Reblog if you’re an active witchcraft blog, if you support gender nonconformity, if you like herbs and other edible plants, if you support and welcome people of other religions who do witchcraft, if your favorite plant is dandelions, if you’re interested in learning more about divination, or if you have too many not enough candles
“Stop saying 15 year olds with weird interests are cringe, they’re 15” this is true however you should also stop saying adults with weird interests are cringe because who gives a shit
To wit:
I want to share some wisdom from my high school art teacher.
In my AP Art class, there was a girl who was just starting to experiment with mixed media. At this point she was still playing around, trying to decide what direction she wanted to go with her portfolio. So one critique day, she brought in an abstract canvas with some rhinestone highlights and painted and real peacock feathers. She loved sparkles and peacock feathers so she thought she’d try introducing them a *little*. And after everyone had given some input, the teacher gave her his advice, VERY roughly paraphrased here:
“So here’s the thing… I do not like this style. These are just elements that do not speak to me personally, but I see that you like them, and you’re doing interesting things with them.
“My biggest critique is, I only merely *dislike* this piece. I want you to make me HATE it. Go crazy with the things that you like. Don’t hold back trying to make it palatable to people like me. Because I am NEVER going to like it. And if the audience does not like it, it should drive them crazy seeing how much YOU love it.”
Her portfolio was chock full of neon colors and glitter and rhinestones and splashes of peacock feathers and it was a delight. Our teacher despised every piece lol, but she got great marks and I think even won some awards. And more importantly, she was happy and proud of the results. Because she didn’t limit herself by trying to appeal to people who were never going to enjoy what she enjoyed.
Takeaway here: be as cringe as you want. Don’t limit yourself based on other ppl’s tastes. They’re not you, and you are incredible 💕
“My biggest critique is, I only merely *dislike* this piece. I want you to make me HATE it. Go crazy with the things that you like. Don’t hold back trying to make it palatable to people like me. Because I am NEVER going to like it. And if the audience does not like it, it should drive them crazy seeing how much YOU love it.”
“lol you realize Barbie is only a marketing movie, right? it’s just SELLING STUFF, you know that right? capitalism? lol?”
You’re too late.
Like, you’re not wrong, but you are wildly late on this one.
No one is under the impression that this movie isn’t marketing a toy line.
But that toy line? Has been on this earth longer than you’ve been. Barbie is old. Barbie is everywhere. We’ve all seen a commercial if not owned at least one Barbie doll in our lifetimes (or a knock-off you get emotionally attached to even if the weird mean girl down the street keeps making fun of it) (fuck you Christie that doll was a hero)
Advertising is everywhere. I can’t turn the TV on without ads, even on streaming services that used to brag how ad-free they were. I can’t browse social media without ads. I can’t see a movie or a show without products being “subtly” shown off.
We’re haunted by ads at every goddamn turn, we can’t even talk to an old friend from high school without them trying to sell us something.
If you think you’re making some radical grand statement by pointing out that Barbie is a toy line made by a big company that wants to sell more things… bud. We know that.
We know.
Greta Gerwig seems like she had a lot of fun with this movie, the actors had a lot of fun, the set design is fun.
No one is looking forward to Barbie because we think it’s some kind of beautiful radical anti-capitalist message just WAITING to break the world of its delusions of consumerism. God, could you imagine?
We’re looking forward to a bunch of actors dressed in pink having a lot of fun. We know the movie will make people want Barbie stuff, maybe they’ll go out and buy it, maybe they’re too broke because the world is expensive right now and we’ve got bills. But if “this movie will advertise things to you” was a dealbreaker we’d never see anything.
Because Barbie isn’t unique in this. A LOT of modern movies just want you to buy things, or admire/join the American military, etc etc. Money runs things here. Even capitalism stans know it runs everything (though they’re generally okay with it). Ads are our lives even when we use ad blockers and do our best to ignore the ones we see.
We’re seeing Barbie because it looks silly and fun, not because we’re putting it up on a pedestal expecting it to change the world. And we’re kidding and being silly when we DO act like that. Because goddammit, IT’S BARBIE. We’re acting like we acted when we played with dolls as kids, we’re PLAYING, we’re having fun. When I was a kid I absolutely pretended my Barbies could save the world and were magical and powerful. Didn’t mean she actually was.
These are toys. And we like to play. That doesn’t erase the capitalist motivations of Mattel, but it doesn’t have to mean we “support” their evils. We want to play, we want to enjoy play, even when we’re trapped in a capitalist hellscape where like 80% of our day to day fun is sold to us
The Scene: Radu returns to Romania and Castle Vladislas in the early 1990’s to kill his father and claim the throne. Stefan arrives fashionably late as usual, but fails to kill his older half brother…fleeing with his tail between his legs. Michelle and company don’t get their research grant approved so there’s no trip to Ye Olde Transylvania and they all live happily ever after.
Welcome to this reimaging on how things might go for Radu if he never fell afoul of Michelle and spent a decade or so just chilling in his dad’s fortress. Alone. Until…
The hike up to the castle ruins took longer than she thought it would. Stopping in a bit of shade, Fia wiped the sweat off her brow and squinted up into the bright midday sky. Who knew it would be so hot in Romania this time of year? She’s stripped off her jacket hours ago and contemplated skimping down to her sports bra now - this far out in the woods there was no one to see her anyways.
