#editor's picks

[sporclechezchunklets]

Starting the Sporcle year off with a couple of picks, which is nice! My New Year's Resolutions quiz got an Editor's Pick in the Holiday category, while my Hans Island quiz is a Curator's Pick in the Canada sub-category. Thank you, respectively, to rer2121 and DarkAppraiser44!

[soviet-furries]

Polcan and Shavka (Полкан и Шавка)

Soyuzmultfilm, 1949

[petnews2day]

Spotify launching video learning platform charging $44 for 'Dog Body Language' class

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/LnOys

Spotify launching video learning platform charging $44 for 'Dog Body Language' class

Spotify’s new courses platform advertises pricey classes covering everything from dogs to startups. hobo_018—Getty Images You may have forked out for a Spotify subscription to listen to Joe Rogan’s blockbuster podcast, before shelling out spare change to access an audiobook from the platform. Now, the music streaming giant is betting you’ll be tempted to splurge […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/LnOys #DogNews #Podcasts, #DanielEk, #EditorSPicks, #Learning, #Pets, #Spotify

[marshmallowgoop]

No matter how special it is, a kid's lunch is still just a kid's lunch.

I dunno, I liked "The Genius Restaurant" (Episode 1,089).

Happy (belated) birthday, Jimjam.

[Song link] [YouTube link]

[pangur-and-grim]

this might be interesting to show!

so I won a 30-min phone call with an editor, and used it to fix up my query letter (it went from lefthand to righthand)

it definitely helps my shorter attention span to read something broken into smaller paragraphs like this, so hopefully I’ll have more success with this version!

[tarysande]

There was a man named David Anderson in the writing workshop I led today, and when he told me “You’re really good at what you do,” I’m not gonna lie, I had a real “You did good, child” moment, only without having to get shot or pick a color afterward.

[longreads]

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Oh hey, weekend, c'mon in! We've got some great reading for you in this week's edition:

• How Israel uses AI for assassination in the Gaza War • A father reflects on his son’s development • The rise of the term, “gaslighting” • Toni Morrison’s expansive rejection letters • The history of PostSecret

Learn why our editors recommend these reads and find out which piece our audience loved most. 

[mikaikaika]

Quackity : Chilling after unleashing his social experiment on the ccs

Meanwhile Cellbit :

[drakyns]

I saw that youre writing hiccup+jack but you also claim you want to take a more """historical""" interpretation with your rps? so which one is it?? you have to pick one or the other :/

hello, happy new year! yes, you’re right; i ship and write one of our beloved 2010s dreamworks nostalgic ship hijack with my wonderful best friend and creative soul-mate, @frystsnow. i’ve been having such a fun time! and yes, you’re right again; i am taking a more historical approach and interpretation with my portrayal of hiccup. but no, you’re wrong; i don’t have to choose one or another. my hiccup (håkan) has a more historical take and is queer (demiromantic and bisexual). one does not interfere with another whatsoever.

first of all, thank you for your question! though i don’t know if it stems from genuine ignorance or a hint of homophobia or hypernationalism. either way, i want to extend the benefit of the doubt and commend you for taking the time and energy to send in your inquiry, even as an anon. as someone who specialises in medieval queerness in my current master’s degree and as a licensed history teacher, it’s incredibly heartwarming to see people questioning things (even when it comes to literal fictional ships). i shall not, therefore, take your question as an attempt at an insult. instead, i will respond to you as i would to one of my students and/or the public at a conference. please let me know if you’d like any clarifications, and i’d be more than happy to oblige. should you need such access, i’m excited to send you pdfs of the following scientific articles, too.

i am assuming, by the tone and content of your comment, that you take vikings to be these white-centric, heteronormative, misogynistic and savage-like people, correct? the good old supreme white and straight men propaganda. they were barbarians, blindly bloodthirsty, and god knows how virile they were! they wanted to conquer the world, behead their enemies, muscles and brawl everywhere, grrrrr grrrr! etc etc. the whole spiel of supreme predators/conquerors. this mythical belief has roots in the hyper-nationalism and romanticism ingrained in 18th century northern europe: to prove themselves as worthy, old societies, germany, sweden, denmark, england, scotland and many others utilised their ties with these old tribes and reshaped (rewrote) narratives to fit into their then-current ideals of power, masculinity and politics. an excellent book on historical representation and its rewritings across geographies and due to political influences was written by f. r. ankersmit and a 38-page preview can be found at this link.

