Natasha
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natashajconti.com
Natasha
@natashajconti.com
190 followers 140 following 580 posts
actor, educator, cardamom lover
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natashajconti.com
So . . . the old subway map wasn’t to scale/proportion either, but this is ridiculous.
A close of Central Park on the new subway map. It is almost square, slightly longer horizontally. Central Park on Google Maps. It’s vertically very long and thin.
July 6, 2025 at 8:35 PM
natashajconti.com
It offends me to the soul.
It’s a screenshot of a Bluesky profile. The blue follow back icon at the top is visible because they followed me. Their banner is empty and their profile photo is a vague orange H that sort of looks like a bridge and a sun. It reads: HAMLET EU Project @hamleteuproject.bsky.social 616 followers 16.5K following 3 posts An EU-funded project bringing Al to the Cultural and Creative Industries. Through HAMLET Hub, artists, developers, and cultural experts co-create with Al tools for adaptive storytelling, dance analysis, 3D assets and more. hamlet-project.eu First post is: HAMLET EU Project @hamleteuproje... • 8d We are live! The HAMLET Project website is now launched! Explore our mission, pilots, and the transformative technologies driving digital creativity. Join us on this journey! Visit us at: hamlet-project.eu #CreativeAl #DigitalTransformation #CulturalHeritage #Innovation The absolute fucking audacity to name this bullshit HAMLET.
May 20, 2025 at 2:27 PM
natashajconti.com
By @kellygracethomas.bsky.social
A screenshot of a poem: Maybe That's My Problem In Ohio, my friend's backyard is on fire with green. Pulsing emerald, the way only something this far from home can glow. She's upstairs, putting love to bed, as I wait on her deck, scribbling and sipping champagne. The older I get, the more of me I want. Silent car rides, wind riding shotgun, slipping into new cities like a song. Oysters and airfare. A few bites of passion left on my plate. Maybe that's my problem I'm always too in love to choose. I want to be holding my daughter back home. And this poet on the porch. To chase every chartreuse chance. And I know, I know, it's past my bedtime. I could use the sleep, but the champagne's still cold. And I'm greedy for all this green. The sun taunting through trees. Each moment, mine and bright enough to burn. —Kelly Grace Thomas
May 19, 2025 at 11:20 PM
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I’ve got one. ☺️

(This is staged, I don’t actually smoke)
Me (a dark curly-haired white woman), in a crème silk nightgown from the 1930s, exhaling a plume of smoke, holding a cigarette in one raised hand and a glass of whiskey in the other. My “so it goes” script tattoo is visible on the outside of my wrist that holds the cigarette. EB Gallardo was the photographer.
May 5, 2025 at 5:49 PM
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Lots of really concerning stories in this article, but the last one about a guy who was using it for work is really a doozy, especially bc it such sounds like OpenAI is violating its own terms of service.
Screenshot from the linked Rolling Stone article, which reads: In that sense, Westgate explains, the bot dialogues are not unlike talk therapy, "which we know to be quite effective at helping people reframe their stories." Critically, though, Al,"unlike a therapist, does not have the person's best interests in mind, or a moral grounding or compass in what a 'good story' looks like," she says. "A good therapist would not encourage a client to make sense of difficulties in their life by encouraging them to believe they have supernatural powers. Instead, they try to steer clients away from unhealthy narratives, and toward healthier ones. ChatGPT has no such constraints or concerns." A second screenshot from the linked Rolling Stone article, which reads: Sem was confused when it appeared that the named Al character was continuing to manifest in project files where he had instructed ChatGPT to ignore memories and prior conversations. Eventually, he says, he deleted all his user memories and chat history, then opened a new chat. "All I said was, 'Hello?' And the patterns, the mannerisms show up in the response," he says. The Al readily identified itself by the same feminine mythological name.
May 4, 2025 at 10:16 PM
natashajconti.com
Hey folks, just a reminder that alt text is not a caption. Don’t use it to title the photo, use it to actually describe the image. Bluesky also has a handy feature to copy any of the text visible. Use that but also add context.
The classic how to alt text meme, with a capybara image on the left side and the alt text on the right: WRITING ALT TEXT IDENTIFY WHO COLOUR EXPRESSION DESCRIPTION INTERESTING FEATURES A capybara looking relaxed in a hot spa. Yellow yuzu fruits are floating in the water, and one is balanced on the top of the capybara's head. Some of y’all are out here just writing “capybara meme” or “capybara, 2025,” which does not communicate anything about the image.
April 8, 2025 at 11:45 PM
natashajconti.com
Anyway, here’s a picture of my perfect cat to ward off the horrors.
A brown tabby with legs, shoulders, tummy and nose all white is sleeping on her side on a white and grey wool blanket. Three of her paws are stacked together and her bottom front paw is curled around the top leg while she sleeps; her black-tipped tail is wrapped around her back legs. Tiny pink nose and two pink toe beans on a back foot are visible. She’s the softest, sweetest thing, and her 11th birthday was yesterday.
April 7, 2025 at 8:30 PM
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These came home with me:
Two metal plates lie on a wood floor, both by artist Ian Trask. He takes found slides and double-layers them to print on a tin plate. The top one is a square 4x4, called “Honeymooners”: it’s a shot of the moon in waning gibbous, but in place of the white moon is a beach and waves with a couple walking along the shore, and that shot is from very high and far away, so they look like they’re walking on the surface of the moon. The second piece is a vertical 4x6 called “Inner Fire;” the top image is of a woman standing on a block with a light patterned fabric wrapped around her, and she’s looking down at her hand holding out the edge of the fabric. Her other hand is resting on her chest. The second image is of a rocket launch over water; the rocket lines up perfectly under her hand, where her heart would be, and the flame runs up the center of her body. The whole image is washed in red. This piece is a 12x17 screen print called “Sea Beast” by Keren Hasson. It is a black print with gold accents on white paper, and shows a large, many-eyed sea serpent with two tails and a long thin beak that almost looks like a narwhal horn rising out of choppy water. There is a very small boat with very small figures in the foreground shooting arrows at the beast, and though some of them have stuck, you can still see their points and there is no blood, so maybe the beast is mostly okay despite the attack. There are stars and a moon above. I paid $30 for this print, which seems like a crime.
March 31, 2025 at 11:55 PM
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Partner and I wandered over to the Brooklyn Art Print fair yesterday. It was EXCELLENT. Lots of affordable pieces, younger crowd, not stuffy at all, some really innovative pieces.

And then we got pierogis after, and it was a perfect Sunday.
A shot of one of the aisles of booths at the Brooklyn Art Print Fair. It’s located in Powerhouse Arts, which is an old power plant covered in graffiti that they turned into an event/art space, so it’s very industrial-looking, with red metal beams, brick walls, and a concrete floor. Lots of people in the foreground of the photo and cool art hanging in the booth in the background. A shot of an incredibly complex print by Annalise Gratovich. It’s coral red and cyan blue with black outlines, with a big diamond shape in the middle. Volcanos in the lower corners, planets in the upper corners, snakes and beetles and fires and moths and dice around the edges. Four rotating comets at the top. The center image is kind of a vegetal peacock? The whole thing manages to pull from Native American and Scandinavia influences but also looks like an Indian block print. A close-up of two double-layer wood block prints by Susan Goethel Campbell. The top one is pale turquoise blue with holes in the thick paper that allow a dark green to peek through; the bottom is mossy green with brighter turquoise green peeking through the holes. There’s a line of the white backing paper that looks like a river in the bottom right. They look like textural topographical maps, or what flying over densely vegetated land or a lake would look like. There’s perspective in the way the holes are patterned, like you’re seeing the earth or water from an angle rather than directly above. An overhead shot of pierogis, golden beet salad, and two glasses of white wine on a table made of pale strips of wood. The boiled pierogis have chives and sauerkraut on top; the pan fried pierogis have caramelized onions. The Baba’s Pierogis logo is visible on the corner of the table.
March 31, 2025 at 3:45 PM
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#Caturday timeline cleanse:

Roo makes the very best little spoon.
A cat who is mostly white from this angle, with a grey face, is on her side, lying on top of my arm with her head tucked almost under my chin (as I am also lying on my side). She is clearly smiling, and she was purring like a diesel truck. The edge of the blanket is just visible, and she’s tucked under it. You can’t see much of my face (it’s out of frame) but you can see me smiling too.
March 16, 2025 at 12:01 AM
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Apropos of absolutely nothing at all, @eleriward.bsky.social on Sondheim’s most profound and well-crafted lyric:
March 11, 2025 at 12:59 AM
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Finally made it, (thanks @tdfnyc.bsky.social for the excellent seat).

Some truly lovely moments. Sanders as Falstaff was excellent (as @thehighsign.bsky.social said), as was Udom as Hotspur/Pistol.

