Your annual reminder to not donate to Salvation Army!
Not saying that Hollywood studios are committing blatant financial fraud or anything, but the writer of the original Men in Black being told that after 3 sequels, a hit song, a WB cartoon series and a comic book being told “this franchise has never made money” is rather shady.
Didn’t Mark Hamill say they once sent him a letter every year claiming Star Wars never made any money?
Hollywood is great at taking a movie that made $300 million on a $15 million budget and then fudging the numbers so they somehow lost money and then they get a tax break.
The whole thing is such a scam, and the whole reason is to avoid paying the talent: writers, directors and actors, who agreed to a lower up front paycheck in order to take a piece of the profit of a film that should be wildly successful. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/19/business/nightcap-hollywood-accounting-strike/index.html
Alternatives to Squishmallow
So as many of you have probably already heard, Jazwares, the company that produces Squishmallows, is donating to charities that support Israeli soldiers and the IDF. They’re also supporting Canary Mission, which has been doxxing people who speak out against Israel. BDS hasn’t called for a boycott against them, but I can’t in good faith spend my money on their products, and I would strongly encourage everyone who enjoys plushies to really think long and hard about if you want to give your money to a company that’s helping support genocide!
But the holidays are coming up, and lots of us enjoy plushies and were fans of Squishmallow, and were planning to give Squishmallows to friends and family this year.
Fortunately, there are a number of great plushie companies out there, and I want to promote some of my favorites in the hopes that folks will get their plushie fix from a source that doesn’t side with Israel. So without further ado:
Fluffnest
Fluffnest got their start on Kickstarter a few years ago, and I adore the round shapes of their PuffPal plushies! My favorite is Pete the Possum, which is probably the best possum plush I’ve ever seen. I’ve also got a beautiful moth from their Kickstarter and I’ve been wanting their bats for ages. They also recently had a Kickstarter for an Animal Crossing-esque video game featuring their plushie characters and it looks fantastic.
Squishables
I can’t get over the plague doctor plushies. They’re so perfect and cute, and they’ve released other variations of them called Alter Egos, like a ghostly version, and alien, or a really sweet cottagecore one! They’ve got a ton of variety, but what I like the most are the fantasy plushies. There’s a lich! There are dragons and demons! Cryptids! Biblically accurate angels! A lot of really fun stuff!
Also they do a lot of great charity work! Right now they’re doing an auction for the Food Bank of New York City.
AfternoonFika
AfternoonFika is a very small business of only three people, but their plushies are extremely cute. They tend to sell out fast, so I recommend following them on social media to stay on top of any restocks! They recently released a line of dinosaurs that are precious, and of course I love their iconic cactus cat and cinnamon bun bunny.
Jellycat
Jellycat has been around since 1999, so they’re the oldest of these companies. They’ve got great designs, a ton of variety, and a lot of their plushies are made to be cuddled on and not just displayed. All three of my tiny nephews sleep with a different stuffed dog from Jellycat. My mom has a sun and several succulents that she uses as decorations. There’s a little something for everyone who enjoys plushies!
If you have any other favorite companies I haven’t mentioned, feel free to add on! I’ve enjoyed Squishmallows for a while now and I’m sad to see their leadership coming out on the side that’s committing war crimes on a daily basis, but this is a good time to discover new favorite plushie companies! And remember, money speaks loudly. Even if BDS hasn’t called for a boycott of Jazwares, it sends a message when sales start dropping for companies that support genocide. It’s a small thing, but the little things we do can add up!
An audience member stopped World Science Festival host Jim Holt from speaking over physics professor Veronika Hubeny
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From Marilee Talkington’s post:
So, after thinking about this over night, I’ve decided to share something that happened at the WORLD SCIENCE FESTIVAL yesterday afternoon in NYC that changed me. Or rather made me step into who I am in a larger way.
As some on my feed have seen, I was live-feeding the beginning of the panel discussion on FB. That panel was made up of some of the greatest and most famous minds in the world in Inflationary Cosmology, String Theory, Cosmology and Physics based Philosophy. The panel was made up of 5 men and 1 woman. And the moderator was a science writer and journalist for The New Yorker.
In the first hour of the panel discussion you can see clearly, if watching the video, that Veronika Hubeny, the only woman on the panel is barely given any opportunity to speak. And the Moderator, Jim Holt even acknowledges this.
In the last 20-30 minutes of the 90 minute discussion Jim Holt finally pushes the conversation to Hubeny’s field of expertise, string theory, and this is what ensued:
He asked her to describe her two theories of string theory that seem to contradict one another.
And THEN, without letting her answer, proceeded to answer for her and describe HER theories in detail without letting her speak for herself.
We could clearly see that she was trying to speak up. But he continued to talk over her and dominate the space for several minutes.
I should say that this panel was taking place in a large auditorium as it is an extremely high-profile and always sold-out event. And the panel discussion was being live-streamed across the world and they say that millions of people watch these videos after they are made public. (Which they already are).
So at this point, after seeing very clearly that she was not going to be given space to speak and in fact having her own theories described to the audience by the moderator, I am in full outrage. My body is actually beginning to shake. The sexism is beyond blatant. It is happening on stage and NO ONE, not a single other physicist or panelist is stepping in to say anything about it. And I can hear other audience members around me, both men and women becoming more and more agitated with what is happening. Jim Holt, even at one point, asks Veronica a question and she laughs because he has been answering his own questions about her work…and he makes fun of her for ‘giggling’.