it isn’t far off to claim, then, that the use of symbols, narratives and imagery from old norse cultures have been continuously used to represent politics of hate in various countries with the rise of patriotism and alt-right extremism. just look at how john toll’s braveheart (1995) is a hymn to white supremacists in the usa or how european incels love robert zemeckis’ beowulf (2007). i highly recommend reading verena höfig’s article about old norse myths being used as tools for radical nationalist groups and andrew b. r. elliott’s book on medievalism, politics and mass media. “viking men are straight, hyper-masculine and obey this white fantasy of pure dominance.” this way of thinking, shouted and supported by reactionaries, reinforces whiteness, androcentricity, and authoritarianism. medieval scandinavian societies were highly intelligent: being a viking was a profession, not an identity in itself. diplomacy was important for commerce and cultural trade. battle-crazed lunatics were frowned upon, if not straight up removed from tribal settings, as they represented danger to the whole society. a conscious and perfected balance of violence, peace-keeping, trade, conscious pillaging and sea-voyaging made vikings who they were. how else do you think that they kept in contact with asian and african societies? even indigenous ones in americas, too! they were not interested in expanding and conquering more than they could keep and they valued communal efforts. so when contemporary media (tv, books, comics, games) represent our oh-so-beloved macho vikings as being queer or even not all that violent or intolerant, people tend to frown upon such a notion, thinking they’re ludicrous. this, as i’ve continuously expressed up until now, is political propaganda—an old, outdated and incorrect one.

you might here be thinking: “okay balu, i get it, vikings weren’t all that masculine, nor that savage, nor anything, but were there really queer vikings?” and the answer to that is: YES! first of all, queer people didn’t suddenly sprout from the ground all of a sudden. we’ve always existed from the very beginning of times—queerness is humanity itself. have you ever wondered why loki, a literal mythological norse god, is genderfluid and pansexual? he’s also described as one of the oldest of the bunch, alongside odin himself. if a deity exists in mythology, it’s because they represent societal beliefs and practices. or do you think people made up whatever they thought was cool, and everyone just agreed on their ideas, canonising said things in their literal tribal history just because, hey, it sounds neat? it’s more logical to deduce that, since loki existed, people like him existed, too, no? and not only loki—jess nevins has a superb paper on how most of the old norse pantheon are queer gods and goddesses, from gender to sexuality (it’s the first one of the list, though the others are super interesting, too). contemporary religious practitioners of heathenism and ásatrú also heavily embrace and welcome these queer readings. this is further endorsed by critical analysis of old poems such as the poetic edda, lokasenna and others, which contain concepts such as hvatr and blauðr, which are used interchangeably between men and women and their partners, not to refer to their binary genders per se, but about their role as either more submissive or dominating in a relationship.

if you need more “concrete” evidence other than theological, linguistics and culture studies, do not fret—archaeologists and anthropologists also agree that the “viking” (read: medieval pre-christian scandinavian) societies were more queer than most people think. for example, marianne moen studied graves in norway and, with the little samples she had, she concluded something fascinating: the biological sex of individuals (read by the use of double x chromosomes detections or the absence thereof) did not always correlate with their masculine/feminine social roles, i.e by their clothes and materials they were buried! a woman could be dressed highly masculine, and a man completely feminine. unlike our modern societies (that claim to be o so progressive and freeing), they were not bound by fixed societal norms. they were fluid. moen’s study is also a further contribution to hedenstierna‐jonson’s research team findings: in 2017, they found the body of an elite viking-age warrior in sweden, which many historians and anthropologists hyped. at first, they thought the individual was sexed male due to the “maleness” of the objects found in the grave site. however, upon further investigation, they were biologically sexed female (two x chromosomes, bone structures, as well as ritualistic objects for young womanhood). a lot of people wanted to contest such a finding because the belief that women can be powerful rulers and warriors just like men are is something detested by traditionalists, as we all know. however, what was more interesting is that said warrior individual seemed to socially fluctuate between masculine and feminine roles throughout their life (being accepted and honoured by their tribe, by the way), and had a partner that also fluctuated between masculinity and femininity. they were, therefore, both queer in gender and sexuality. as well, ever since the start of the 2000s, studies have shown that queer expressions of sexuality and gender can be found being supported by religious practices and objects—a book called “queering norway”, edited by pal bjorby and anka ryall is fairly popular on that front. it has the contribution of many historians, anthropologists and more on old norse traditions.