The gender balance noticeably sucked, though. Who casts Shakespeare basically as-written anymore?
The program for Henry IV held over theater seats, with fake rose petals scattered on the seats and floor. Text of program reads: THEATER FOR A NEW AUDIENCE a full digital program— including cast and creative team bios, essays on the production, and interviews with the artists-—read our 360 Viewfinder by scanning the QR code to the right HENRY IV William Shakespeare ADAPTED BY Dakin Matthews DIRECTED Eric Tucker
March 2, 2025 at 7:55 PM
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Timeline cleanse.
A single human figure is silhouetted almost at the horizon line on a beach, with a seagull and a smaller bird closer to the foreground. The bright blue sky is dappled with fluffy white clouds, and the sand is covered with a thin layer of water that reflects the sky, so the whole thing feels surreal, as though the figure is walking on water. Sea foam is scattered across the sand and the waves are white-capped in the background.
February 22, 2025 at 4:54 AM
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Hopefully just the website and not the actual monument—but luckily they haven’t yet taken down the feedback form at the bottom where you can yell at them. (@altnps.bsky.social, wtf is this)
A form screenshot from the bottom of the NPS Stonewall webpage linked in the quoted post. It reads: . . . Stonewall uprising, the LGB rights movement and Stonewall NM today! Last updated: February 13, 2025 How could we improve this page? And my comment in the comment box: Put the T back, you cowards, stop capitulating to fascism. 442 characters left A big blue Submit button An official form of the United States government. Provided by Touchpoints
February 13, 2025 at 10:21 PM
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Normally I hate Valentine’s marketing, but this tango shoe company really nailed this email. (Click in for full text.) 💃🏻 👠
A screenshot of an email with white background and black italic serif text, which reads: Red Metallic Love! Put This Music On Your Feet And Romantic Experiences Follow Instantly. Forget Valentine, This Is What You Need. A photo of a pair of red metallic dancing shoes in profile: Peep toe, thick heel strap, thin ankle strap that crosses once over the front of the ankle, all in that metallic red leather. The heel is a pencil thin black stiletto—probably 8cm high. It’s a damn sexy shoe. Text underneath the shoe photo: Let's Accumulate More Pleasures! Lisadore Dancing Shoes
February 13, 2025 at 5:36 PM
natashajconti.com
Current view/timeline cleanse:

The world may be terrible, but at least there are cats and handmade quilts and mugs and a space heater when the boiler goes out.

(That’s a @samirahsteinmeyer.bsky.social mug, and the quilt was made by @kathleenconti.bsky.social.)
A brown tabby sits very curled on the lap of a person (me) mostly out of frame. On the left is a hand holding a stoneware mug that has desert sand colored mountains with a turquoise sky; there is a carved 3D prickly pear cactus with pink blossoms on one side. In the background are a white wool blanket with fringe and the back of a quilt with a turquoise floral pattern edged with a dark blue fabric that has pink and blue and green cactus.
February 12, 2025 at 3:19 PM
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Happy #Caturday ~
A brown tabby with a lot of white is lying on her side on a grey and white blanket. She’s stretched along my legs under the blanket, though you can’t really tell that from the photo. Her eyes are closed and she’s smiling, and her front paws are tucked up close to her face in a way that you can see some of her bright pink toe beans. Some back paw toe beans are visible too, and her tail is wrapped around her thighs and tucked under her belly. All in all: unbearably adorable. Same pose as before, but a closer crop on her face. She’s sort of turned her head so it’s half buried in a blanket fold and you can mostly only see her chin and the underside of her face. The toe beans are now hidden, and she’s smiling.
February 1, 2025 at 4:44 PM
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Roo as a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
A cat, about half grey (actually brown, but looks grey) tabby and half white, is curled in a ball. She’s on a bed covered with a teal bedspread with gold satin pillows behind her. From the top right of the frame, a single beam of sunlight angles across her and the bed, echoing the photo of the earth that inspired the Carl Sagan quote I’m referencing.
January 30, 2025 at 7:23 PM
natashajconti.com
For #caturday, Roo looking angelic in the sun.
A brown tabby with a lot of white lies at the edge of a bed with a teal bedspread, in the large rectangle of bright sun streaming in from a window out of frame to the right. She is lying on her side, three legs and the end of her tail dangling over the edge, and she’s looking up toward the window with ears forward and her eyes big and green. My kid took this photo, so my legs are visible on the bed behind Roo, knees up, striped pjs bunched around my thighs. It’s kind of ridiculous, but the cat is cute, so we’re posting anyway. Same basic photo, except Roo is further on her side, all four legs visible, and she’s closed her eyes and is lifting her face toward the sun. There’s a fingerprint on the camera lens now so she’s got a kind of grease halo effect. My hand is on my leg, now, and my torso is more visible, so I look more ridiculous—but I’m in the shadow, so hopefully folks aren’t paying too close attention.
January 25, 2025 at 10:40 PM
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So . . . retweeting a post that was not any of these things has gotten me added to some interesting blocklists, simultaneously, by users with no posts, that are the opposite of what I retweeted.

