Hellooooo! It’s time for Wednesday Links!
How are we feeling about April? Have the allergies started for anyone yet? I’m always dreading allergy season, but mine didn’t start until mid-May last year. I keep waiting for the day I don’t get them because I’ve heard if you live in an area for a decade, your body gets used to it. Well…I’ve surpassed a decade and I still have ’em. Maybe I’m just a…late bloomer. (lol)
And you thought you only get corny jokes from Sarah on the podcast. But also seriously, I’m sick of allergies.
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What timing, everyone! Last week, we had a discussion in the comments about Trader Joe’s, their offerings, and their awful labor practices. An article dropped on Monday about their copycatting consumer goods from small business, often business run by people of color.
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Is a Wikipedia article worthy of Wednesday Links? It is when you discover something called the Chicago Rat Hole. Any Chicagoans familiar?
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Beyonce’s latest album, Cowboy Carter, dropped last week and I’m enjoying it! I also loved this critique from NPR, about the Carter’s desire for recognition from particular institutions and how sometimes that undermines the art they make.
Also, in case anyone was wondering, I think “Bodyguard” and “Daughter” are tied for my favorites on the album.
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For my very first concert, I saw The Spice Girls. I’m still a huge fan and will go off anytime “Wannabe” is played. I thought this cover by Postmodern Jukebox was really fun and the costuming of the singers was a great nod to the group.
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Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting 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!
The Rathole is a broken section of a city sidewalk that looks like the body of a dead sprawled out rat. People became fascinated with this and took pictures, selfies and even got married standing over the “rathole”.
Only in Chicago!
Lately it has been on my mind that I will probably die before Mount TBR is conquered. While looking for a book title on Everand (formerly Scribd) today, search included this article, which appeared in LitHub in 2017: https://lithub.com/how-many-books-will-you-read-before-you-die/.
By the way, if you enjoy audiobooks, Everand membership paid annually is reasonable and lately I estimate 90% of the newer releases I look for are only available in audio version. I don’t know how many audio books are included each month.
I hate to tell you this, but I’ve heard the opposite about allergies. I’ve been in New Mexico 22 years and still have terrible allergies. My husband was born here and didn’t develop allergies until his thirties.
We also have allergies in every season. The juniper is almost finished but the cottonwood is going. At least I don’t worry about mold here!
I haven’t seen the current season, but anyone interested in Muppet logistics will enjoy this “how they filmed it” look at the new Fraggle Rock:
https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/apple-tv-plus/fraggle-rock-back-to-the-rock-season-2-explained-jim-henson-company-creature-shop-behind-the-scenes
https://www.consumerreports.org/allergy/allergy-causes-myths-and-facts/
Many of the things we hear are myths, old wives’ tales, etc…
I see an allergist regularly, take meds, and have an allergy shot regimen. So thankful for my insurance which covers a majority of the cost.
Thank you so much for the NPR link!! What a great article!! I am loving Cowboy Carter too, faves at the moment are II Most Wanted and Levii’s Jeans.
Dance-pop about pierogis, with slightly mind-melting music video: ♫ “Eat Pierogi” by Mee And The Band.
https://youtu.be/afBKjqAkNSw?si=Gg1jeqEqOiUuVT-d
I’m kinda jealous of people with seasonal allergies, tbh, because that at least implies there’s an end in sight for theirs. I’m allergic to basically everything in the air, so mine are year round, with spikes in severity for mountain cedar in January and oak in March (and probably for other things, too, but those are the most recent so I can remember them).
For all the SF fans out there, the effects supervisors and research support of the Star Trek shows has a new podcast, in which they examine the feasibility and mechanics of various science fiction staples. The first of eight episodes will release on Friday May 5 and will examine the iconic Star Trek transporter; future episodes will look into the Tardis, lightsabers, Tony Stark’s Arc Reactor, and more: https://reactormag.com/new-video-podcast-does-it-fly-asks-important-questions-like-could-star-treks-transporter-work/
@Trix: I had no clue Fraggle Rock was back. Thank you for sharing!
@Amanda I’ve heard raves about this new season (Joe at the Muppet fan blog ToughPigs recently did an IG video imploring people to watch, because he felt it was the best-executed “new Muppets” project in years). Season 1 was done during Covid (it was “back to the cave,” iirc), and while you definitely noticed the restriction effects, they incorporated things very cleverly…
If you can’t get enough Cowboy Carter discourse, I am really enjoying the discussion on the podcast Keep It with Ira Madison III, Louis Virtel, and guest Kendra James. They are going through it track by track, and it’s just a lot of fun.
https://crooked.com/podcast/beyonces-cowboy-carter-with-justice-smith-and-kendra-james/