Photographing wild animals has certain risks. But often, the potential hazards are worth it—something photographer Barbara Jensen Vorster
can attest to first hand. In July 2018, she was snapping pictures of a
lion pride in Botswana, until a local lioness stole Vorster’s Canon 7D
after she accidentally dropped it on the ground. (The “thud” piqued the
big cat’s interest.) Luckily, Vorster had another camera on hand and
captured what happened next.
Once the camera dropped, the lioness
mother growled and approached Voster’s group. They withdrew to their
vehicle and watched the drama unfold. “The camera fell with the lens
looking up,” Voster recalled,
“she gently flipped the camera on its side and picked it up by the
barrel of the lens.” The lioness then brought it to her cubs who started
to playfully pounce on it. “They dragged it through the dirt, chewed on
the lens hood and then, fortunately, like most kids, soon grew tired
with their new toy.”
Eventually, Voster was able to fetch her
abandoned camera. She found that it still functioned fine, but the
lioness left her signature. “There are two huge teeth marks on the
rubber focus rings of the lens and small teeth marks on the plastic lens
hood, both of which I decided not to replace.” She spent roughly £200
getting the camera fixed, but the cost was worth the photos she snapped
that day. Calling it a “priceless experience,” she also puts it into
perspective: “What photographer can boast that their lens had been in a
lion’s mouth?”
A wyvern is a four-limbed dragon with
the first pair of legs extending into wings. That’s a distinction that
driftwood artist James Doran-Webb likes to make when presenting his
sculptures. The first wyvern he made required an expansion of the studio
and a huge metal frame. It’s a huge wooden creature that’s perched on a
trunk of a long-dead tree.
Another driftwood wyvern stands on a
gazebo made from reclaimed steel and upcycled water bottles. It made an
appearance in the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show 2015. The piece is
called Wyvern’s Folly and weighs 4 tons!
James Doran Webb is based in the
Philippines. He works with many local initiatives aimed at preserving
the environment and replanting trees. Webb buys his sculpture material
from local gatherers, aiding their villages. Aside from wyverns, Webb
has also made many other (and smaller) sculptures of galloping horses,
goats and other animals.
Role swap au where Zuko was the Avatar who got frozen for a hundred years, so when he’s rescued from the ice instead of a goofy twelve year old Katara catches this mysterious teenager with long hair and a cool scar and a fucking DRAGON
Katara: BOY???? HOT BOY?????? HOT TEENAGE BOY?????????
Zuko: *speaks*
Katara: nevermind I hate him
How does Aang factor into this? I ask because the more I think about it the more I want him to somehow be trying to capture the Avatar.
Aang is 112 years old, decided he was going to be Zuko’s airbending teacher, and refuses to take no for an answer
Aang: Aw, the new Avatar doesn’t want me. Aang: *gets out a weighted net* Time for Plan B then.
JDJSHJABDBFJSH
Look, you know how you keep a net from falling on you? YOU AIRBEND IT, SUCKA. Air comes right after fire in the cycle so it’s not like the guy has any other options. Do you want a flaming net falling on you? No? Then learn to airbend. Or this tiny old man will cart you away like a trussed turkey and lecture you about the power of laughter, going with the flow, opening your chakras, and other hippie shit.
Sokka, slouching against a fence, not moving: Oh nooooooo, that creepy old man stole the Avataaaaaaaaaar. Sokka, sitting down on the ground: We should dooooo something. Sokka, pulling out his lunch: Otherwise he might actually learn something. That would be teeeerrible. Katara, indignant rage coursing through her body: Sokka!!!!!!!! We have to go look for him!!!! Sokka: Might! Actually! Learn! Something! Katara! Katara: *wavers* Katara, also sitting down: We have to go look for him…. *gets out her own sandwich* But, maybe after lunch.
I love that this transforms Aang’s role in the full Team Avatar familial situation from the baby of the family to the Grandpa with weird hobbies
My brain, immediately after the “Aang won’t take no for an answer” post:
Aang: I’m gonna ride him! *jumps on Zuko’s shoulders*
Actually, I thought a bit more about this: If Aang is “grandpa figure who won’t fucking stop teaching Zuko to be a better and more spiritually fulfilled person,” then what is Iroh doing?
And then it hit me.
Iroh: *sitting in a teahouse at a paisho table* Iroh, deadpan: I must capture the last airbender. Iroh: It is the only way to make sure the powe rof the Avatar won’t be turned on the Fire Nation. Iroh: Only then will I be redeemed in the eyes of the Fire Lord for my failure at Ba Sing Se. Iroh: … Iroh: Anyway, it’s your turn.
About half of the B plots are just Iroh finding new ways to feign incompetence and bad luck so that his political watchdog can’t prove that he’s letting Aang – and by extension Zuko – get away.
I hear people all the time criticizing musicals by saying “why can’t they just say what they mean instead of singing and dancing about it?” and for years the only answer I’ve had was a smile and a shrug, but I finally just figured it out.
It’s because the words by themselves aren’t enough.
Outside the song, there would be almost no moving passion in Javert’s words “This I swear by the stars.” How would He Had It Comin’ be anywhere near as dangerous and vengeful without the lighting and the dance routine? The reprise of Wouldn’t It Be Luvverly is essential to underlining just how much Henry Higgins has changed and damaged Eliza Doolittle. The Mary Poppins chimney sweeps would just be weird guys off the roof if they didn’t have their whole zany song and choreography to make them a funny and interesting group. And there aren’t any words in any language to describe the complete change in Leslie Odom Jr.’s voice as the music cuts off and he solos “I…wanna be in the room where it happens, the room where it happens.”
The reason we have musicals–and the reason we have music in general–is because words aren’t enough.
tora42's nonsensne 