our bastard culture

Apr 17

“Nagini”, Voldermort and representation: things that disappointed me in HP

ETA: please give proper credit if you cite this or any of meta, cos this stuff takes time and effort y’all.

So yesterday when I made this post, many people wanted to know why Voldermort’a pet snake being named ‘Nagini’ was racially problematic. I was surprised that people hadn’t considered this, but then again desi issues/culture are hardly visible in mainstream media. But today I kept getting anons either professing complete shock about Naagini’s* significance, OR telling me that my interpretations were wrong. So I decided to write this meta on Naagini, the HP verse and mythological snake symbols. But first I’m gonna give some you some backstory about why Naagini bothers me so much and how Rowling seems to have missed out on some cultural context.

One of my favourite stories as a child was the one about Buddha and Mucalinda, the Snake King. Shortly after attaining enlightenment, the Buddha is travelling through a forest when he gets caught in a terrible storm. The great serpent, Mucalinda, shelters the Buddha by spreading it’s vast seven-headed hood over him, and permitting the Buddha to sit on his coils. Many statues depicting this scene are found throughout Sri Lanka. There was one at the junction close to my school that I would always stare at. The sight of the Buddha serenely meditating under the protection of a huge and powerful cobra is a striking one that captured my imagination as a child. Years later, I’m still moved on a deep, wordless level by this image.

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Mythology, cultural imperialism, and Harry Potter. A-may-zing.

Mar 26

[video]

Mar 12

ilovecharts:

Crossover fics between the top 20 TV fandoms on AO3

-saspiesas

[An explanation and thoughts behind it]

Crossover fic relationship charts are awesome

(via transformativeworks)

Sep 02

Obama for America: vh1: barackobama: vh1: meredifsteppy: i cant tell whether vh1 or... -

leakynews:

barackobama:

vh1:

vh1:

barackobama:

vh1:

meredifsteppy:

i cant tell whether vh1 or barackobama is my favorite blog and it is distressing me

Does the president ever reblog Darren Criss gifs? We think not.

POTUS: Needs more Darren GIFs!

Hey, Darren: Should everybody register to…

We humbly accept your concession, Mr. President. We may have won the GIF war, but let’s keep the message alive. Go register to vote y’all! Don’t let these beautiful Darren GIFs be in vain.

And one more for the road…

We’re not entirely sure what happened here.

VH1 and Barack Obama’s Tumblrs have a conversation with GIFs. Tumblr culture, yo.

(Source: theokatz)

Jul 10

[video]

May 30

Stowe Boyd: More On The New Aesthetic -

Is Fashion Ready For A New Aesthetic?, Jay Owens via BOF

For the last few years, the stylistic purview of much of the creative class in places like Shoreditch in London, the borough of Brooklyn in New York, and Berlin’s Mitte district has been curiously backward-looking. Perhaps this retreat…

The more people are surrounded by perfect, glossy, shiny glass, metal, and plastic, the more they are drawn to organic, handmade, and otherwise imperfect textures and patterns. The “New Aesthetic” sees this in the bleeding of glitches and computer-vision into the non-digital world, but I don’t think this is fundamentally different than faux-linen and leather textures in apps and the hand-knit sweater in one’s wardrobe. Humans like novelty and contrast is one tool for creating or accentuating novelty.

[video]

Apr 09

(via tvtropesorg)

Apr 08

doctorwho:

Soda Cup Dalek fanart

unemployeddalek:

beardeddalek:

republicandalek:

EXTERMINATE YOUR THIRST! AND THEN THE DOC-TOR!!!

thetalkinghead:

Someone drew this.

This was not quite what we meant when we said “YOU WILL SERVE THE DALEKS!”

DALEKOLA is SUPERIOR to THE DOCTOR PEPPER.

I can imagine Coca-Cola actually using this someday.

[video]

Apr 07

jdhancock:

Thanks @johngushue for using my Charlie Brown/Doctor Who photo.

(via This is not the doctor Charlie Brown expected to be in - John Gushue … Dot Dot Dot)

(via doctorwho)

becks28nz:

by aninhat-t

(via wilfulwilf)

Apr 06

[video]

Apr 03

fuckthesky88:

1754×2481 px

http://svetofiltr.deviantart.com/art/want-to-belive-in-Doctor-288811897

This is better than Mulder’s poster.

[video]