In real life I'm pretty sure they are mostly called a flock of swans. 😅
Most of the fancy terms were made up just to be on lists, and the few that are authentic tend to come from very niche contexts.
I've been thinking about how this helps to articulate what makes Minnesota culture so effective in this moment.
The whole point of "Minnesota nice" is that even if you correctly identify the behavior as passive-aggressive, you still can't respond to it overtly without looking ridiculous.
Being 1000% clear, your immunocompromised friends (you have them, right? Well, you do now) weren’t happy with lockdown because we hate people and didn’t want to hang out.
We miss lockdown because that’s when abled people acted like they cared if we died.
A photo of an ash-red check feral pigeon with heavily feathered legs, stood outside on a window sill. Behind her a blue check perches awkwardly on the corner, wings lifted
Today's Ginger, plus a bonus friend
Ginger and Pie, her mate, have been visiting almost as long as Coopuccino. I think they live and nest on this building somewhere, they never seem to be far
#pigeonSky 🪶
Huh. I heard something a lot like that the other day. Merlin kept going back and forth between which species it identified. Unfortunately I have not gotten used to the way that Merlin now requires you to manually save the recordings, and I lost the best one that way. 😭
It's so bad at this particular park that it has apparently outcompeted the garlic mustard, which I did not think was possible.
Lesser Celandine, a yellow flower with 8 rays, rising above glossy green heart-shaped leaves.
A view into open woods, with trees still bare trunks and branches, and a solid carpet of grewn and yellow Lesser Celandine.
This Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna) looks pretty, but it's the only flower I can see in any direction! In less infested areas of the same park, there are 6-8 species of native wildflowers visible, and that's just the ones that are already blooming. 🌿 🌱
A small gray crested bird with a fluffy white chest looks straight at the camera looking extremely fierce.
Judgy Tufted Titmouse says “what the hell are you humans even doing?”
#birds #TitmouseTuesday 🌿
So much policy is aimed at "addressing AI fears" rather than mitigating its harms
because painting the aversion to those harms as irrational is far cheaper that doing anything
False advertising! There is no bird in this photo, only grass.
(...yes, I'm sorry, this is my only joke.)
(A small dance party is now happening in the living room while the DVD menu replays the same clip from "Superstar" over and over.)
And of course, it wouldn't be a musical about Jesus without an ambiguous "is-that-a-curtain-call-or-a-resurrection-scene?" finale.
Did anyone expect the set to come apart and form a giant cross? It's extraordinary. I can't even snark.
The thing about the Seven Last Words is that they always sound like they're a random assortment of sentences cobbled together from about four different stories.
A religion that can celebrate not knowing (but wanting to know) is not going to be threatened by this show.
But a religion that can't tolerate any uncertainty, that has to have one clear answer for everything, is going to be deeply offended.
Of course it is a minor miracle that Brandon Victor Dixon (and the rest of the cast) can still sing and dance like this after everything else.
I think it's also a sort of redemption for Judas, who is finally free to say: I'm not sure. I don't know. There might be something worth knowing.
There is something about this story that is deeply compelling, no matter what you believe about what happens next.
The point, I think, is that the great triumph here is getting people to WANT TO KNOW who Jesus is.
Judas, even, now can admit: He doesn't know, but he wants to know.
Superstar is such a weird moment, which weirdly works.
Note how Pilate is constantly mocking both Jesus AND the crowd and the religious authorities.
He puts on a good show of being just on the edge of losing control, but he knows exactly what he's doing.
I think this Judas is tragic in part because he can't tolerate uncertainty. He can't be wrong. He can't have been wrong.
(...that'll preach.)
Judas is starting to recognize that maybe he doesn't actually know everything, that maybe there is something here he doesn't understand, but it's too little, too late.
He still has to blame someone else for what he's done.
Note that by returning the money, and going to the religious authorities, Judas is REPENTING.
According to Jesus, this means he can be forgiven.
These guys aren't going to do that for him, and he's burned his bridges with the one community that might, but can be forgiven? YES.
Judas has just found out that the Leopards Eating Peoples' Faces Party is eating peoples' faces.
Mary and Peter singing a duet together as the TWO leaders of the early church is a MOMENT for our time.
Mary, in "Could We Start Again Please?", is being the Tower so that Peter can be the Rock.
dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/mary-the-t...
Because Herod is like that. Herod is absolutely the guy who shows up for one song, and then disappears, and tells himself he was the star of the whole show, and all these people came just to see him.
Alice Cooper, being Alice Cooper, is perfect for this part. Just being here, just being Alice Cooper, is exactly what the moment needs.
This is another performance that could be more over the top, but doesn't need to be.
So they send Jesus back and forth. Probably no one wants to force the issue of who ACTUALLY has jurisdiction.
So, the thing with Herod and Pilate is that Pilate is the governor of Judea, which is where this story takes place.
But Herod is the ruler in Galilee, which is where Jesus and his disciples are from.
These are two powerful men and they're being performatively deferential to each other.