The darkest night make the brightest stars

I'm updating so sloooowly T___T I know a lot of people like the Hanfu styles from Song and Ming, but they just don't hit my aesthetics the same way that the earlier Dynasties do, so I'm starting to draaag 😔

Today we're taking a quick look at the Yuan Dynasty's Hanfu styles. This Dynasty is a bit special in that the ruling class were Mongolian, no Han. But they didn't enact any strict laws regarding clothing to force people to change what they wore (unlike the later Qing Dynasty ruled by the Manchus) so Mongolian styles and Hanfu styles intermingled, undoubtedly taking influence from one another.

The Yuan Dynasty didn't last very long, and many of the styles from the Song Dynasty continued.

During the North Song Dynasty, the phenomenon of foot-binding started, and by the Yuan Dynasty it had become more wide-spread. In some artefacts you can see the women's feet being absolutely tiny, as a result of foot binding. This was a tradition only practiced by the Han people, and was not adopted by the Mongolians. It continued all the way until the mid 1900s when the PRC was established and this practice abolished.

because it connects to Andy Warhol making art out of Campbell's soup because it was something he had every day, and how Tommy talking about how coffee unites us is similar to Andy Warhol's quote "You can know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too" and that the Andy Warhol comparisons are 100% intentional because he modeled the original 'Espresso Macchiato' video on the video of Andy Warhol eating a burger in Jorgen Leth's "66 Scenes from America" in 1982

No, not those results.

THESE results.

For the first time in history, a novelty song has cracked the top five not once, but twice. That's a moment that deserves recognition. Let's talk about why.

Comedy is an art, and beyond that, it's an art that's uniquely got its finger on the pulse of society. You may have heard the theory that you can tell a lot about a culture’s collective anxieties at any given point in history by looking at the kind of horror media they create. I contend that you can tell a lot about society’s overall mindset and opinions on positions of power by looking at the kind of comedy they create. Because while drama is the genre of the powerful and the elite, comedy is the genre of the people. You can tell a lot about what the common people deem important in the role of society by the kind of comedy they create and support. 

That's why it's so important to recognize that in this moment in history, people chose to support these two entries and give them a top five finish.

Sweden, a country historically known for bland formulaic pop sung in English, sent a comedy trio singing in a Swedish dialect. And it got the whole world dancing together during a time when global tensions are at their peak.

Estonia brought us a goofy song about coffee, but more than that, a veiled satire of hustle culture and celebrity influencers--and according to some, celebrity politicians. As an American, my view on this is probably a bit different from the European audience's, but I think we can all agree that collectively, humanity is tired of tech bros, hustlers, and celebrity businessmen, and that's why we voted to watch them get made fun of. And that to me says that we're ready for revolution.

These two entries placing this highly in a competition that tolerates novelty but doesn't often rank it highly proves, once and for all, that comedy is a valid art form and that comedy belongs at Eurovision and always has, no matter what anyone says.

And let's not forget the other incredible novelty entries (I'm counting Laika Party because it's very unconventional and follows a lot of comedy conventions) that we saw this year, that may not have made it to the top but also proved that this art form matters and people want to see it succeed.

Me, age 12, just started drinking coffee:

But then I got my grubby little paws on it, and I immediately stopped fertilizing, spraying, and bagging up grass clippings and leaves. I ripped up sod and put in flowers and vegetables. I put down nice thick blankets of mulch around the flowers and vegetables. 

When I first was sweating my way through stripping sod, I saw a grand total of 1 worm and 0 ladybugs. The ground was compacted into something that would bend shovel blades. 

Now, six years later, I can’t dig a planting hole without turning up fourteen earthworms, and there are so many ladybugs here. Not the invasive asian lady beetles; native ladybugs. They winter over in the mulch and in the brush pile. I see thousands of them. 

The soil is soft and rich. There are birds that come to eat, and bees of many sorts.

These bots are constantly producing things based on what is typically liked on Facebook - Anything regarding Jesus, Veterans, Travel, Nature etc

So you end up with bizarro shit like this: