one thing i love about OTGW is that despite being a story about The Unknown and all the terrible dangers that lurk in it, the story’s main message is “things are rarely as scary as they seem.” the Woodsman scared the boys repeatedly, but he was really a good man trying to help them and in fact saved their lives multiple times. the inhabitants of Pottsville seemed ominous and ill-intentioned, but stopping to speak to them showed that they were benign folks who just came off a little creepy. the “fearsome gorilla” was just a man in a suit and the “ghost” was just an unexpected roommate. even Auntie Whispers, a terrifying witch-woman who seemed to be abusing her ward, turned out to love Lorna and was only trying to protect her from evil forces—and it was Wirt facing the evil spirit head on that finally exorcised it for good.

even the main characters’ arcs reflect this: Wirt is scared of rejection and humiliation from Sara and Jason Funderberker, but after returning to the real world, Sara is more than receptive toward him and Jason Funderberker isn’t even an issue. Beatrice is too ashamed to face her family after turning them all into bluebirds, but at the end of the story it’s such a non-issue for them that they only use the incident to affectionately tease her and everybody is perfectly happy.

and it all cumulates in the final episode when Wirt and Greg finally face the Beast. for the entire series the Beast has been a looming figure of evil, something dark and strange and unimaginably powerful that you never, ever want to meet. but when Wirt actually dares to face the monster head on, not running or hiding or falling for its tricks, he destroys the Beast in less than a minute! the monster that’s been terrorizing the woods for who knows how long, preying on fearful travelers and eating the souls of its victims, is extinguished by simply blowing out a lantern.

OTGW hammers it home that as much as it scares you, you have to face the Unknown in order to move forward. maybe its scary. maybe it will suck. but when you do confront your problems directly, it’s almost as never as bad as it seems.

Members of the Mandalay People's Defense Forces head to the frontline amid clashes with the Myanmar military junta in northern Shan State, Dec. 10, 2023.

(Photo credit: STR/AFP)

Just saw the word "underfed" written down and spent a good ten seconds trying to imagine what the state of being "derfed" could possibly be, and how one would go about undoing it, before it clicked.

"WW1 soldiers were underfed" fuck man... Not only they sent them off to a war, but then they took their derf away too?? Fucked up

her: ice cream is just for kids

me, a principled communist: ice cream is a sweet treat that everyone enjoys

the storyboards for knives out are fucking incredible

kids these days don’t know how lethal stagnant water is

If you’re exploring an abandoned building and find stagnant water your next sentence should be either “I am equipping my respirator” or “I am leaving”

It’s the 19th anniversary of Katrina and therefore also the 19th anniversary of me and my family getting Katrina cough

Mold spores and airborne bacteria and algae are not a joke. They kill people. Don’t play in them

may we live to see the public opinion recognize “terrorist” as a meaningless cudgel used at the whim of the state

these are pictures we took in downtown el paso in 2019. museo urbano is a local group that puts exhibits relating to border life out where people can see and interact with them. the other museo urbano exhibit i've seen was one related to the history of labor organizing in maquilas in juarez.

tornillo is a nearby small town with a massive detention center. i think technically it's so small it's a census designated place. there have been more kids put in detention in tornillo than the town has citizens.

life along the u.s.-mexico border is defined by u.s. violence against mexico and latines. it has been for as long as the border has existed; borders are inherently violent.

i don't know what else to say. these pictures hurt to look at. kids in concentration camps drawing things that remind them of home. and the worst part is that for whatever reason none of the pictures have names attached. just another negligible detail and another way the artists have been disappeared.

-- tocaya

Odo is such a unique character. Here's our resident tight ass. He works as a paul blart mall cop. He worked in a concentration camp but didn't like it very much (it was in the mall). Every 16 hours he turns into soup. He looks like that because he doesn't really "get" faces. He is the result of a sad beige mom and evil scientist dad. He got hit on by the Betazoid ambassador that one time they were stuck in an elevator together. His situationship is an evil chaos goblin and he falls in love with his boss.

I’ve been training my cat to play ambient music.

Last night he hit me with this hauntingly beautiful chord change after 10 minutes of A7sus4

"Yankee Go Home! Smash WEF, Fuck Trump, Fight ICE, AFA Geneva"

Mural in Geneva, Switzerland

This is my oldest draft and honestly don’t know if the world will ever be ready for it

i promise the map of salamander diversity is not what you expect

Appalachia numero uno salamander capital of the world baby <3 there are like 70 something species in North Carolina alone

Basically its cause they evolved here!

The U.S. states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama also have the most biodiverse freshwater ecosystems in the world.

The Appalachian Mountains are notable for having the world's greatest diversity of tree species in a temperate forest, with over 100 species of tree that make up the forest. They're also a global hotspot of lichen biodiversity.

Fun fact, dozens of genera of plants only have 2 species in them, one found in Appalachia and one found in SE Asia. These are called vicariad species pairs. Eastern Asia and Appalachia has very similar climates, that's why all the major Appalachian invasive species, such as Kudzu, are from eastern Asia

The SE United States has some of the nation's most biodiverse ecosystems but they are also some of the least protected.

same energy