Open Thread: Leaf on Pavement


Seemed about time what with us being more than a month into Fall.

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Friday Recommendations!  What have you been reading/writing/listening to/playing/watching lately?  Shamelessly self-promote or boost the signal on something you think we should know about - the weekend’s ahead of us, so give us something new to explore!

And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!

Political season reminder: please take any stuff on the election to the politics space on The Slacktiverse.

Open Thread: Smiling Mushroom


It's sort of a "Face on Mars" thing, and I could never quite get the camera to reproduce what the eye sees, and it sort of becomes clearer if you back away from your screen, but I swear when  I saw this it was clearly a smiley face growing out of the grass.

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Friday Recommendations!  What have you been reading/writing/listening to/playing/watching lately?  Shamelessly self-promote or boost the signal on something you think we should know about - the weekend’s ahead of us, so give us something new to explore!

And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!

Political season reminder: please take any stuff on the election to the politics space on The Slacktiverse.

Open Thread: Pretty Mistake


I didn't mean to take this; I like how it turned out.

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Friday Recommendations!  What have you been reading/writing/listening to/playing/watching lately?  Shamelessly self-promote or boost the signal on something you think we should know about - the weekend’s ahead of us, so give us something new to explore!

And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!

Political season reminder: please take any stuff on the election to the politics space on The Slacktiverse.

Narnia: Her Friend's Affectionate Embraces

[Narnia Content Note: Racism, Violence, Forced Marriage, Misogyny]

Narnia Recap: Aravis and Lasaraleen are alone now that the Tisroc has left the room where they were hiding. Obligatory note about racism, intent, and Lewis is here.

The Horse and His Boy, Chapter 9: Across the Desert

I want to say that I've been really enjoying the comments on how this book was a favorite in the series for many of you since it showed cultures and people within Narnia that weren't Default British Child #58. I really think this illustrates how thirsty many readers are for viewpoints that aren't the mainstream white-cis-straight-western normative we were fed as children.

I don't know if many of you are on Twitter, but the #ownvoices hashtag includes fantasy stories written by people of color and queer folk, and might be right up your alley. I also can't strongly enough recommend "indie" literature (i.e., stuff published outside the mainstream) because the mainstream has a habit of squeezing and changing and filtering things through that white-cis-straight-western viewpoint in an attempt to make everything homogenous for the privileged.

Anyway, there's my soapbox for the day but the short version is that books are great. <3

We come now to Chapter 9, which is a bit of a mess. It feels like a chapter that really doesn't want to be here and yet sorta has to be: In Which They Slog Through a Desert and Nothing Much Happens. (Not to be confused with the bit in Prince Caspian where they slog through a forest and nothing much happens.) Chapters like these are hard to write because there's stuff in them that needs doing, but it's not interesting stuff. (Depending on the reader, ymmv, standard disclaimers apply.)

Open Thread: More Orange


This is the fourth orange open thread of the year.  I've just got a lot of pictures of orange I guess.

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Friday Recommendations!  What have you been reading/writing/listening to/playing/watching lately?  Shamelessly self-promote or boost the signal on something you think we should know about - the weekend’s ahead of us, so give us something new to explore!

And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!

Political season reminder: please take any stuff on the election to the politics space on The Slacktiverse.

Narnia: Ode to the Third Cook

[Narnia Content Note: Racism, Violence, Forced Marriage, Misogyny]

Narnia Recap: Aravis and Lasaraleen end up hiding in a room with the Tisroc. Obligatory note about racism, intent, and Lewis is here.

The Horse and His Boy, Chapter 8: In The House Of The Tisroc

When we last left Aravis and Lasaraleen, they were hiding behind a divan while the Tisroc, his son Rabadash (Susan's suitor), and the vizier Ahoshta (Aravis' suitor) plan an invasion of Narnia. Let's finish up Chapter 8 because there's not much more of it left.

  “To hear is to obey,” cried Rabadash, and after kneeling for a moment to kiss his father’s hands he rushed from the room. Greatly to the disappointment of Aravis, who was now horribly cramped, the Tisroc and the Vizier remained.

So Rabadash has left the room. You could even say he dashed out, and I'm increasingly uncomfortable with how much his name resembles "rapid dash" or indeed "rabid dash". Has anyone with more naming knowledge than I been able to pin down the etymology here? Because there's meaningful names and then there's outright insulting racist ones, but I could be way off base.

Anyway. Rabadash is gone, so it's time to make really sure we understand that the Tisroc is evil and not just a doting father giving in to his rash son's demands. Also, did we mention he's not just evil, he's also Oriental-y evil? Because he very definitely is!