this, *this*, is the greatest crossover of all time

Trans Day of Remembrance. Pour one out for our trans siblings lost and keep *living* in their honor.

Thing I found out today: if you're on Universal Credit (or other means-tested benefits) you can get into Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, or the Tower of London for £1 (and 50% off at one cafe per site too). Because poor people deserve days out too www.hrp.org.uk/one-pound-ti...

Definitely this

As a migrant, I actually /categorically/ disagree with the notion that you can't point out the migrant heritage of politicians practicing anti-migrant policy. You can! And you should!

muppetized book covers: thread

Re-watching the first episode of Lupin is so much more fun after the real Louvre heist. I mean honestly, half his plan could’ve been curtailed by just typing “Louvre” in as the password to the security cameras and switching them off.

Have only just discovered that Erik Satie wrote instructions to pianists that were delightfully absurd. Instead of standards like “loud/soft”, he went for “like a nightingale with a toothache”, “arm yourself with clairvoyance”, “I have no tabacco”, “it was a very pretty boulder, very slimy”.

Finally finished American War by Omar El Akkad and it’s one of the most well-written books I’ve read all year. I want him to write more fiction because his sense of voice and characterisation is so good. He handles war, atrocities, displacement and survival compassionately and deftly.

Sometimes I have a cartoon where I'll think "If they hold this one up at my funeral, it will be a pretty good summary of the type of comics I made." This is one of those comics! I just love how stupid and random this is. :)

A week late, but: in my high school, most kids thought 5 November celebrated Guy Fawkes’ attempt at blowing up British parliament, not that he was stopped (and that was in a majority pākeha school). I wonder if that’s still common? I kinda hope it’s ousted by remembering Parihaka instead, tho.

Remembering the time in my early 20s when me and a mate were having lunch in Cathedral Square and a woman wearing a sandwich board and clanging a bell went past yelling about how some insurance company had ripped her off. Even if social media didn’t exist, humans 100% find ways to post about stuff.

The joy of social media, rugby, and people repeatedly translating Welsh wrong 😄

“As November 5, the anniversary of the invasion of Parihaka, reminds us, non-violent peaceful protest is rooted deep within this nation’s whakapapa.” — Alistair Reese.

The women who actually use Kenwood Ladies Pond spoke clearly: the 900 members democratically voted to maintain their trans+ inclusive policy, in place since 2019. 🏊‍♀️ notinourname.org.uk/nion-women-r... #TransInclusion #KenwoodLadiesPond #TransRightsAreHumanRights @nionwomen.bsky.social

🕯️Manifesting 🕯️

Rattlesnake Kate, an icon for our day

Insomnia posting ahoy! I’m reading about Australia’s harsh 20thC censorship regime and pondering the shift from thinking about books as vehicles of dangerous ideas to the current social media trend of books as status objects or coding reading as a superior, virtuous, upper-class hobby.

Oh ffs! The utter manhole that is NZ’s deputy PM is *still* trying to pass the Regulatory Standards Bill. In the quoted post is a petition you can sign, go for it Kiwis and overseas Kiwis.

5pm on November 1: let’s go for a walk, it’s still light out! 5pm on November 2: an early darkness blankets the land. Fallow fields lay bone-bleached by moonlight. The last memories of summer fade into oblivion. The last echoes of hope lapse into baleful silence.

Has anyone come across the tradition of first-footing? Most English peeps I’ve asked haven’t heard of it, but I was made to be the first-footer one year so I’m curious (the first person through the door after midnight on NYE must have bread, salt, and a coin to bring luck to the household).

Happy Tuesday night, peeps. Do you need some joy? Me too, this thread will do just that (plus Vagina Museum are great, in general).

“Maybe THIS trip to the public library will fix me” he thought, knowing full well it probably wouldn’t….but it’s worth a try anyway

Know your Halloween props

not only does Gary Larson still have the juice, it seems to have only gotten stronger

Job occupations, from an 1881 census. Every one of these sounds like something a sorely provoked Captain Haddock would should at someone in times of heavy stress.

The British by Poet Mr #BenjaminZephaniah

Of all the clerics they could have popped, those ICE idiots had to hit Hot Priest.

As an ex-evangelical I hate to admit this, but as someone with short-term audio sensitivity, old school 90s worship music is super soothing. And a taxi driver who plays that music but doesn’t talk, never mind try to convert you? Superb boundaries sir, may your day be epic.

FROGS TOGETHER STRONG is fucking incredible

it's crazy how fast movies become dated. for instance, the 2021 movie "Don't Look Up" no longer makes sense, because if an American scientist discovered a planet-killing comet heading towards us today, their main response would be "oh thank fuck for that"

A kindred spirit! From The Upstairs Delicatessen: on Eating, Reading, Reading about Eating, and Eating While Reading by Dwight Garner. Text from image is in alt text.

In honor of National Poetry Day, the greatest parody rewrite of all time:

@4boat.bsky.social this might be your vibe? Nerdery and old school lettering/buildings: www.presentandcorrect.com/blogs/blog?p...

Timeline cleanse: happiness and old furniture :)

Ah, 4 October! Happy fifth birthday to this marvellous thing…

The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video

Fellow book nerds! The only thing my brain can read at the moment is queer romcoms (and who am I to deny my sad, virus-riddled brain a visual hug?) Any recs? I love Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo and I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner, if that helps. Sadly I can’t do audio.

One of my favorite parts of TikTok these days are all of the ballet dancers being goofy in their Nutcracker costumes, bc when else do you get to dress up like an incredibly fabulous dapper rat

Look what we have here then.

It's ironic that Sadiq Khan lives rent-free in Trump's head because back in the 70s, Trump wouldn't have let Sadiq rent one of his properties at all.

Doing a lot of meditation as part of resting/recovery and is people watching form of meditation? It’s being present in then moment.

I like this. What if the Plague doctor mask (not medieval) was based on specific birds :) By Shayna Daniel, AKA Squid Von Bob squidvonbob.tumblr.com/post/1879026...

After a crap day, this is wonderful. All your boycotts worked! Keep at it 💪

I love everything about this story, and now I want to play.

In a historic first, iwi leaders and unions have united to call for mass mobilisations against the Government on the 28th of October. Rā Whakamana will affirm tino rangatiratanga and workers' rights and mark He Whakaputanga and the first Labour Day in Aotearoa.

Bruh

I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore. So I wrote a blog about ten things you can do *right now* to help defeat Farage, Musk, and rightwing populism. From scrutinising Reform councillors to demanding the UK Govt leave X - get involved: guyshrubsole.substack.com/p/ten-things...