According to the map she’d picked up in Prejmer, the castle was only an hour’s distance through the dense brush. Fia didn’t have the best sense of direction, but she was almost positive she’d been going the right way. Why hadn’t she reached it yet?
“A GPS would be awfully handy right now,” she groused, hoisting her backpack up onto her shoulder and continuing her trek.
The stop in Prejmer wasn’t a planned one, but Fia found the town to be rather quaint. She’d spent the previous night in a little inn run by a very sweet married couple who spoke virtually no English and they’d managed most of their interaction via pantomime. Judging by how long it took for them to grasp that she wanted a room for only one night, Fia knew she’d never win a game of charades.
Hence, she now had an English-Romanian pocket dictionary downloaded on her phone. It had been only marginally helpful in ordering a coffee at a cafe across the street from the Prejmer fortress. That place, on the other hand, had a plethora of guides that spoke passable English - and she quite enjoyed the tour she had been given of the incredible, ancient structure.
Her guide that morning had been a willowy teenage girl who hadn’t been able to resist rolling her eyes just a bit when she got to the part about vampires. Until recently, Prejmer had even held an annual festival honoring the undead, something about the village making a truce with a vampire way back in the day. Her guide didn’t remember many of the details about the festival or the vampire, but assured Fia that one of the older guides could probably tell her more.
“They’re just silly stories, of course,” her guide laughed. “Let us go inside the church now. Please follow.”
Just silly stories. Fia snorted. The poor girl had no idea what kind of monster in sheep’s clothing she’d been entertaining.
Finally, the lush trees gave way to a small stone arch that led out onto a grassy graveyard. The rotting remains of wooden crosses dotted the field and just beyond, the castle loomed. For a moment, Fia simply stood and took it in. There was nothing this picturesque back home.
Time hadn’t been kind to this castle. Much of the outer structure was crumbling and aggressive ivy climbed along one entire side, finding purchase on the rough stone. One lone tower remained, its red roof flaked and open in patches. Despite its dilapidated nature, there didn’t appear to be an easy way inside.
That wasn’t a problem for Fia. As much as she would love the idea of stealth camping inside, the weather promised to hold out and a night under the stars wouldn’t be terrible if the temperature dropped a little. Still…
Exhausted, she dropped her backpack on the hill overlooking the graveyard and plopped down next to it. She could explore later, right now she desperately needed to rest her aching feet and catch her breath.
The wind lifted wisps of caramel colored hair away from her face, carrying with it the fresh scents of spruce, fir, and beech from deep inside the forest. A deeper inhale brought the richness of the soil into her nostrils. The staleness of old bones buried deep reached her next. Something else tickled her senses, something she couldn’t quite place.
Fia exhaled it away. Strange places always smelled strange. Rather than dwell on it, it was time to explore the outside of Castle Vladislas and try to find a way inside. She followed an old footpath up past the main gate and into the castle courtyard, which was surrounded by crumbling stone. There were a few still standing structures that she ducked into, surprised by how much cooler they were compared to the heat of the sun outside.
“Well, now I have to get inside,” she mumbled. “Nature’s refrigeration. Beats sleeping outside in this heat…”
It took some stumbling around the backside of the castle before she found it. It was an ornate wooden door that looked to be in pretty good shape, but the rusty hinges it sat on had definitely seen better days. Cautiously, she pushed at the door. It did not budge.
“Okay,” she said, dropping her pack. She rubbed her hands together and braced them against the door once more. “Please don’t break on me.” It was silly to plead with a door, but she could only hope the wood wouldn’t splinter as she heaved with significantly more force. The hinged protested but slowly gave with a loud squeal and the door swung inward marginally.
Fia grinned. “Just a little more.” Once she had enough space to squeeze in, she stepped back and admired her work. No damage - at least, none that was visible. Her backpack was kicked inside first and then Fia slipped sideways into the cold, stone interior of Castle Vladislas.
Line break
Awareness came back to him quickly that night. Often it was slow, consciousness trickling back into him like water dripping down limestone, but not this night. Stiffly, he rose from his crypt and let a stale wheeze escape from unused lungs.
Radu slid his body from the stone slab and scrambled upright onto ungainly limbs. Already, his thirst clawed at him and he ambled towards the long spiral staircase that would take him from crypt to the upper levels of the castle. There, in the throne room, the bloodstone awaited him.
It wasn’t long into his ascent before a wisp of panic slithered into his head and he tuned in to what his creatures were trying to communicate to him. It was a confusing jumble of observations but one rang clearly in his mind. Intruder. Girl.
A grin curled the edges of his mouth. If his minions’ fears were true, there was a girl somewhere inside the castle. How long had it been since a mortal had wandered into his domain? He had tried to content himself with the bloodstone, but he longed for the chase. The hunt. Nothing could compare to the rush of hot blood against his tongue.
Bloodstone forgotten, Radu climbed upwards with a new intention.
Reblogging things I like feels a lot more goblinesque than upvoting ever did. The upvotes felt like “hmm yes, I approve *golf claps*” while reblogging feels like furtively staring at something before shoving it in your mouth and scurrying back underneath the nearest piece of furniture.
Which isn’t to say that I don’t like it. But I definitely find myself going “maybe I shouldn’t reblog this because I’ve already reblogged a bunch of things today and I don’t want to look like I don’t have a life,” I say as I close the app and reopen it like one of those little automatic box toys with the switches.
God seeing the redditors on here really is just reminding me of everything I like about this site
ALT
