windypoplarsroom:

Utagawa Hiroshige

“Smalll Horned Owl On A Maple Branch Under A Full Moon”

FOR ETSUKO

(via fat-birds)

Something about this reminds me of Etsuko

(via thatkindofwoman)

(Source: moon-manga, via moonfanatics)

animalstalkinginallcaps:

I SEEM TO BE UNABLE TO HIDE THE TRUTH. I ENJOY LARGE BUTTS.

YES, I WAS GOING TO DENY MY MUTUAL FEELINGS ON THE SUBJECT BUT THERE SEEMS LITTLE POINT.

WHEN A WOMAN APPROACHES WITH A DECIDEDLY SKEWED WAIST-TO-HIP RATIO, RUMP CLEARLY VISIBLE, I BECOME SOMEWHAT DELIRIOUS.

THIS IS GOING TO SOUND TERRIBLE BUT I ALMOST WANT TO LICK AN AMPLE POSTERIOR ONCE I BECOME FULLY AWARE OF ITS PRESENCE AND SCOPE.

PART OF ME THINKS IT’S DUE TO THE BUTT OWNER’S CHOICE OF DENIM, AND I FULLY SUPPORT THAT.

IT’S ADDICTIVE AND I HAVE A VERY HARD TIME REFRAINING FROM BLATANT OGLING.

IT’S LIKE, “DAMN, WOMAN. I WOULD LIKE TO DATE YOU AND PHOTOGRAPH YOUR BODY.”

RIGHT? “SEVERAL ACQUAINTANCES HAVE TRIED TO STEER ME CLEAR OF THE PITFALLS OF THIS TYPE OF LUST BUT YOUR AMPLE BOTTOM HAS ME IN A SEXUAL FRENZY.”

… I ENJOYED THIS HONEST AND FORTHRIGHT CONVERSATION.

AS DID I.

Guys, it’s the year of the Dragon. I feel pretty fucking good about that since I am 辰次 myself.

THINGS I LOVED IN 2011:

• HANAKO!!!
• ETSUKO!!!
• My feminist awakening
• Parks and Rec
• Bridesmaids
• X-Men: First Class
• Reddit
• Gingerhaze
• Doctor Who, The Eleventh Doctor, and Amy Pond
• Finally realizing that I live in LA and thus meeting celebs
• Fun Concert
• Weepies Concert
• ROONEY CONCERT!!! (I held Robert Schwartzman’s HAND)
• Amazing new camera
• Return to SF
• Return to Kyoto!
• UfYH
• Becoming friends with Amanda and Claire
• Gossip Girl (the TV show; I have long been a devotee of the novels)
• Peonies
• White spaces
• Fun. (the band!)
• NPR and KPCC
• This American Life
• Did I mention Hanako? Etsuko? OH! Mari!
• The Muppets
• Scott C

Resolutions for the New Year!

1. Write more
2. Draw more
3. Write music more
4. Cook more
5. Save more money
6. Make career decisions
7. Take the JLPT 一級
8. Go to Paris
9. and/or
10. Go to London
11. and/or
12. Go to Hokkaido
13. Read more
14. Make more friends
15. Join an improv group
16. Go to more meetups
17. Seriously consider getting two Siamese cats in the fall
18. Learn to knit
19. Make my own clothes
20. Shop less for clothes that fall apart immediately
21. Donate old things
22. Mail gifts and packages ON TIME
23. Write thank you notes ON TIME
24. Keep resume up to date
25. Keep a clear head and a good attitude
26. Work hard in my relationship
27. Try to see the bigger picture more
28. Continue self-educating and laying groundwork for autodidactism
29. Listen to seminars, lectures, and watch documentaries of interest
30. Research and write
31. Be more of a self-starter
32. Cook from Mastering the Art of French Cooking
33. Learn how to cook crab
34. Learn how to cook scallops
35. Throw a housewarming party with grown-up hors d’oeuvres
36. Be kind, forgiving, and positive
37. Reject negative people
38. Follow your instincts
39. Stop apologizing 

Since 39 is my favorite number, I think I’ll stop there. I’ll try to tag things with #new year’s resolution and #new years resolution: Example to keep track for you all at home.

fat-birds:

ducksducks:

Duck fashion parade at the Newcastle show in NSW, Australia. not bad.

