Balancing on a banana peel

德化白瓷 Déhuà báicí/dehua white porcelain

Dehua County, located in Quanzhou, Fujian, China, is renowned for its white porcelain.

Its kilns flourished during the Tang (618-907 CE) and Song dynasties(960–1279 CE), peaked in the Yuan and Ming periods, and remain famous today, particularly for their white porcelain. Fired at high temperatures, the unglazed porcelain exhibits a smooth, jade-like texture, appearing crystal-clear and pure white.

O-okay, let’s get into this, shall we?

*grumbling* Would you rather work for Lex Luthor or the Joker- *shouting* Lex Luthor, by like, a fucking mile!

Yes, yes, working for Lex Luthor is basically like being an Amazon employee that makes weapons of mass destruction, which is bad. Lex is like Donald Trump mixed with Mark Zuckerberg mixed with Jeffrey fucking Bezos, it’s not a great mix. He does not treat his henchmen well. Their lives still suck, and they are probably monitored on how long they take piss breaks for.

But let’s analyze what working for Lex Luthor is like versus the fucking Joker. With Lex you probably get a dental plan, a health plan, a paycheck, and the guy that you’re fighting really cares about human life. Superman will hit you just long enough to knock you out, so you’re not a treat, so he can stop the problem.

If you work for the Joker, your payment is you’re not fucking dead. You say one wrong thing? Bang. You don’t laugh at his jokes? Bang! You do laugh at his jokes? Bang! You think Joker gives a fuck about a henchman?

Who’s Lex Luthor’s right-hand-man? It’s a woman, you sexist, her name is Mercy, she’s awesome. Who’s Joker’s right-hand-man? Bob? Nah, he’s dead. Harley? Tried to kill her multiple times. Slappy? Who the fuck is Slappy?

The best case scenario of working for the Joker is that you fight the fucking Batman! And that presents its own fucking list of problems. If you stop Superman as a Lex Luthor henchman, Lex’ll be pissed, but he’ll be at least happy that Superman was caught. If you stop Batman as a Joker henchman, you better have a fucking coffin picked out yesterday.

This isn’t a fun hypothetical question, this is a screening technique that the doctors at Arkham use to determine your mental health! There is a right and a wrong answer to this question, and the correct one is Lex fucking Luthor. Thank you for coming to my fucking Ted Talk, have a nice day.

Boy am i glad that the con has a facebook page so i can post this photo:

A very tiny percentage of creators go on to be famous, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t remember little things you did for years and years. Who came up with most of the world’s most famous jump rope rhymes? Who coined some of the famous idioms we use in daily speech? Who made up ‘Jingle Bells, Batman Smells?” Somehow, all of these things stuck and spread around.

When I was a small child, I saw a high school put on a production of the musical HONK. In one song, the mother duck describes various dangers that her baby should avoid in the water, including fishing line, which could strangle him. A member of the ensemble played the role of fishing line, doing a maniacal laugh and over-the-top strangling motions, and I found it hilarious– and to this day, that’s an example I often think of when talking about how ensemble members can still stand out in theatre. The guy who played the role might not even remember that he did that, but I do.

I took Suzuki violin lessons as a kid. The teacher made up lyrics to some of the songs, and she let her students make some up, too. Now whenever I hear the instrumental of one of those pieces, I always remember these ridiculous lyrics about a skunk that we sang in violin class. I don’t even know which student invented them!

In middle school, I found a video about atoms parodying Bill Nye made by some kids for a school product. It probably had less than 1,000 views, but I think of quotes from that video all the time. They had a parody of “We Will Rock You” with the chorus, “Protons, neutrons, electrons” that I think about a lot.

According to Wikipedia, it works by hidden rubber mallets on the naturally-musical stalactites that tourguides have been knocking on for over a century. The guy who made the organ may have gotten the idea when his son whacked his head on a stalactite.

Here’s a video. It is hauntingly beautiful.

https://youtu.be/HsKUUn29tSs

thanks @ffigwit for the open tag on yours!

Maglor supposed that was reasonable enough–they were strange men, of course, and it was not as if the children had had a chance to get to know either of them. But when he looked down the table to see them sitting there, he felt himself tense up.  They weren’t them, he knew that, he knew that there wouldn’t be identical heads of red hair in those same spots again, that he wouldn’t hear them finishing each others’ sentences anymore. But it was like some sort of twisted mirror. Like a warped reflection of two bright boys that laughed and played and sang, replaced by two more in their same spots.

my current wip! still very unedited, of course, so don't judge lmao.

LEGOLAS & ARAGORN

discovered embroidery brush and, true to character, went overboard with it. a little practice in my illustration style, enjoy a trashy novel cover, either BL or buddy-cop depending on your interpretation, featuring the most annoying duo to ever exist. i know the elves of imladris wanted to lock them in a room and throw away the key, i know it!

Maeglin in Nan Elmoth. I decided that Nan Elmoth is so creepy to everybody cause its the same forest from hungarian folktales. I believe Nan Elmoth is made out of every rich metal/material and the "sun light" is just reflection, which is not as strong of light thus why Maeglins eyes hurt so much in Gondolin.

I might do a fanfic of this au, don't know yet tho

Closeups and speedpaint(which got fucked up):

First Boromir, who traveled from Gondor to Rivendell — 400 leagues/1200 miles in 110 days— fearing Gondor could not hold much longer. The opposite journey from Rivendell to Gondor’s borderlands took Frodo and Sam nearly the entire trilogy. Oh and Boromir lost his horse midway through and had to walk.

It’s worth mentioning that Aragorn and Gandalf fairly recently traveled even farther, though over longer periods of time.

Aragorn tracked Gollum through the wilds near Mordor for years before bringing him to Mirkwood and eventually returning to his Ranger duties near Bree.

Gandalf (over 17 years) traveled to Minas Tirith and the Gladden Fields researching Isildur and the records of Gondor. Then helped Aragorn capture Gollum. THEN went to the Shire to start Frodo’s journey.

(Legolas didn’t travel as far but he still came all the way from Mirkwood to report to Elrond that Gollum escaped. Oops. Real awkward that Aragorn and Gandalf happened to be there.)

Glóin and Gimli came from Erebor, essentially retracing the journey of The Hobbit, seeking Elrond’s advice because Mordor is closing in on the Kingdom Under the Mountain. Also to visit Bilbo.

Morgoth and his Lieutenant