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shadesofmauve:

On the same theme as @Plunderpuss’s admonition about bad “brushes”:

If you wish to encourage a child or loved one to pick up a musical instrument, please do not do it by buying a $90 “violin” from walmart or the like. 

These things are NOT musical instruments. They’re known among musicians and luthiers as “VSOs” – Violin Shaped Objects – and they’re a sure ticket to convincing someone that they cannot play, will never be able to play, and should give up music entirely. That’s because those things are UNPLAYABLE. 

If you have no money an actual violin shop is HELLA INTIMIDATING. I get that. My parents had no money, and they almost turned around and walked out of the violin shop before purchasing my first (half size, so adorbs) violin. Instead, they told the owner “We have $200 dollars and a little girl who wants to play. We can’t afford the monthly cost of renting. Is that totally unreasonable? Should we just leave?” And Carl, bless his heart, found me my first violin. 

If $200 is too much, there are music teachers and school who will loan instruments and luthiers who will do payment plans. The point isn’t the exact amount spent; the point is that musical instruments are specialty equipment and there are unfortunately people out there looking to make a buck selling things that LOOK like instruments but aren’t, so ESPECIALLY if you’re not a musician yourself, you need to go to a specialist. Or, if you know someone who plays, bring them with you! Seriously, it’s not an imposition. Basically every musicker I know LOVES to be invited to test drive instruments. 

I’ve been playing violin/fiddle for twenty four years. If I can’t get a halfway decent tone out of a violin, it is not actually a violin. It’s a VSO. And I get seriously worked up about the idea that there are kids out there convinced they can’t play because they were given garbage and expected to make music out of it.

princesslovesherdaddy:

fivesandsevens:

scoutprouvaire:

schrodingersnerd:

everythingisnightvale:

discontentramblings:

An asexual and pansexual become room-mates and have wacky adventures

The show is called ‘All or Nothing’

Plot twist: the asexual is really super outgoing and is a huge flirt while the pansexual is extremely socially awkward and has trouble ordering coffee let alone getting a date.

my hand slipped

will reblog until this becomes an actual show

Never not reblog

Netflix make it happen

shadesofmauve:

musanocturnis:

@commanderlurker replied to your post:For all my hangups wrt writing, I’ve realised the…

I’m curious to know what is lost in translation! What nuance is English missing?? Also, oh man, just reading for the sake of reading is so liberating after a period of being stuck on a writing project.

For this, first we need a swedish lesson.

Tant is a value-neutral-to-positive word for an adult-to-elder woman (40+ at least), usually implies a fair amount of class and poise for adults (she’ll have modern haircut, be well-dressed with matching purse), gentleness for elders (still stylish, walking around with her purse in her walker, still ticking 20+ years after her hubby died). Generally translates to and from “aunt”.

Snusk is a wide-application word meaning filth, like filthy environment, filthy behaviour, etc. Also used as a wrinkle-nosed word for pr0n.

Compounding the two very value-dissonant words gets you a meaning somewhere along the lines of, “specialised dirty literature for ladies” or “the tmi stuff my grandma keeps in her drawer that I really don’t want to know about but secretly read anyway”.

That’s a wonderful, wonderful word.

Thank you for the Swedish lesson.