Welcome back to Wednesday Links!
For those in the States, have a safe and relaxing holiday weekend! I will personally be doing nothing, which is just how I like it. Final Fantasy XIV just dropped a new expansion and Power Wash Simulator has a new DLC, so I’ll be going full goblin mode to game. And while I love a fireworks show, I’ve done the big Boston display a couple times and the thought of dealing with that crowd makes me shudder. I have less patience for crowded spaces the older I get.
What do your plans entail? Staying in? A barbecue?
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This was posted by jfhobbit on our SBTB Patreon Discord. I love chaotic nature and I am surprised it took so long for me to learn about Otter 841.
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I went down a rabbit hole of themed hotels last week. Just because. I discovered The Roxbury, located in Roxbury, NY. They have so many themed rooms and suites. Personally, I’m fascinated by the coconut cream pie room.
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If you’re looking for more reading bingos to do this summer, the Queer Liberation Library has a bingo card! They also have lists on Libby to help with the categories. Thanks to Josephine for sharing!
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If you’ve known me for more than five seconds, I am very outspoken about my love of hot dogs. I also love a sweet treat. And now I’ve been made aware of the existence of the Cool Dog, thanks to both my partner and Ayo Edebiri of The Bear. Ayo is from Massachusetts and recently talked about the Cool Dog in an interview. My kingdom for a Cool Dog!
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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!
Happy 4th! My town has a fireworks display in the park every year, and I am close enough that I can watch it from my front porch, which is really fun.
I do have a link, but it’s really a depressing one from Lyz Lenz, about how her book got ripped off by AI, and now a fake version is being sold on Amazon. Why doesn’t Amazon stop this? https://lyz.substack.com/p/ai-stole-my-book-and-sold-it-online?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=4106&post_id=146228346&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=3yv7y&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
If you love hot dogs, @theshayspence on IG and TT, who was a contestant on Next Level Chef last season, just finished Hot Dog week where he created different hot dog recipes.
Oooo, themed hotels! Did you look at the Madonna Inn? The photos absolutely do not do it justice. Even if you don’t stay, you HAVE to sneak into the men’s bathroom on the lowest floor of the main building to experience the completely over the top urinal.
Sea Otters for the win! I followed the otters at VanAqua all during COVID, after you posted a link to an orphaned pup they rescued. Unfortunately, they went offline last year, and I really miss them.They were my go-to when I needed a few minutes to chill.
Not quite a themed hotel room, but Kate Pierson of the B-52s used to co-own a couple of lodging places with the sort of style you’d expect. Sadly it looks like she’s not doing that anymore, so here is an archived version of the website from 2019: https://web.archive.org/web/20190401053837/https://www.lazymeadow.com/ . If you search you can find some articles about it too. Apparently she also had one on Cape Cod but I don’t know if that was before or after 2019. I had hoped to stay at the one in New York someday.
The New York Times discovers that romance bookstores are big business:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/07/books/romance-bookstores.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20240707&instance_id=128127&nl=the-morning®i_id=64747307&segment_id=171500&te=1&user_id=42173f159956a3c48a1588092a035573