Are we all just living in the mind of a giant?

we have as fangirls created an entire dialect (anyone who’s spent any time on tumblr can speak it/recognize it, and it’s very distinctive and expressive and the way it compensates for being a text-based medium without inflections/facial expressions and the other things that usually go into a language are endlessly fascinating for me). we come up with off the cuff headcanons. we write vast volumes of insightful and sophisticated media critiques/meta pieces/theories and speculations (and sometimes put more thought and care into it than the actual writers, alas). we get so much meaning out of every look/line/scene. it’s astonishing. we liveblog, we flail, we cry, we enjoy (and bewail) the experience without holding back, and spend so much genuine energy on the Very Real Need for Those Idiots to Just Kiss, and i love it.

we spontaneously and easily create full-length stories that are often better than many published books, or just a snippet to support or flesh out a single piece of narrative/spoilers. we interact and encourage and inspire each other in constantly flexible and fun ways in doing it. we eagerly and happily consume these stories and create more from them in turn.

we spend hours on edits, or gifsets, or drawings or sketches or digital paintings, or other beautiful pieces of art, and the talent is just amazing. simply because we love something and want to make something pretty. after all, all this creation is happening for free, in ordinary people’s off-hours. nobody’s an expert, nobody’s getting paid for it. everyone can participate. yes, there’s the whole question of fandom culture and its problems/issues, but that’s beside the point in terms of what fandom itself is.

see, this is why i am suspicious of any author/creator who proclaims to hate and/or dislike/not encourage fanworks. yes, some of it is creepy and strange and that goes with the territory. but honestly i think that ignoring or discounting the sheer amount of passion with which people love stories, and want to be part of their creation in imaginative mediums, is a mistake.

and because of all this creation, we talk to each other. we become friends. i have people i met here who i text all day every day about my life, regular things, non-fandom stuff (although there is certainly lots of that as well). i count on those people to be there and to support me and to turn to when i need someone to talk to (and try in return to be the same for them).

the world is stupid, the world is dumb, the world is scary. we need more creation. we need more connection. we need more of whatever this energy is that drives us to question and explore and care and make shit and enjoy it together and to tell a new and better story as a result. we need to move it beyond tumblr, sure – but i also think it’s a hell of a start.

so yes. this isn’t anything that hasn’t been said before, obviously, but it struck me tonight for some reason, and i wanted to say something.

she literally stood up to lord voldemort and lied that harry potter was dead and i don’t know about you but if i were an evil ruler i would probably want to triple-check that my nemesis was, you know, actually deceased

voldemort had actual doubts about snape

narcissa malfoy understood those rules, and she layered her mind with them. 

look pretty. wear the most expensive robes. grandmother’s pearls. curl your hair every night. think only of clothes and dimples and the way your hair falls when you flutters you eyelashes at a boy. 

say nothing. don’t speak when mother and father are screaming at each other. demurely look down as another boy asks you to dance. retreat into the reading room when your family friends, known death eaters and criminals, pay your parents a visit and speak in hushed voices over tea. think of pretty things. 

marry well. marry into a family of your parents’ friends. bear children. wear pearls and look demure and think of nothing but pretty, pretty things, like the way your husband’s hair gleams in candlelight. 

masters must learn the rules before they can break them. narcissa learned the rules so well that they wrapped around her; sank into her skin and her mind. they protect her from enemies. they conceal the quick, strategic plots ticking her brain into gear every moment of every day. they hide the calculation of each smile, each movement. 

narcissa is so good, so perfect, that no one will ever know.  

#voldy was shocked when he found out his mom was the witch #he assumed his father would be magical

Because it makes perfect sense.  Of course Narcissa would turn on Voldemort without a second thought to protect her son. Not only because she’s his mother, but because that’s how Voldemort was defeated the first time around, and Voldemort cannot change or learn. 1980′s Voldemort was defeated because of a mother’s love, Lily’s sacrifice for Harry. Lily was not considered important to Voldemort, only James and Harry were. Voldemort was even willing to spare her for Snape, if she didn’t put up a fight (which of course she did). To him, Lily was irrelevant, because she was a woman and Muggle-born. Voldemort underestimated her, and it cost him. So naturally he would do the same thing again in the 90′s, focusing on Harry and the prophecy, never considering the thing that defeated him before might do so again. He was wary of Lucius and Draco, but underestimated Narcissa and it lead directly to his defeat. And she KNEW he did, and used it to her advantage.

This short-sightedness is even reflected in his most ardent supporter Bellatrix, who was also killed by a furious mother protecting her child.

Ingrid Michaelson and her band going into 6 different songs with the same chords in the middle of her song ‘Soldier’ ending in them singing all of them at the same time.

We Didn’t Start the Fire - 50 Years of Fandom

[details here]

For me, the best thing about this is the fact that it’s in a pretty chronological order. Because eventually I was like “It’s nice to see all the fandoms of yore— WAIT, THIS IS WHERE I CAME IN!” and then water was leaking from my eyeholes because omg, hello fandoms that I have seen rise and fall. 

Jessica Day, Teacher (via rachnuss)

Dead.

(via kyrafic)

At least she can say penis now.

(via dirtytwirls)

Okay, you know what? I'm going to set the record straight. Because Jess has been taking flack for this for far, far too long.

Jess has always been able to say the word penis.

From the pilot. (Gifs by jerksicaday)

tvatemywardrobe (via paradisezooey)

(via read-it-out-loudread-it-out-loud​) (gif: jakesjohnson​)

#OOOOOHHHWHOWHO #THEY DO HAVE THINGS IN COMMON LIKE LOVING EACH OTHER AND BEING WEIRD #THEY JUST DON'T KNOW HOW TO BE REAL #THAT'S NOT JUST JESS'S PROBLEM FOLKS#NICK'S JUST GOOD AT CALLING HER OUT ON IT #THEY NEEDED SOME KIND OF LABEL ON THEIR BREAKUP FOR IT TO MAKE SENSE #LL THEY COULD COME UP WITH WAS WE HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON. #BUT THE REAL ISSUE IS THEM HAVING TO WORK ON BEING REAL OR TO GET TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER. #WHICH IN MY OPINION IS THEM DEALING WITH THEIR PAST SO THEY CAN FINALLY GROW UP.

(tags via read-it-out-loudread-it-out-loud)

Wow.  This is an AMAZING question, and I’ve been staring at it for awhile, trying to think of the best way to answer.  I’m going to just list some things (in no particular order):