It’s mid-November and the Christmas cheer has begun its war against my curmudgeonly senses. It’s also the time where I have no concept of what day it is since it starts getting dark at 4pm now. Anyone else busting out their SAD lamps?
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One of the neatest articles I’ve read in a while is the discussion of fictional religions over at the A.V. Club:
The nameless, vague religion in Adventure Time is one I can get behind. Like all of the show’s world-building, the religion in the Land Of Ooo happens in the background of Jake and Finn’s adventures. Denizens of Candy Kingdom exclaim, “Oh my glob!” but there’s also the occasional “oh my gob” and “oh my grosh.” Grob Gob Glob Grod is the cube-faced higher being from space. Are they/it gods? Or is there one god, the being of Prismo, the shadow figure who resides in the Time Room, grants wishes, and lives at the center of the multiverse? Then there’s the Cosmic Owl, the Party God, and Death. The gods/deities/wolf heads/lords of the Dead World make for a tapestry of religion closer to that of Graeco-Roman myth than anything else. That all of them are real characters, and that their immortal and superior status is only a periphery concern, makes their unknown religion all the better.
What are some of your favorite fictional religions in books, TV, or film?
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Cute cat alert! Meet Pierogi, who is a master of camouflage:
In case you missed the first few. Here she is, boys. Here she is, world. https://t.co/n0wKFr28b6
— subscribe to Grace Spelman Music Project (@GraceSpelman) October 21, 2017
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Are you a foodie or know one? Foodie Fatale is a new apparel site for women who love to eat:
Foodie Fatale is for women who relish what they eat. We celebrate the pleasures of food and drink, and rebel against fad deprivation diets and unrealistic body images. Instead, we embrace enjoyment, nourishment and fun. We are committed to carrying a wide range of women’s apparel sizes, from small to 2XL, and our product pages feature fierce and fabulous food-loving women.
I’m excited to see their collection grow!
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Genre Worlds is a conference on popular fiction in Australian and I highly recommend poking around the hashtag on Twitter. There were some great panels on ageism in romance, trends in hero occupations, and more.
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In December of 2016, author Jennifer McQuiston announced she was putting her romance writing career on hiatus to focus on her work with the CDC. Well, if you want to know what she’s doing now, the Washington Post has a great article on her work identifying a virus in the Congo Republic.
Hell yeah! You go, Jennifer!
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Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
Read about Monkeypox in Sunday’s paper (and am assuming this is her investigation), chilling article about the threat it poses in the Congo, in the world. Thanks to Jennifer McQuiston for her brave work and to the CDC generally. Truly heroic.
On a lighter note, for a non-cat person, I spent way too much time on searching for Pierogi. I’m convinced this is the meaning of life/the internet.
I am the staff member of a hiding cat, so I did pretty well with finding Pierogi. Years of practice in ‘where has Minnie put herself this time?’.
There were some lovely snapshots from nonfictional Australian LGBTIQ romances in the YES vote coverage:
http://www.sbs.com.au/topics/sexuality/fast-lane/article/2017/11/15/here-are-some-heartwarming-proposals-went-down-today
http://www.sbs.com.au/topics/sexuality/agenda/article/2017/11/10/australian-same-sex-couples-waiting-get-married-tell-their-stories
Totally thought the near-simultaneous proposals story should be in a romance novel. Or an anthology.
Happy light and sunrise lamp are being used in full 10,000 lux force supplemented by plenty of tea and chocolate.
Oh wow, Foodie Fatale t-shirts look like they might actually fit me and be fairly flattering, unlike every other cap-sleeved, long-torsoed, runs small tee on the Internet!