Even In The Tags I Ramble - Blog Posts

I figured I’d go ahead and reblog the updated version, because it is rather relieving to see the inside looking recognizable, though damaged. 

(Also, I ramble about guilt regarding what I do & don’t reblog after the cut.)

Of course, people are also posting now about other important fires in culturally significant buildings that have happened recently and asking why this one is getting all the attention; and, of course, as bad things happening in the world right now go, there are doubtless a great many of them doing more immediate harm to people. Obviously, humans are more important than buildings. In short, it’s making me feel guilty that this is basically the first news story I’ve shared on my tumblr, and there are probably more significant things I should’ve reblogged in the past. I mean, I’m pretty sure I still have things about the recent floods not far from us in the midwest sitting in my drafts somewhere. The fact is that typically I take a long time to process a post, because I am the sort of person who takes a long time to think through what I want to say--and then I probably say too much, but I still always feel like I’m never saying everything I mean to or would like to. 

In short, I am not the blog to follow for timely commentary on things, because I take weeks to process the average post. The first Notre Dame post I shared just struck an ideal storm of coincidences for me to have the time and motivation to post it in a timely manner. When there are other terrible things going on in the world that it seems I should be posting about, know that if I have heard about them, then I likely care about them and am praying about them. There are just always so many things. This is why my prayers so often escalate to “bless everyone, God, because everyone is dealing with something or another that is troubling them in some way, and everyone needs you”. I know I really should be more specific in my prayers, but it’s also true that everyone needs God, and the more I hear about the problems of the world, the more people I feel the need to pray for, and so that’s where I wind up. 

Since my first ‘in short’ didn’t work, I’ll try one again: in short, I see these things and I care about them, and I’m sorry if my reblogging isn’t always balanced towards the most important human disasters. This is foremost a multi-fandom blog, and maybe I shouldn’t have dabbled in news at all, but this one just struck me for a moment.

Sorry this post devolved more into my guilt about all the things I don’t reblog rather than an update on Notre Dam. 

notre dame is burning.

this is ok.

it has happened before. it will happen again. it has been lost before. it will be lost again. and again. and again. and again. art and architecture are transient, and temporary, and 850 years may seem like a lot to the individual, who will live maybe 100 if they are very lucky and very healthy, but even the pyramids at saqqara have only existed for about 6000 years and that’s still not all that much, if you consider the grand scheme of things.

yes, this is terrible. as someone who is deeply religious and literally a professional historian with a focus on art and architecture, this is terrible. im mourning. im gutted. im horrified and upset and miserable. but.

it’s not over.

victor hugo wrote hunchback because notre dame du paris was in the process of collapsing and falling apart, and revitalized the entire world’s focus and love for this church, and that was not even 200 years ago. it led to it being renovated.

the roof has fallen in. the scars of fires are on its buttresses. the rose window has fallen out. the beams and piers have collapsed. the spire has toppled. the stones have suffered, and will suffer again, but it is not gone.

renovation work is essential. sometimes things collapse and burn and break and have to come back. it’s not a terrorist attack, it’s renovation, an accident, but we have so much evidence, history, carefully documented everything on one of the most studied places in the world.

it’s not the end.

I watched this episode tonight, and I must say, I’m not sure if I was in just the right mood or what, but I don’t think I’ve ever shipped anything on the Orville quite this much before. Like, I find Claire and Isaac and Ed and the Krill lady intriguing, and I root for Ed and Kelly, but none of them give me quite this many feels. 

I mean, it was clear from the start that this was going to be a tragic ship, and in a way perhaps it was that underpinning of inevitable tragedy that made it so beautiful. But like... it was so sweet and moving and I felt so much for Gordon. I wanted it to last even though it obviously couldn’t; I wanted them to be happy. 

Now I want them to develop time travel for real so he can go back and meet the real Laura, not just the computer-synthesized version of her. Perhaps this is the perfect time for a Doctor Who crossover AU...

Leighton Meester as Laura Huggins in The Orville 2x11

Forget what I said before tonight’s episode about possibly wanting Isaac’s betrayal to stand for the sake of emotional intensity, by the way. Identity part 2 handled things beautifully and I couldn’t’ve hoped for better. While it might’ve been interesting to have all of Isaac’s past interactions so profoundly undermined by the realization that he was simply a genocidal Cyberman playing his role all along, it’ll be more fun in the long term to have an artificial intelligence who believed he was incapable of emotions realizing he has them and figuring out what to do with them amidst being cut off and isolated from his people, all the while having to heal the wounds his betrayal caused.

Also, human!Isaac was great and I love how his expressions are so level and robotic yet vaguely bemused with hints of wonderment. They’re just so on point for a human manifestation of an intellectually curious robot. I’m glad I can go back to enjoying him properly. 