Oh my god hahahahahahaha

cellsandspells:

Day 12: Favorite Inner Senshi

Sailor Mercury - She’s very different from the inner and outer senshi. She’s very calm, cool, intelligent, and is very logical compared to her inner senshi counterparts. I love that she analyzes before attacking. She doesn’t just rush in and attack like the outer senshi, and she keeps her emotions very intact. I love that she is so loving and receptive to her friends. The inner senshi are lucky to have a friend like Mizuno Ami.

(Source: wielderofoblivion, via kawaiiiiiiiiiii)

ATTN: MIZ PIKKINZ

(Source: matafari, via gloria-swanson)

(Source: deathologist, via kawaiiiiiiiiiii)

hanabi:

baileyeverywhere:

windingstring:

(via photographer Zhang Jingna’s blog)

Recently I keep having this niggling urge to write. I got it about a year ago, a little more, and wrote one or two things that are floating on what seem like dead blogs. But I have things in drafts, now. And it’s frightening because I have never thought of myself as the kind of person who comes up with ideas and writes them down because she wants to. But maybe I am. And of course since this is the internet and my generation is the most obviously narcissistic so far (I would of course argue that we are no more fundamentally narcissistic than any other generation ever, but we absolutely have and use many more ways to be obnoxious about it) I kind of want to submit them to places to see if places will decide they’re worth other people reading. Which brings me to this particular quote (which is a real one, I’ve heard Ira Glass say it with his words).

A reason I’ve thought of submitting things to websites made out of things to read is that sometimes, reading those websites, I have thought to myself “I know how this could be better, this is good but not great, this is a lot like other things.” And sometimes I think that it then follows that I ought to be able to write things that are just as good, or better. But when I write, it’s very unclear to me that I’ve succeeded in that. I guess the answer is to keep writing?

My problem with writing—which, big personal secret time, I used to think was what I wanted to do with my life back when I was looking for colleges and misguidedly believed that the two to have anything to do with each other—has always been a combination of what he talks about here and a crippling embarrassment at having produced something that I expect people to read now, please. Which is not to say that I don’t still take pleasure in it, in putting pen to paper or words to thoughts or head to desk which is generally how it tends to end itself—I have drafts of things (that never exceed two pages, unless they’re written in ~screenplay format, in which case, maybe ten) that take me up to a certain place on their own, and then I never look back at them for fear of what I might find there.

Academic writing has always made me feel at home—the beauty of precision and the force of an argument made more whole, more complete by the right words selected by the right hands and the right mind and the right voice. Those things—they pour out of me and they write themselves and it’s fine. It’s just sometimes, just every so often, I feel pulled in another direction that scares me more, confuses me more, and I follow it only until I don’t have to anymore. And sometimes I still think, I could be happy doing this. Secret stupid pipe dreams of mine still include writing something like a Band of Brothers for Asian dudes. If only, in order to accomplish that, I didn’t have to show it to people first. Though maybe if it ever got that far it would be a sign that it was actually worth something—then again, maybe not. Trouble is, I’m fairly certain that I’ll never let it get to the point where we could ever find out.

I love you both as much as I love Ira Glass and this quote in particular. I have always wanted to write and always fancied myself good at it, but I have an inferiority complex about it because as much as I love stories and revel in mythos and character and wrought, carefully selected imagery and detail, I am not so sure that I am very good at it. Because, unlike you two, I have never been a good or a diligent reader. I run out of steam, I give up midway. Although I love short fiction. I love writing short stories. It is possibly my favorite thing (to the point that I sometimes don’t see the purpose of writing a whole novel about it).

But I want you both to take his words to heart and please write and please send me what you write for me to read and edit and discuss. Don’t be afraid. I will be honest. I will tell you your phrase is clunky and you will get mad at me because deep down you know it’s right and I will kill your darlings because you are my darlings and I want your work to be good. I will pass it along anonymously to other friends who love to write and to read and get their input and give it back to you. Show it to the world. Keep, keep doing it. The more you do it, the less afraid you will be.

coverspy:

The Importance of Being Iceland, Eileen Myles (F, 20s, book poking out brown leather satchel on coat hook, Ten Bells, LES) http://bit.ly/jyXjtI

Reblog for @bpick and PUNS

But seriously this whole album (Lenka by Lenka) is absolutely worth listening to in its entirety. I love everything about it. There’s not a bad song.

