Links and Things

After a short hiatus that coincided with finals period and stress and projects, I am back in the US of A and home in Boston where there are cats and vegan food and gardens that need working it.

And a smallish backlog of links.

• All about the three-person committee that approves (and rejects) baby names in Iceland.
• “When you’re feeling frisky, try slow dancing in your kitchen with a healthy twenty centimeters of clearance in between your torsos.” and other sex advice from a woman in a Cialis commercial.
• The Problem with “Not Caring” about Pop Culture: relevant, revolutionary stories can come from anywhere — even a makeover show.
• Insert Millennial joke about Etat Libre d’Orange making a fragrance specifically for me [here].
• Yale University advancing the science of smell.
• This short story made me tear up… nice to be given back some faith in humanity.
• Very extra background extras– even better than Part 1.
• Just over here learning about The Dutch Angle.
• The story tellers who read aloud to Cuban cigar rollers. Wow.
• The story of the pilot who landed the Southwest Airlines flight.
• Cardi B is changing how black women are pregnant in public.
• Eight decades of royal British corgis are at an end.
• An analysis of The Simpsons and the Problem with Apu. Just jump right in here at Part 2.
• And a whole lot of exciting trailers: Solo, The Meg, The Incredibles 2, Mary Shelley, Hot Summer Nights (Heyyy, Timothee Chalamet!), Hereditary, Three Identical Strangers.

Friday Links 2/2

Let’s just roll right in…

• A super powerful spoken word/poem by singer Halsey about sexual abuse.
• University of Washington says if you swat mosquitoes they may learn to avoid your scent. Can we put that in a perfume, please?
• Casey Affleck pulls out of presenting the best actress Oscar. Probably a good idea.
• But if Gary Oldman wins best actor, will he be the presenter backing out next year?
• There’s going to be a sequel to The Shining.
• “This is not normal.” Nutella riots hit France.
• Ten to watch from Sundance, courtesy of Alicia Malone! I’m super excited for a bunch of the new films. Possible list coming?
• Ignore the clickbait title. Instead: “There are a million ways to say no, and we need to stop ignoring them. We need to make “enthusiastic consent” our mantra and keep it in mind whenever we might have sex.” Read it.
• How Netflix personalizes its services for every person. Pretty intense.
• A great read: The female price of male pleasure.
• Is this going to be the big under the radar horror film of the year?
• There’s going to be a new royal baby (I missed this somehow)! British bookies are taking bets on baby names.
• I’ve been having a bit of imposter syndrome recently, and this piece on the ‘friendship complex’ was a reassuring read.
• Why people are eating tide pods? 1) I’m officially old, now that I’m having to google this kind of internet fad thing. 2) Gen Z is screwed.
• Two fashion industry tops under fire after a racial slur leads to the rediscovery of past homophobic and transphobic comments. Superficial apologies ensue.
• And to wrap up on a lighter note: Four teddy coats to look like a faceable Paddington Bear. As if Paddington wasn’t already incredibly sexy. Mmm, marmalade.

Historical Fiction, A Way Back Book Obsession

Despite writing and keeping this blog primarily for myself, as a way to keep writing casually and to share the things I’m brimming with excitement about… I can’t help but feel guilty when I ignore certain topics for what I feel is too long.

That’s why I didn’t post for two days- I’m distinctly aware that I owe books a day in the spotlight, but reading hasn’t been particularly satisfying for me recently. I only recently pulled out of the refraction period caused by Willa Cather’s The Song of the Lark. I read that over the fourth of July. Over a month ago.
The book that got me out is the one that I’m still very much in the middle of- Balzac’s Cousin Bette.

Because of this I feel like saying anything on the subject of what I’m reading right now is both premature and a bit too tenuous. I don’t want to do anything that might cause me to lose the reading momentum for another month. Especially because I need to know what happens to Cousin Bette and Steinbock and Hortense and Adeline.

So instead of talking about what i’m reading right now, I’d like to share one of my favorite middle school and high school genres: historical fiction.

Favorite Compound Names

You know, I never thought of giving a boy child a compound name (and I’m not really thinking about it seriously for a girl child either- and also I’m not seriously thinking of being pregnant anytime soon. So all hypothetical).

Some families give every child the same first part and then differentiate them by the second.  Which is a little bizarre, I guess- I mean, I don’t really see the point of the first part if they’re just going to go by the second.