a whole new woooooooooooorld!
Category Archives: goodness
The best possible ending to 2012
I just discovered this Star Trek: The Next Generation gag reel from season 2 (I think). As if I needed another reason to love Star Trek. I’ve watched it twice tonight. SO GOOD.
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Hi, my name is Awkward
I’m still doing shit like this (in my head). I feel like a child. I feel dumb. I need to accept the fact that I will:
a) never be one of those super cool adults that have their shit together
b) never not do shit like this
sarahseeandersen.tumblr.com
Fun with words
I cannot recommend the H. P. Lovecraft reading experience highly enough. In addition to being totally immersed in his fantastic writing style and dark, misty universe full of monsters and ancient, unspeakable evil, Lovecraft is making me a smarter person. New vocabulary for the win!
smooth with bubbles inside
Word of the Week: Fulgurite
Fulgurites are awesome. They’re the result of a lightning strike (or some other intense discharge of energy, like a downed power line) to the ground. The soil/sand fuses and liquefies, then instantly hardens, creating a tube in the shape of the path the discharging energy took.
Here’s the really cool part: Fulgurites can be found all over the Sahara desert. Why would that be? There’s no lightning in the Sahara desert today, but the presence of fulgurites demonstrates that what is now a desert used to have completely different eco and weather systems. So tubes of glassy sand buried deep in the desert tell us that the driest desert on the planet used to have intense rain and thunder storms. Super cool!
the path of lightning
Hipster graffiti
Yeah, I know it’s graffiti, and I hate graffiti, but I enjoyed this little guy. He was tagged on the parking lot where my car lives while I’m at work. It is a little hipster though…
breakin’ the law
French oils and light
There’s something to be said for the treatment of light in French oil paintings in the 1800s. This piece hides it like a treasure. Dawn hides behind an antiquated stone wall, sliding through the doorway while a few locals relax into their pastoral errands on a crisp morning. You can almost see small puffs of the horse’s breath as it grazes, and hear the gentle bustle of the town waking up behind its tall, silent guardian gate.
Porte de la Reine at Aigues-Mortes by Jean-Frédéric Bazille (click for full size)
Bilbo, my old friend
I first read The Hobbit at age 12. I remember having it in my lap in my sixth grade classroom, sneaking peeks here and there while Mr. Miller wasn’t looking. I couldn’t get through it fast enough.
There’s a lot of tension for whatever reason about the movie about to come out, as if it might suck (unlikely). But if it isn’t amazing (unlikely), everyone (nerds) will be disappointed. Spoiler alert: The movie is never as good as the book. So I’m over it before it starts. I’m in love with the book. If there are pretty pictures to go with it, so be it. I’ll consider it an addendum to my already awesome childhood memories of this book.
nothing can ruin this story for me, so stop trying, peter jackson.
My folks got me the Lord of the Rings trilogy the xmas of 1995, and I got maybe 50 pages in before I got bored. Who was this Frodo character? Where was Bilbo? He was my homie, if he wasn’t in this one, I didn’t give a shit. So I stopped reading.
I picked it back up a few years ago and zomg amazeballs. Highly recommended, even for those who don’t consider themselves nerds or whatever, GET OVER IT, it’s a fantastic bunch of literature, and you’re missing out by not reading it. Just download it onto your Kindle, and if anyone asks what you’re reading you can lie to save your ego and tell them it’s something all those normal people are reading, like 50 Shades of Obvious Porn, or Beautiful Creatures who Whine for 500 Pages.
Even as an adult
…I am afraid.
The accuracy of this comic cannot be denied. Do not deny it. You are afraid, too. That’s ok. We can be afraid together, and giggle about it when the sun comes up. But when the sun is down there can be only silence, for laughter enrages the beast and invites destruction.
Everyone knows that.
America is not impressed
If Obama hadn’t won, we wouldn’t have this picture. Isn’t that reason enough?
you voted romney? hmmm. that’s too bad.
I’m kidding. Gay rights, people, amirite?
I’m still jazzed about Obama winning a second term in office. Maybe the right word is relieved. I’m very relieved that Obama won over the latest Republican maniac, Romney. What a loon. I was frightened to think what Romney might take away from women in this country. My right to have an abortion (a terrible last resort, but a necessary option that shouldn’t be decided upon by men), having birth control covered by health insurance (do they want us to have unwanted children?), funding for Planned Parenthood (cancer screenings and sex education for all? Yes please). As a woman, I worried.
As a straight white person, I worried for my friends, for people I’ve never met. I thought to myself the other day, “I don’t have that many gay friends…” Then I started counting them. Oh yeah, that person. Oh yeah, I forgot about her, and her too. Oh yeah, I have a ton of them, and I love them all. Let’s not even get started on immigration. The vitriol Romney could barely conceal when he talked about “illegals” was scary. Don’t get me wrong, if you’re here illegally, shame on you, pay some taxes already. But you can’t tell people desperate to escape a violent country to have a better chance for their kids that they should just fuck off, cus too bad you weren’t lucky enough to be born here, so GTFO. As a straight white citizen, I worried.
There was a lot on the line this November. I’m relieved America made the smart choice. We were unimpressed, and in the end, disapproving of any other candidate (see above photo).
touched by his noodly appendage
Here’s what I can’t figure out: Why is the Republican party walking backwards? What are they so afraid of? In particular, why all the misinformation about rape? Don’t they have wives, daughters, sisters? Haven’t they thought about what kinds of options they would want the women in their lives to have if something awful like rape happened to one of them? I have to conclude that they must keep the concept of rape in a hypothetical, airtight box which is what makes it so easy for them to take a purely hypothetical stance on abortion that demands that even a woman who is raped take the pregnancy to term. It’s insane. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
Thank FSM that Obama won the election. Where would we be without him? I loathe to imagine a Romney/Ryan America. Scares the shit outta me.
My old friend
I just found out another friend of mine from way back in the day (elementary school this time) is a big, fat lesbian. I also found out she just got married (like two days ago). The first thing that occurred to me was what a shitty friend I am not to have noticed that not only is she a lesbian, she’s also been dating someone seriously enough to marry her. God I suck.
But good for them! So exciting. I wrote on her Facebook wall congratulating her, and letting her know how happy I was for her. Then I started feeling all misty-eyed about Obama winning his second term, all the women taking office, all the gay rights measures that passed (4 for 4 ain’t too shabby), and I went a little overkill on the well-wishing. I messaged her partner (now wife) to congratulate her, and to deliver a poorly veiled threat of violence if she messed with my old friend.
Hey Danielle,
I knew Charlene back in grade school, and though we’ve basically lost touch aside from being Fb friends, I wanted to let you know how happy I am for you both, and congratulate you on your wedding.
She and I sang in a choir together in our teens; I remember her being very kind, and sharp as a tack. She also struck me as a bit fragile. All the kids in school knew it had to be tough being the new kid whose father was the new pastor. And I remember James [her little brother] getting into trouble here and there. I realized during one of the fleeting moments of clarity I experienced in my early teens that she had a lot on her plate, but she handled it like a champ.
Please treat her well. She is, and will always be, my friend. Even if we haven’t spoken in years, I’ll still break your knees if you hurt her. Just kidding. But not really 🙂
Yes, I cried a little, sitting on the floor in my friend’s apartment while Obama was declared winner of the election. But this really brought home what was at stake. My old friend. I am so happy for you.
happy tears in Minnesota over the smallest of victories: being told that your kind of love should not, after all, be outlawed
Be Random, Be Clear 
