paul revere was actually a BAMF

why does everything about this trailer tell me that this is the darkest animated movie ever made? 

yet somehow, my mind has been so tricked by photoshop all this time that i just don’t believe anymore that celebrities can look as average as they do in the ‘before’ pics. it’s as if people on the internet downgrade-photoshopped them…

is not a real Friday. 

i just realized that by being just a sophomore, this is my 4th round of college finals week. maybe it’s a problem that for this reason, i don’t crap my pants with finals-induced anxiety anymore… (i just don’t. give. a shit. <- pun intended)

Maybe i’m a day late with this, considering all the excitement had already peaked within the first two hours of the breaking news…but i’m still trying to get a hold of where my feelings stand in terms of Osama Bin Laden’s death…

Upon first seeing the news (via facebook newsfeed, shamefully), my first reaction was “oh, I thought he already died?”. This is partly because I live in a current-affairs-proof bubble, but partly because, from the little news I’d actually been exposed to, Bin Laden had not seemed to be something still predominantly looming in the news, or in our minds. Rather, it seems essentially like we [or I] just forgot about him after the first year or two. 

Not because I can let 9/11 go, but because Bin Laden had already made his mark. It didn’t matter so much what he was plotting to do next, because from that one defining event he made in history, the extremist anti-USA movement had gained the momentum it would need to trigger many more such events. Bin Laden was the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, but not necessarily the only man capable of—and surely not the only one willing to proceed in—executing such acts of destruction towards America.

9/11 instilled in us this everlasting, permeating fear that we’re never safe from terrorist attacks wherever we go. That was Al Qaeda’s and Bin Laden’s victory. Their terror was triumphant. But the lasting threat was not so much Bin Laden himself, but the multitude of plots and attacks that would be consequently inspired by them.

But people are obsessed with symbols. Instead of hating or dwelling on the persistent ideology, they’d rather personify it and hate the face. It’s understandable when it’s dormant. However, this has brought an onslaught of different problems, including anti-Islamic/”brown” prejudice and hatred. And yet, by killing this one figure, we proclaim ourselves winners, despite everything we had previously lost and can never regain. 

We are celebrating the satisfaction of revenge, perpetuating its cycle. We are measuring victories by kills. It wasn’t because of a belief that we’d live in a safer world without Bin Laden, that served as motivation for us. The fear of terrorism is still there, and will never die; we’ve just been adapted to it. We wanted to kill Bin Laden because we wanted all that we found threatening, unjust, and evil in life, to be embodied by this one mortal target. It was a goal much more attainable than fighting all of terrorist ideology, patching up all foreign relations, and safeguarding the nation against all potential threats.

And regarding those wild, sports stadium chants of “USA! USA!” that flooded the streets (and dare I say, people breaking out cowboy hats in nyc?), this PsychologyToday article sums up my uneasiness about it:  ”Think of it. If a leader in our country were killed by another government in the manner in which Osama Bin Laden was killed, as “justice” for his acts of aggression in the War on Terror—and people from that other country were shown proudly chanting the country’s name, singing their national anthem, and demonstrating in the streets—Americans would likely feel more sickened than joyful, don’t you think? The impulse to celebrate a death depends on what side you’re on.” 

This reminds me of the disturbing footage from the Iraq War, in which locals dancing on the street are rejoicing over the dead bodies of American soldiers—whom, to be fair, had killed many Iraqi innocent civilians. 

It is crude, indeed, that many Americans celebrated the death of a man. And if one simply tries to think about what we’ve accomplished and gained from this…it’s difficult to say that it was anything more than just a visceral, much-needed catharsis that was 10 years-in-waiting. 10 years in which no one knew exactly why we went to war, why more Americans are dying, and why we never seemed to feel a definitive moment of relief since the attacks.

After a long, hot pursuit, we may have finally killed this elusive, old man (who also shares the same birth year as my mom…) but there’s little reason to rejoice. Bin Laden’s time was going to come soon, if not sooner, given the high cost we were already willing to suffer by sending over and endangering more US troops for this very objective (again… winning?).  But even despite his death, what he has already done is immortal. And his influence is still alive. If we keep hailing murder and vengeance as the highest form of justice and resolution, then we’re just being as anti-humanity as Bin Laden and his cohorts. 

What up my 1 or 2 readers. haven’t been feeding my tumblr baby in a while, no no. after a very prolific 24 hours of tumblr posting during midterms week (wow 2 entries?!), i had not been back on this for quite some time. but here i am! (yay?)

ignoring how some goober’s always gotta flip-it-and-reverse the video’s visuals. 

Whoever one day decided that their truffle pig(let!) should don a 4-piece set of bright, little-lass red rainboots clearly knew how to create a legend out of their pet (and was obviously aware of that pig-loving soft part of everyone’s heart). They also must have had SOME foresight that their little porky would become such an internet-stock-photo sensation.

Trying to disregard that innate tendency to squeal (hah get it?) at all things animals-wearing-human-clothing, I must kind of concede that the concept is always a tad unsettling. Cause you just know that 99% of the time it is against the animal’s will to put on clothing (they really don’t need us to be totally fab). Oh, and from the little I do know of the rules of fashion, wearing an unnecessary or impractical item of clothing is usually a complete hit or miss. But, I’d like to just think that this little wellies-wearing fashion maverick pig went to the market, and got nothing but doubletakes and showers of compliments. Good job, owners. (You go keep thinking of ways to exploit your pig’s cuteness. Until then, the world of cute-animal-stock-photo fetishists and I will sit here waiting.)

See: improper pig-image exploitation 

Nice try Willow, but your new video is a little too Ke-dollarsign-Ha, minus the absurd amount of trashiness that makes it awesome, instead being a sad attempt at juztaposing KidzBOP flava with shamanism and bones (is that what kids are into these days?).

Oh and kids in chains raising up buildings? Seems to be perpetuating the idea that slavery gets shit done. And that child slavery is even better.

But petty criticisms aside, I have so much respect for you, Willow. No other 9 year old can rock watermelon-sized shoulders. You make us all question what we were doing when we were 9… OH RIGHT (cue retrospective existential crisis)

I’ve been determined for quite some time to start up my own blog (and by that i mean nothing impressive, considering anybody can make a tumblr) but have delayed it all this time because 1) I needed a really catchy, but serious name, what was going to be my first internet name that wasn’t just a punny play on “lucy” and 2) I wasn’t quite sure of what kind of things I was going to be posting. I was hoping that I this would be my opportunity to be taken seriously, either by posting about profound, pressing topics, or even just by posting very artsy pictures that would make anyone ooze “i’m cultured”.

You can see that clearly i failed at both. This is a result of me not thinking things through long enough, but maybe that is what I wanna do here. Every other decision in life is a result of careful planning and extensive thinking, so in THIS domain, I say to hell with it!