So at some point while he is Still talking about Her theories, I just can’t handle it any longer.
With my hands shaking,
I finally say from my seat in the 2nd row of the audience, as clearly, directly and loudly as possible;
“Let. Her. Speak. Please!”
The moderator stops.
They all stop.
The auditorium drops into silence.
You could hear a pin drop.
And then the audience explodes with applause and screams.
Jim Holt eventually sat back, only after saying I was heckling him
And he let her speak.
And of course, she was brilliant.
———————–
So, the panel discussion ends.
My hands are still shaking. I’m still upset by the incredible sexism that has been demonstrated this afternoon. But I also realize that I just spoke up in an auditorium full of people that are listening to people that are considered gods in the international science world. I was just overwhelmed by it all
We get up to leave.
And then it happens.
Person after person come up to me. Both men and women.
The first woman, right behind me, reaches over and embraces me and says, “Oh my god. what you said was the most important thing that was said all day. Thank you. Thank you.”
And then people start filing out of their aisles and wind their way over to me:
“Was that you? Thank you so much for speaking up. Thank you.”
“Was that you? Oh god, what he was doing was horrific. Thank you. I wanted to do something but didn’t know how”
“Was that you? I wish I had the courage to say something, thank you! Thank you so much”
“Was that you? You said what everyone here was thinking. Look I had even been writing in my notebook what you eventually said (shows me his notebook with ‘let her speak’ written over and over.) But you said it. You said it. Thank you.”
“Was that you? Thank you! I felt so powerless to do anything.”
And on.
So we were all thinking this.
—-
So I walked out. And my friend who was sitting about 8 rows behind me, came up to me with a huge grin and said
“That was you, wasn’t it? Of course it was. YES!!!!! I will be telling this story for years.”
And the whole time, my hands are still shaking. And I’m felling light-headed. And I just want to scream out into the lobby “WHY IS THIS SEXISM STILL HAPPENING? WHY, does someone like me, with No status in that room, have to be so extraordinarily bold and speak up? And why was it so frightening to do so?”
And I’m thinking. “God, please god let this be an opening for those that were here today and the tens of thousands that watched the live-streaming of the panel yesterday and the hundreds of thousands that will watch the video this year- to speak up when we see this happening. And please let me not be afraid to do this again
…and again
…and again”
Because it was scary.
Please keep giving me courage.
it’s time
ITS NOT TIME ITS FUCKING MARCH I DONT WANT TO SEE THIS
it’s time
I have a feeling someone had this queued for an entire year just so they could post this in march
opals-official-twitter-account
I T S T I M E
scruffymcwhiskers
ITS TIME
IT’S MARCH YOU ANIMALS
IT’S LITERALLY MARCH 8TH 2017 THE FUCK IS THIS DOING ON MY DASH
I swear tumblr has a thing about March. What’s going on? I thought I knew all of tumblr’s secrets.
Well I guess I haven’t even been here for a full year yet, so…
it’s time.
Time
INTERNATIONAL HOLIDAY
>??>?>??
CREPPY
ballisticfan123
It’s MARCH!!!
MARCH 2020 BOISSSS
Chaos is my middle name
that0n3teen
March 2021 here we go
it’s spoopy time! :D considering putting my halloween decor back up just for the meme lmao
icantthinkofacreativeurl
It’s time!!!!!!!!
ITS TIME
crystal-the-carrot
IT’S TIME
tyler-hayward-should-rot-in-hell
IT’S TIME
green-pear
you liTTLE FUCKERS ITS MARCH
IT IS TIME AND MY BIRTHDAY IS TOO SO HELL YEAH
SPOOPY CREPPY TIME
Anonymous asked
Min what's something "adult" you wish you knew about when you were younger? Mine was that you could tell a bakery to bake you a cake, but not say it was a wedding cake and save an ass load of money
that cardboard boxes attract roaches. REALLY wish I knew that when I got my first apartment
OK I had to google this for Reasons and basically
cardboard doesn't "attract" roaches. it's not like they can smell it and come running. it's wrong to say cardboard boxes attract roaches. BUT! if roaches happen upon your cat's cardboard box city, they **will** claim it in the name of Cockroach Kingdom and immediately take over. Roaches eat cardboard and enclosed spaces make good shelters for egg laying, so a handful of cardboard boxes really is a bountiful and wonderful discovery for them that will lead to a nice roach population boom.
so basically, if you don't have a roach problem, boxes won't create a roach problem. but if you see even one(1) roach near your cardboard box stash, you should get rid of your boxes to prevent a new roach colony taking hold in your home. and as someone who has lived in a roach infested apartment, trust me when i say that if you can avoid allowing the roach colony to start, you should, bc its nearly impossible to get them to leave once they're there.
Can you believe margot robbie did this stunt on her own without any wires while wearing high heels
we had to hear stories about fucked up shit jared leto was doing for a year for his 5 seconds of mediocrity while this woman was out here actually becoming a gymnast?????
me reading about historic monarchs: you are all garbage people; living on garbage island.
*turns page*: some of you are funny, tho.