Granted, this follows out of my first “argument” but it’s still a yikes from me. Talk about women supporting women. On that topic. They aren’t women. Well, technically they are, but they almost exclusively get recruited as young girls. As Artemis said, the average age of her hunters is about 12 years old. 12. Of course, it makes sense, at that age they likely haven’t fallen in love yet which makes the choice easy. But honestly, that’s exactly what I have issues with. They don’t really choose. They have no idea what they could potentially lose, it’s not an informed choice. This might be just me who feels weird about it, but since this is all about my issues wit them, I’ll mention it anyway. I also dislike their opinions about the aphrodite kids, but honestly, this is part of a bigger problem I have with Ricks portrayal of the aphrodite cabin and it’s implications, so I’ll make another separate post about that (maybe). I also wanted to write a bit about the hunters as lesbian/aroace icons but that isn’t that negative and the post is already getting long so I’ll leave it out for now

I see people complain about the seven not acting like an actual group of teenagers esp. because they didn't do crazy group stuff together but honestly, maybe they just weren't that close? Like, we know they weren't all friends, why should they act like it? Just something I was thinking about...

what if—and bear with me here—annabeth isn’t the the overly-emotional character that everyone makes her out to be and defends to the point of no return. what if she—and you’re not gonna believe this—is reacting as any normal person would in a situation of her kind? and even crazier, out of the two of them, it’s more likely that percy is the more emotional one, because he suppresses his emotions so severely that they manifest in the demonstration of his powers. those powers, being some of the harshest and grandest in the series, acting as a visual for exactly how much emotion he has bottled up inside

Please, no! Not Bart Simpson xD

I’ll never get that image out of my head again

why is jason’s official art so yellow?

Kinda true. Honestly, Rick sometimes seems to “forget” the lasting impact abuse can have on people. Not sure I can pinpoint an actual quote or passage, but sometimes I feel like he ...maybe not should, but could have portrayed the lasting damage more

Tw: domestic violence

Who thought it was a good idea for Hedge to go on the Argo II? Like here are three teens who were physically/verbally abused as children and we’re sticking them on a boat with this aggressive man who’s constantly yelling and swinging a bat around. Can anyone else see how Percy, Hazel, and Leo might not vibe with that very well?

Me: The way that the fandom writes and draws Piper McLean is racist.

White fans: It’s not racist! That’s how she’s written in canon!

Me: Yeah, and canon is racist too.

White fans:

Not sure this should be my first post but eh.

Okay, Listen. I love Leo, but damn, he was kinda mean to Frank in Mark of Athena. First time reading I just went over it, but now I’m rereading it and man, some of that stuff really stings. I feel bad for Frank