#really great read

[slumpsnail]

“Tangled in love, stuck by you” Fanart for this wonderful fic Keep You (at arm’s length) by InAllPossibilities.

[sassyfever]

Surviving Romance is so so important to me

[rovermcfly]

Football's first fa’afafine: trans rights trailblazer Jaiyah Saelua on stardom and sisterhood

Fa’afafine athlete and advocate Jaiyah Saelua, and Kaimana, the fa’afafine actor who will play her in Taika Waititi’s latest film, find shar

an older article I only found today about Jaiyah Saelua, one of the players featured Taika Waititi's upcoming movie Next Goal Wins. a really great and uplifting read for anyone who cares about Indigenous rights and living, trans/queer topics (esp Indigenous identities, in this case fa'afafine), soccer and/or Taika Waititi's work.

[caitlynlynch]

First in a new series of cozy mysteries set in the Regency era, The Body in the Garden follows widow Lily Adler as she settles into a new life in London, determined to make her way and find some sort of place for herself following the death of her husband at too young an age. Accompanied by Navy captain Jack Hartley and beautiful West Indian heiress Miss Ofelia Oswald, Lily determines to find justice for a young man whose murder she accidentally overhears when the magistrates choose not to have Bow Street investigate the case.

There’s an interesting examination of the role of the young widow in Regency society as Lily tries to figure out what she’s going to do with the rest of her life; not even thirty, she’s basically expected to find herself another husband as soon as possible, but she loved her husband and she’s not at all sure she wants to remarry. A clever woman - she shows flashes of Holmesian deductive ability at times - she has no intention of settling.

I wouldn’t say there’s any hint of romance here, though I did get the definite impression Jack was falling head over heels for Lily; there was also a Bow Street Runner I think rather admired her who I suspect will feature more heavily in future books in the series, but don’t go into this looking for Lily to find love again. What she does find is purpose, as she uses her wits and her resources to pursue the murderer.

Something I really enjoyed in this book was the fact that Regency London wasn’t (unrealistically) presented as being all-white; Jack is the son of an English father and an Indian mother and Ofelia is the daughter of an English father and a Black woman. Ofelia’s actually inspired by Miss Lambe of Jane Austen’s Sanditon and it’s fascinating to see the portrayal of how high society would have welcomed her wealth while secretly looking down their noses because of her mixed race. Lily has Black servants, something that would have been quite common in that day, especially among those households not quite at the echelon of the upper class, a category into which Lily fits as a gentleman’s widow.

The mystery was intriguing (and plausible) and I loved Lily and the other principal characters. This was a seriously good read and I’m really looking forward to the next in the series. Five stars.

The Body In The Garden is available now.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.

[phearts]

Orphan Black is a complex show with complex characters living complex lives. Nothing is simple about the lives of any of the characters, and that certainly doesn’t exempt their love lives. Perhaps the most complex relationship on the whole show is the one between Cosima and Delphine. The audience has witnessed their journey from first meeting to their recent poignant reunion. Through betrayals, heartbreak, and loss these two have continually found a way back to each other, defying even death because they couldn’t leave the other. No matter what Dyad and Neolution have thrown at them their bond is unbreakable. Even when they have occasionally seemingly stood on opposite sides of the fight they’ve always been undeniably drawn to one another. The knowledge that she might have lost Delphine forever just about destroyed Cosima. The moment they were reunited there was this sense of thankful disbelief from Cosima and an odd mixture somewhere between relief and fear seemed to flood through Delphine when Cosima collapsed into her arms. This is the theme of their story, always finding each other against insurmountable odds. Their story is a beautifully complicated one that at its core is all about unfaltering love. Because of all these reasons, as the series winds down it is incredibly important to bring this story to a satisfactory conclusion. The characters and audience have invested so much into this relationship and it seems like the show is determined to give them the ending they deserve.

Wonderful review of 5x05 by SpoilerTV

[purpleandpinkhouses]

"Actor Daniel Wu discusses his new show, 'Into The Badlands' and how Asian actors have to keep fighting for more diversity."

[craneyum]

"It is not just our Western habits and cultural preferences that are different from the rest of the world, it appears. The very way we think about ourselves and others—and even the way we perceive reality—makes us distinct from other humans on the planet, not to mention from the vast majority of our ancestors. Among Westerners, the data showed that Americans were often the most unusual, leading the researchers to conclude that “American participants are exceptional even within the unusual population of Westerners—outliers among outliers.”

Given the data, they concluded that social scientists could not possibly have picked a worse population from which to draw broad generalizations. Researchers had been doing the equivalent of studying penguins while believing that they were learning insights applicable to all birds."

[amaranthinewander]

I'M NOT A MISERABLE BITCH, REALLY: I'M JUST AN INTROVERT

Read it here

I loathe when people think that I'm shy rather than introverted. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being shy, I'm just not, and they are two separate things. People cajoling me into social situations try to assure me that I "don't have to talk to everyone" or that "everyone will love me."

Bitch, of course they will like me. I am delightful. I just find prolonged social interactions to be extremely exhausting.

- popculturemulcher

User Allan Mott:

Because of my past history and profession, it's very easy for me to be alone and avoid communication. There once was a period in my life where I suddenly realized I had gone an entire two weeks without saying a single word to another human being. I decided at that moment that this wasn't a good thing.

In my case I kinda had my introversion beaten into me. As a young kid I was actually very social and talkative, but as time went on and it became clear I wasn't like the other kids, I found it a lot easier to just hide. Because of this I'm an introvert who is capable of doing extraordinarily extroverted things (to the point that some folks have very mistakenly referred to me as "fearless"), but my preference would be to someday settle somewhere halfway between the two.

The truth is, I like parties and I like people, but that doesn't make social situations any easier or comfortable for me. I always have to worry about shutting down or--even worse--going way too far. Still, I try, because I ultimately think I'll be happier once I figure out how to get it right.

I'm indebted to the above comment. Thank you. Thank you.

I was an active (rowdy) child too and people often criticized me for going overboard. So as I grew up, I tried so hard to suppress and change that characteristic to make others like me. And in return, I completely lost my ability in being comfortable in a social situation, because there was a constant fear of saying or do something wrong, and it became a habit to not to act at all.

After stepping into university, I felt the need to reach out and establish personal networks, and in truth, I do enjoy social situations, (I also learned how to fake charm and other things if I'm stuck in a particularly bad spot). I enjoy small talks with friends, and deep talks about life and future and politics and history and literature and music and many many other topics. Though, I am not comfortable around EVERYONE and it takes a while for me to warm up to people to really let out my inner opinions, doesn't matter how friendly I may seem in our first meeting.

I often feel like there is a struggle inside me to be extrovert or introvert, or to feel or not to feel at all, to be a cold pragmatic or to give in to emotions. And it torn me up more than I ever thought anything would. I often felt that nobody around me understand this situation, and thank goodness someone do.