1| Beren and Luthien are my #relationshipgoals, so I am THRILLED that their story is getting lifted from The Silmarillion to have a book of their own.
2| If you don’t know who I’m talking about, check out this wonderfully titled post about J.R.R. Tolkien’s radical female character, “Luthien: Tolkien’s Badass Elf Princess.”
3| Donald got booed a lot at the Al Smith dinner, but Hillary was a superstar! She’s funny and inspiring, and I like her a lot. Haters to the left, please.
1| Feminist satire with Kristen Bell: what could be better?
1| 9 Brutally Real Reasons Why Millenials Refuse to Have Kids
I LIVE. If you like babies, you probably need a sense of humor (or empathy) to read this article, but as someone who has always been deeply ambivalent about having biological children, I was screaming in agreement throughout the whole thing.
2| Marvel movies have boring soundtracks – here’s why!
There is only one thing worth seeing this week on the Internet, and it is Sia’s music video tribute to the 49 children (this video makes it so obvious that they were just CHILDREN, having fun and being dumb and maybe reckless, but children nonetheless) who were murdered in the Orlando club.
Maybe you’ll be able to get through this without crying, but I sure couldn’t.
THIS IS EVERYTHING. Thor hanging out with Darryl in Australia, unhappily “not caring” about Tony Stark and Steve Rogers fighting without him, making nonsense mystery boards about the Infinity Stones…PERFECT.
“Dude? Don’t you get it?? Here at Lambda Alpha Lambda, we keep toxic masculinity in check!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0qr5cS5FhY
Let’s make this man our next vice president!
1| Travel as Therapy – an Introduction by The Book of Life
I love the idea of considering travel destinations in terms of psychological virtues rather than surface level pursuits of a “culture weekend” or “island hideaway.” And I love their examples of places to go, as well as the accompanying virtue, at the end of the piece!
“In the future, we would ideally be more conscious travellers – aware that we were on a search for places that could deliver psychological virtues like ‘calm’ or ‘perspective,’ ‘sensuality’ or ‘rigour’. A visitor to Monument Valley wouldn’t just be in it for a bit of undefined ‘adventure’, something to enjoy and then gradually forget about two weeks later; travelling to the place would be an occasion fundamentally to reorient one’s personality.”
2| Yesssss! The Star Trek cast is killing Dubsmash!
1| Stop Pretending “Sexy” and “Sexualized” Mean the Same Thing by The Mary Sue
YES, thank you. There are ways to show and appreciate the human form without resorting to gross objectification.
I repeat: nobody has a problem with you being turned on by people you find attractive. This article is not about how you perceive people; it’s about how they are presented to you…The human body is neutral, not inherently objectified just by virtue of being visible. When Olympic athletes are represented in the media, the photographers, journalists and commentators have a choice: do they show these accomplished professionals doing their thing and allow viewers to decide on their own if they find the competitors attractive, or do they choose close-ups, angles and descriptions which draw attention to attractiveness over performance?
2| What Travel Did For My Body-Image by Travelettes
I love this piece on how travel helps your body image by shifting your priorities and decreasing your opportunities to obsess over your body.
3| Alia Shawkat & Aubrey Plaza Will Play Hamilton & Burr in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Drunk History Episode! by The Mary Sue
YESSSS, super excited to see this gender-bending, immigrant-appreciating Drunk History about Hamilton and Burr!
4| Finally, the Try Guys recreate the Ancient Olympics, and it’s AMAZING, obviously.
The only way I can stand to keep up with American politics (and I am SO thankful that I’m not living in the US right now and having to hear all this nonsense on a daily basis) is through late night talk shows hosts. So imagine my UTTER DELIGHT when Stephen Colbert went to Jon Stewart for help in this time of political crisis (their spit takes of surprise when hearing that Donald Trump is the Republican nominee are WONDERFUL) and came back with “Stephen Colbert” the most egotistic conservative until, well, Trump. MY SOUL IS SO HAPPY, even if our nation is not. But that’s what the Internet is for, right?
Of course “Stephen Colbert” would return in a chariot pulled by topless Uncle Sams, omg, I love him (which is why, like, I GET why people are all about Donald Trump, because spectacle is entertaining, but only for TELEVISION, people, NOT THE HIGHEST OFFICE IN OUR COUNTRY).
And here, one more! Stephen Colbert singing is always great, and this one is particularly absurd and delightful.
Articles
1| A title like “Misogyny in Missions” is guaranteed to get my attention, and it lived up to my high expectations! There is an idea running through Christian circles that in order to be “above reproach” men and women cannot be alone together, and this article makes a very compelling case against it. YAY!
Videos
1| This is beautifully made…guess I better leave the internet and go outside!
ARTICLES
1| The Toast (may it rest in peace) knocks it out of the park with their list “How to Tell If You Are In A J.R.R. Tolkien Book.”
“You’ve come into possession of a magical object of world-imperiling demonic power, which you use primarily to avoid awkward small talk with your neighbors.”
2| I love the Marvel movies for their humor, but especially because they manage to make movies with humor AND serious investigations of trauma via the characters of Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, and Tony Stark. Check out “I Can’t Trust My Own Mind”: How the Marvel Cinematic Universe Engages with Trauma if you also find this interesting!
3| Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau are the CUTEST BFFS on the planet.
4| Hilary Clinton recognized the closing of The Toast with this amazing piece about women’s spaces and AHHHH I already supported her, but this solidifies it.
VIDEOS
1| This is such a beautiful story of a Syrian family moving to the
It Is Trish 