I’d like to do more than that.

I was genuinely sad that Mr. Penn got killed off (again), but at least his demise facilitated this great Nygmobblepot moment. Ugh, I don’t know, Mr. Penn was weirdly sweet and I actually quite liked his... odd fondness for/relationship with Oswald, and I’m glad we got this episode where they hashed out their issues. I was happy that Oswald didn’t want to kill him. 

I actually quite like the idea of Penn being part of the accidental party on their secret submarine, too, with Os and Ed and Selena and Barbara and her unborn Jimling (I’m sure she’d strangle me for calling it that but too late) and Penn aaaaalll together in a confined space. Now I want that fic. Maybe I should write that fic... but I’m already working on a season 5 AU with Martin... but maybe I could incorporate this phenomenal cosmic party in an itty bitty submarine? We’ll see.

But anyways, yes. I’m sad for what befell Penn, but the moment of mutual acceptance and maniacal Nygmobblepot laughter that followed had all their strange, dark sweetness. I’m happy to see them bonding back together :)

Guess what my new phone background is :)

I finally decided it was time to change away from my Christmas screensaver (it was Os, Ed, and Martin decorating their Christmas tree by random-fandom-art, partly inspired by a prompt I sent, which I reblogged a while ago--it’s currently on page 4 of my blog, though obviously that will change--side note, how cool is it that you can suggest things to artists on here and then the art happens? Epic.) 

So this is my new home screen. I always love Spicy Watson’s colors so much; they’re just so vivid and cheerful and the art really pops. I also love the details of the pattern on Os’s robe. Perhaps the best thing about this piece in particular, though, (I’m sounding like a wine-sipping art critic right now, aren’t I... woops) are Os and Ed’s expressions. I just love how straight up annoyed Oswald looks that Ed has gone and done something silly and gotten himself injured; his eyebrows could not more clearly say “again?”. Ed looks so bashful and embarrassed, yet there’s also that edge of a smile he’s barely biting back, and he looks like he’s actually quite happy to be having Oswald patching him up. I also love the purple outlines on Oswald’s hair because purple, and the fact that Oswald has canonically had purple highlights is still one of my favorite things about his fashion choices. Because purple. In conclusion, they may annoy each other, but they’ll always take care of each other. (That was a completely non sequitur use of “in conclusion” but I’m standing by it.) 

-Oswald, really, I’m fine.

-If you come home like this one more time, you’re sleeping on the couch.

[please don’t repost anywhere]

Wow, Mars!? I know that’s kind of bad but it’s also kind of awesome. 

We live a mile south of the MN/IA border (we live in Iowa but the nearest town is in Minnesota, just 6 miles north), and this is not my first -20F day. It’s a funny thing, stepping outside when it’s this cold; I find it feels as though it’s wet, not because of any moisture, but just because it’s so cold that my body reads it as wet from the drastic temperature drop. 

But, back to that exciting part about Mars. 

I’ve often compared putting on all the pieces of my winter gear to putting on a space suit, and I’m not going to lie, I sometimes go full mental role play when it’s this cold and I’m going out to feed animals in the barn. Like, I start mentally referring to the house as the exploratory base and my car as the rover and I’ll say I’m going out on a solo surface mission and whatnot; if my scarf slips off my face, I have a helmet breach, and so on. (I could probably pick more accurate scientific space terms, especially after reading the Martian, but it’s usually just in my head so I don’t typically pay too much attention to accuracy). Apparently, I never realized how semi-accurate I was actually being! 

So wait, wait though. Are you actually telling me that the winter gear currently in my possession--knee-length down coat rated to ~ -20F, wool scarf, felt-lined wool mittens, wool hat, snow boots, snow pants, etc... Is what you’re saying that with the clothing I currently own, I could potentially walk around on the surface of Mars without actually needing a space suit?? I mean, I guess there are also other factors, like oxygen and pressure and things, but I’m suddenly feeling like a patched together homemade spacesuit made from the winter gear I already have and like maybe a scuba diving tank or something is way more viable than I had previously considered. It’s a good thing I don’t have any way of quickly transporting myself to Mars right now or the high level of childish space energy currently flooding me might make me foolish enough to try it. 

Also I just had this moment where I thought, “it’s like I’m in space!” and then remembered that the earth actually is a planet that is in space, so, technically... I am in space. So, in conclusion, stay warm, my fellow space travellers, and may your space suits/winter gear serve you well :)

Fun Fact for my friends caught in the US Polar Vrotex:

It’s 19-20 F (-7 C) whole-ass degrees at the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antartica.  

Google says it’s -7 F (-22 C) in St. Paul, MN.

Congratulate it’s nearly 30 degrees warmer in antartica rn, stay toasty and be real smug about living through this.