Some weird and concerning bots afoot, @safety.bsky.app.
Screenshot of my quote repost: Tasha @natashajconti.com • 1h This was literally the conversation I was having just a day ago. Imani Gandy @angryblacklady • 2h He can do it if the Court upholds it. He's testing the loyalty of his justices. We'll see what happens with the ensuing litigation. Please learn now that "but that's not how the constitution works" really doesn't matter anymore. A screen shot of my listifications notification: Today at 12:55 PM 3 people have added you to lists @you.are.a.blocklist.baby. has added you to the "Listifications Users" moderation list bsky.app/profile/did:.. @genevieve.foodsky.social has added you to the "MAGA Trolls" moderation list bsky app/profile/did:. @hogan.swifties.social has added you to the "Porn Bots" moderation list bsky.app/profile/did:...
January 20, 2025 at 6:36 PM
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Went tromping through the new snow last night.
A night shot of a driveway between two rows of garages, covered with an almost perfect layer of snow, with a single light glowing and bare trees at the end of the driveway. A night shot of the snow-covered trail and the metal tube fence that runs along the east bank of the East River. The river is visible on the right, and at the horizon is the industrial arch of the Hellgate bridge and some trees; further behind is the TriBoro suspension bridge, with blue white lights on the suspension. The Manhattan skyline is behind that, but it’s mostly obscured by a general glow from the snow in the air. The same shot as the previous, except that the three trees that were near the horizon are now foregrounded, stretching in a row toward the bridge. The snow is lining their western sides, but the east side is bare, so you can tell where the wind is coming from. It’s a really pretty effect. A night shot of a lamppost in Astoria park. We’re looking at it from the west with the wind at our back; the side of the lamppost facing us is white with snow, as is the brunch and branches of the tree beside it. The lamp glows brightly in the center, like a star. #photography #nyc
January 20, 2025 at 6:18 PM
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I do love NYC in the snow.
A night shot of a sidewalk, with a farmer’s market on the right and the elevated subway line on the right. The storefronts are well illuminated, so the thickly falling snow is very visible. It’s just starting to gather on the ground—it looks like powered sugar right now. A night shot of that powdered sugar on a black cast iron fence and brick pillar in the foreground. Someone’s garden and a chain link fence and a couple of pairs of front steps in the background, and everything is dusted with snow. There’s a few stalks of something like wheat that are particularly lovely. #photography #photographyw/alttext #alttext
January 20, 2025 at 12:39 AM
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He looks so much like mine in this shot—and my comforter is also that color. 👀
A grey and white cat is lying on her side, eyes closed, on a grey and white blanket, which is tucked up over her as well. Her nose and shoulder are white. Behind the blanket fringe you can a teal comforter. An aerial shot of the same grey and white cat, lying on a teal bedspread with a gold pillow at the top and a teal and blue quilt with plant patterns at the bottom. She’s got her paws stretched onto the pillow and her tail on the quilt, so you can see her full markings. She’s tabby on the top of her head, with a large saddle, and her tail is fully tabby, though she’s more spots than stripes. Her nose, neck, chest, front legs, and belly are all white, and her back legs are mostly white with a large spot of tabby on her inner thighs. She’s technically a brown tabby, which is a weird misnomer, because she mostly looks black and grey—you can only see golden brown on her butt, which isn’t usually visible. At any rate, as my ex pointed out, she’s a very common color. A technically-brown-but-looks-grey tabby that looks mostly white in this shot—you can see the tabby on her back and top of her head—is curled in a comma shape, white belly up, white bunny paws, with a slight smile on her face. She’s lying on a teal bedspread.
January 19, 2025 at 6:42 PM
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I’m doing the week (maybe longer?) off Meta thing. Was already thinking about it before the boycott—the ads have just gotten insufferable—but Zuck’s recent comments were a good coffin nail.

Anyway, will likely be posting more photos here as a result. Behold recent shots of my cat and the bf’s cat.
A brown tabby with a lot of white lying on a couple of blankets, reaching her front paws toward my open planner/journal. The sunlight is streaming in in a bar across the bed, and the journal and her legs are in it, so it looks like she’s maybe reaching for the light. A torti with very pointy ears on a blanket, lying down with her head up, looking at the camera. Her front paws are stretched out long towards us, and you can see her one orange back paw sticking out under her armpit. She’s kind of side-eyeing the camera with her eyes a little narrowed, and her bright pink tongue is slightly blurry as she licks the corner of her nose.
January 19, 2025 at 6:16 PM
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Carbi is both pretty and fierce.
A yellow-eyed tortoiseshell cat sits like an Egyptian statue on a bed, turned toward the camera with her head slightly cocked, her expression slightly affectionate. The sun is streaming from the right and catching her legs and chest and cheek, making her look more orange there than usual.
January 8, 2025 at 12:07 AM