Welcome to the underworld.

Louis is a pigeon who was born with tiny human feet. While strange, this means he gets to wear tiny human shoes. He loves it. 

Yup. This is what I spend my life doing because I love pigeons and I love shoes and lol pigeon boots. 

Isolated Island with Strange Plant Life is “The Most Alien-Looking Place on Earth”

Nestled within the blue waters of the Indian Ocean is Socotra, a small island that’s an offshore territory of Yemen. Located 220 miles from the mainland, the isolated environment is home to many unique flora and fauna—in fact, 30% of its plant life doesn’t grow anywhere else. This has appropriately earned it the nickname “the most alien-looking place on Earth.”

Socotra is a UNESCO-certified World Natural Heritage Site and boasts three geographical terrains: coastal plains; a limestone plateau with caves; and the Haghier Mountains. At only 83 miles long and 28 miles north to south, that’s a lot of variety in a relatively small place. Rainfall is limited, which accounts for unique plant species such as the dragon’s blood tree with its red sap and umbrella-shaped top, in addition to giant succulent and cucumber trees.

Like its rich flora, Socotra is also home to endemic fauna. Several species of birds can only be found on the island, and over 90% of the reptiles are specific just to this land—including legless lizards. Bats are the only mammals native to Socotra, although non-native feral cats have found their way to the wonderfully strange locale.

While you can visit Socotra, it’s definitely a trip for those who don’t mind roughing it. Infrastructures are limited with minimal public transportation—they instead offer an eco-friendly bicycling alternative as well as motorbike tours that let you ride across this intriguing land.

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Jeanne de Clisson (1300-1359): the Lioness of Brittany

More historical details and footnotes up later today when I have more time. The short version is: we know she existed, that she led forces against France, that she became a pirate, and that she was protected by England. The extent of her feats varies greatly based on the telling – estimates of the length of her career as pirate range between five months and thirteen years! – but whatever the heck she actually did left quite an impression.

And here’s a quick link to buy the book!

The main tidbit that I think you’d enjoy was that there was another female pirate named Jeanne during this time, and the two were likely friends.

Her name was Joanna of Flanders, or Jeanne la Flamme, and she was basically running the English side of the war after her husband got imprisoned. She’s on the list for a future RP entry.

I even designed Jeanne’s early outfit after Joanna’s!

(Side note: I had to sit through almost 20 minutes of trailers, none of which were new and almost all of which were terrible or dull; still saying the Nerd Prayer for Suicide Squad)

When you take the reins of Star Trek away from J.J. Abrams, Robert Orci, and Alex Kurtzman and give it to Justin Lin, Simon Pegg, and Doug Jung you get:

Every character having a plot-purpose and a highlighted moment where they shine

Prominent casting of non-white actors

Women who kick ass, fix spaceships, and don’t have a camera leer at them

No sexist jokes

A deeply touching send off to Leonard Nimoy

Hikaru Sulu taking charge of the bridge

Hikaru Sulu having a husband

Nobody making a big deal of Sulu having a husband

James T. Kirk, infamous lady’s man, looking at Sulu with his husband and daughter and clearly wishing he had that kind of close family to come home to because heteronormativity is dead in the future

Cast being listed in alphabetic order in the end credits so that John Cho goes first

I guess what I’m saying is that with both the director and one of the writers being Asian-American, there was clearly a push for Sulu to get the honor he deserves in this

So many possible couple pairings from all the scenes together, and I ship them, all of them, just a big free love multishipping orgy onboard the Enterprise

Creative fight scenes that incorporate futuristic sci-fi tech and zero gravity

New plot instead of recycling the end of Wrath of Khan

Kirk riding a motorcycle, but in a completely plot-justified and clever diversionary tactic

Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” being used in one of the best scenes in the movie, I kid you not, it actually makes sense in context

Lots of humor and witty banter

Trek’s traditional shining optimism about unity in diversity and human potential for good

Continuity references

The best Rihanna song in a long time for the end credits

for YEARS huh why you gotta drag me into your shark leg fetish NAH how about

Yo.

Thought it was time to cowboy up and make a masterpost for these things that I’ve been randomly tossing out.

Each one is 1280x800px. Click on the links to download or view the original post.

Hawkeye out!

1. Hawkguy & Pizza Dog

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2. Katie Kate

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3. Both Wish

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4. Seriously, Bro

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5. He Hangs Out with Me

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6. Today Sucks

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7. This Looks Bad

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8. Kate is Perfect, FYI

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9. Because, Boomerangs

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10. Talk to the Hand

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11. Hawkeye2

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12. Accept Kate Bishop as your Lord and Saviour

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13. Fall Apart

Evening dress of Queen Victoria, 1851

We’re very excited to share with you some sneak peek art from Jen Wang’s new graphic novel, The Prince and the Dressmaker, out with First Second Books in 2016!

The Prince and the Dressmaker is about a young 19th Century prince named Sebastian who secretly loves to wear dresses. He hires an ambitious young seamstress named Frances to make dresses for him and as their collaboration grows, so do their feelings for one another. Sebastian and Frances must find a way to balance their inner desires with the strict expectations of the royal family – or risk exposing Sebastian’s secret to the world.

“This book is really special to me because I basically wrote it for my teenage self, which is something I haven’t done before. I wanted a story that explored questions about gender and self-identity in a way that was also really colorful and fun and positive. The personal themes are there, but also lots of dresses and princesses. The idea was to create my ideal Disney movie, and writing this has genuinely been one of the most fun, liberating, experiences I’ve had making comics. My awkward confused fourteen year-old self would’ve really connected with this book and I hope it does the same for other young readers,” says Jen Wang.