Untitled By Design

me, whispering: portraying nonavian dinosaurs as living/thriving in tropical rainforest environments like those of today is just straight up racism other people: what me, still whispering: modern tropical rainforests are one of the most recently evolved ecosystems, only truly appearing in the early Paleogene, after all nonavian dinosaurs went extinct. They did not live in them, and if they were brought back into the modern day, they would not thrive in them. the only reason we associate tropical rainforests with primitiveness is because POC live there, and the associated narratives around jungles and savagery. that's it. that's the whole thing.

Just finished the new MBD book! Spoiler-free thought: finally, the density of opinions on public transport I have always wanted in my sci-fi. (Emotion check: completely, concerningly sincere about this)

I know tanning’s bad for you but there’s very little i can think of more pleasant than sunbathing

White people love telling you they burn in the sun like yeah your skin is gross what else

White people love telling you about their disgusting calcinated pig skin sunburns and how they combust in the light like matches and they could never ever ever tan because of their translucent pure almost blue milky hair-thin skin. Like. are you proud. do you want a medal.

Ok but this story cracks me up- my coworker came back from Hawaii and first thing she had to say about it was that y'all white folks are crazy getting sunburned more than once. She got her first sunburn (as a black woman living in the north where it is challenging to get a sunburn) and it was super painful and now she says white people are masochists for not sunscreening up

you have to read to your kids you have to read with your kids you have to read in front of your kids you have to take your kids to the library you have to talk about books with your kids you have to let your kids read books that are a little difficult or scary you have to teach your kids to love reading

Every kid is different in what they enjoy and it might be different from what you enjoy. Your kid might like nonfiction (which is mindboggling to me), they might like super raunchy romance, or any other niche genre. Assuming they are of a reasonable age for the content (no 50 shades of gray for your fifth grader please, I read some too sexual for me books at a young age and it was not helpful to my mental model of what is a healthy relationship), encourage it even if you don't enjoy those books. A lot of kids think books are boring because they never found the niche for them. Teaching them to branch out is important.

big fan of when a character metaphorically sweeps something under the rug, but you can feel them flinch every time they walk over it and feel the crumbs beneath their feet

The Company.

Imagine Fiona is the first to uncover Yor's identity, but only just after she accepts that Twilight will never love her that way. She decides that the best way to love him is to support his happiness, even if that's with Yor. When she learns, she almost tells him immediately but then realizes how hurt he will be. So she starts stalking and investigating Yor. She thinks about confronting but decides she would definitely die trying. Eventually she asks Twilight for advice "for a friend" on how you would feel if you found out someone had a secret life. Twilight assumes Fiona has a boyfriend, and she's thinking about if she should tell him her identity, and advises that it's better not to say. But she needs backup and Sylvia won't prioritize Twilight's feelings so she goes to Frankie. After capturing him (he ran), she "for a friend"s but Frankie is smart enough to figure out what's going on. Now Frankie and Fiona, with their own intelligence goals and personal goals, have to figure out what kind of risk Yor is. Que all sorts of ridiculous situations that Yor bails them out of.

"Que" is "cue"? Is that a French keyboard you're typoing on? 😀

Lol that's my brain combining queue and cue like if you're ever tongue tied together common responses, ie No Welcome when you meant to either say no problem or you're welcome.

i really hope that mr. endo doesn't end up spy x family when twilight & yor finally get together. i need twiyor domestic scenes like twilight teaching yor how to cook, waking up snuggling on bed, welcome home kisses, holding hands, sharing morning coffee while smiling at each other, twilight sleeping on yor's lap while she gently run her fingers through his hair and he's smiling because he feels safe, dancing with their foreheads touching and looking at their lips, cuddling during a movie with anya, reading books silently in the same room while quietly exchanging flirtatious glances, leaving notes on the bathroom mirror, taking care of each other when the other is sick, etc.

I don't think their initial get together will be the end because there's just too much comedy in them trying to figure out how to be a married couple for real (like they are suddenly overly aware of everything they've already been doing) and Anya is trying to get them to chill out. Twilight already freaks out about her being unhappy with their marriage, now he's imagining her falling out of love with him. Everyone around them ends up disgusted because they're overly sweet to the point of wearing themselves out. Then it snaps but they realize they don't need to be this imaginary best spouse/lover because just themselves is enough. Cue the curtain.