The Lord Of The Rings Is So Honest. So Raw. So Sincere. So Unabashedly From The Heart. No Snide Fourth

the lord of the rings is so honest. so raw. so sincere. so unabashedly from the heart. no snide fourth wall jokes, no attempts to alleviate the heaviness. it is is wholeheartedly earnest in its dedication to portraying hope and love and faith and loyalty and courage, and that is what makes it feel like home to so many of us. it's true to itself. it doesn't pretend to be cool and care less. it cares, a lot, and that is a rare, beautiful thing. it warms our hearts to care for a piece of fiction that was made to care about and be cared about

and we know we aren't going to be punished or ridiculed by the work itself for loving it! no characters killed off cruelly, no plotlines abandoned, no shrugging of shoulders and "well real life is like that. get used to it." we have always needed escapism, and we always will. and middle earth will always be there to escape to

You ever think about how in The Headband, we're introduced to a side of the Fire Nation that's had its culture whittled away by a hundred years of imperial wartime propaganda. And how perhaps the most damning expression of this is that students are forbidden from dancing. And so Aang, maybe the only person on the planet who still truly remembers the Fire Nation of old, from before the war, brings it back to them.

And then we get to The Firebending Masters. Zuko's entire young adulthood has been spent using his anger towards the Fire Nation's enemies, his drive to capture the Avatar, as a crutch. And now he doesn't have that crutch anymore. So he and Aang set out on a pilgrimage, going to the birthplace of firebending itself, in search of answers. In search of a way to express the power of fire that isn't fueled by rage or smothered by fear. And they find a dance.

Here is a series of bird mounted mouse archers!  Each one represents a different season.

Prints available here

Nichelle Nichols has passed away. 

Martin Luther King once convinced her to continue on as Uhura when she was about to quit. He told her how she was a role model for so many people and had to stay on. He rightfully recognized her as a trailblazer and the inspiration she continued to be. 

(Second picture is Nichols participating in a recruitment program for NASA in late 70s/early 80′s, aimed at women and people of color. The third picture is Nichols onboard the stratospheric observatory for infrafred astronomy in 2017, as one of the first non essential personell to be able to do so) 

Porcelain weight in the form of a plum branch, made in Japan in the 19th century (source).

chinese artist RedMatcha