lastly, in case you wonder if we can read dreamwork’s “how to train your dragon”’s characters as being queer, the answer is, of course, yes. i will not enter into art studies discussions or literature queerness appropriation theories because otherwise this post would be much longer than it already is, but i will say these points: hiccup is literally described, from the first movie alone, as not being like the other kids. this could be read as him being autistic, as him having adhd, as him being queer. as well, the presence of monsters (especially dragons) in media tends to represent queerness/clash with heteronormative ideals (i recommend checking out jeffrey cohen’s seven theses chapter). it’s a queer series by its very theoretical premises and execution.

[il3x]

me @ Cetaganda. the entire planet of Cetaganda

[sporclechezchunklets]

Rounded off a nice Sporcling day yesterday with an Editor's Pick in Sports for this quiz! Thank you, @t_rev19 !

[soviet-furries]

Puss in Boots (Кот в сапогах)

Soyuzmultfilm, 1968

[eng sub]

[littleragondin]

Every week, She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat continues to be delightful, smart, warm, quietly impactful, so gentle and so deeply, deeply kind.

I love Nomoto and Kasuga so much, how they love each other, the way they care for each other. I am enjoying so much watching them navigate their relationship as two very different people. I especially like the way Nomoto realized that her enthusiasm might have stifled Kasuga's plans, and Kasuga admitting that she does tend to push down what she wants - and then "I want you to be selfish in front of me." and "let's go figure this out together."

And Kasuga doing the cooking for Nomoto! and the little strawberry pie... (´꒳`)♡

I also highly enjoyed the focus on Nagumo and the steps she is taking toward some form of recovery. That little exchange she had with Yako-san, who is supportive but makes it clear that Nagumo not being able to do something is not making her a failure? That was so so sweet. (i couldn't help but see a parallel with the fact that Yako-san suffered from maybe feeling like a failure in her relationship(s) because of her asexuality based on the flashback we saw)

I love this show and how it shows you kind people being kind to each other, taking care of each other, supporting each other, loving each other. Once again I will say, do yourself a favor and watch this one - it's a treat.

[cambrian-creature]

Rewatching Torchwood and I forgot how fucking insane this show is. Like. Cyberwoman. Batshit crazy episode. We see barely any of Ianto up to now and then we find out he's keeping his cyborg girlfriend in the basement while he tries to cure her cyborg-ness and the second she's off life support she starts killing people. He's more okay with this than he should be. Then his coworkers get back and find out while he's trying to hide the body and try to kill his cyborg girlfriend because she's killing people. This is the worst thing that's ever happened to Ianto (so far). Absolutely gut wrenching performance from Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto begs his friends to let him try to save Lisa while they physically drag him away and he's crying, struggling, he doesn't know what to do, only that he can't let her die, they can still save her, and then it cuts to Bikini Cyborg fistfighting a pterodactyl. What the fuck were they thinking.

[hotvintagepoll]

Dual propaganda! Sylvia Sidney AND Loretta Young, because they were both saved in my 'my god what a FACE' folder.

First up, Sylvia! I had this picture as my phone wallpaper because she's just so dreamy.

And far be it from me to withhold these from you:

And finally, she starred in a movie called Behold My Wife, which is funnily enough exactly what I think each time I look at her.

And on the other side of the coin, Loretta Young YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS because my god what a FACE