Sorry if you hear it at work constantly, since I definitely hear it when I’m shopping a lot.

But I’m just saying.

So, you know how they say that when one of your friends breaks up with their SO, it triggers a wave of breakups in their friends? Reason being, they see that one person had the gumption to take a leap of faith for whatever various reason and make a significant change. Change inspires change.

@bpick, @hanabi, I see that happening with us. We were all languishing for what felt like so long in misery. Railing against our jobs and missing Japan and feeling helpless.

But with Etsuko’s one act of courage, I see a chain reaction of “FUCK THIS SHIT” rippling throughout us.

And I’m excited. Thank you. I don’t think I could have done it alone.

EDIT: PS. I bought what I hope will be a month’s supply of food today and will try to live off of it and it alone.

vegetable-soup:

boom

For @bpick, who hates special snowflakes.

(Source: stfuconservatives, via feistyfeminist)

obliteratedheart:

I’m not really a religious person, but this just rubs me the wrong way. I’m pretty sure that religion isn’t the cause of ALL problems in the world. Like, the earthquake/tsunami in Japan? Did not happen because of religion.

I hate this kind of thinking so fucking much. It’s why I can’t stand the majority of atheists, despite identifying as one myself. It’s true that when not examined with a critical eye, religion can be a dangerous tool used to control and to punish. However, religion can also bring people together. Personally, I believe that our good deeds carry more weight when we do them out of pure altruism rather than an interest in serving the big guy in the sky, but that doesn’t make religion’s ability to inspire people to do good and to unite communities any less inspiring. Despite my religious views, or lack thereof, my faith has provided me with a connection to a community that I feel safe in and a heritage that I am proud of, and I’ve been privileged enough to work with groups like the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization in assembling people from all different walks of life together in support of causes ranging from funding for schools to support for Haitian refugees.

Religion has the ability to inspire both tremendous good and tremendous wrongdoing because religious texts, like all texts, are so open to interpretation. Someone with a prejudice or a desire for violence or power can look inside a religious text with that frame of mind, and inevitably find some sort of justification. And then that frame of mind spreads within a community, and that is mostly definitely not a good thing. But ultimately, it’s not religion that is the cause of wrongdoing—it’s people. It’s also not religion that inspired me to join my local reform Jewish temple in performing mitzvahs, but it’s religion that instilled in me a sense of solidarity with said temple and provided me with such a loving, supportive community.

What I’m trying to say here is that religion and critical thinking are not mutually exclusive, and to shit on other cultures and other faiths—as I’ve often seen this kind of thinking used in justification of—is to examine organized religion on only the most superficial of levels and condescend to those who have used it for positive purposes. Shit on individuals who perpetuate prejudice and conflict, not on the faiths themselves. I understand why the thought of organized religion is unsettling to some, and I absolutely believe that to practice it safely, one must be capable of asking questions and staying true to one’s own principles, but this kind of thinking is just silly and juvenile and entirely missing the point.

Flawless.

#this view against religion upsets me so much #religion is good. man corrupts it. can I just leave this all here.

By way of apologizing to @bpick for a previous post made in the heat of the moment in anger and frustration. I casually brushed off the problems of theodicy, religious belief, and respecting the right to those beliefs. My faith has crumbled in tiny, almost imperceptible increments. I am moved by certain imagery (the Buddha), and occasionally a belief in something greater. I believe in people and in kindness. I believe in curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge. Religion often teaches people to be kind, to trust one another, to love one another. It even teaches people to pursue intellectual interests and enlightenment. It is not the fault of religion itself that it is sometimes used by hateful crusaders to injure and abuse. Ignorance and callousness are not caused by religion. It’s a generalization to the nth degree to claim that religion is the cause of all strife, lack of empathy, etc. I apologize for that view, since I know it is alienating to those who do identify as religious people. It hurts the fight to seek a middle ground, which is especially of paramount importance in this time of divisiveness and partisanship in the US.

I’m also especially sorry it took a Gwyneth Paltrow quote to make me realize this.