If I never have to read some person saying "what happened to innocent until proven guilty" about why some guy should still be elected to one of the most powerful positions in the country despite numerous sexual assault allegations it will be too soon

Now and then I click on a video of some cute animal doing something cute and then discover someone has added music. Dear friends, animals do not need soundtracks. They live in a world without extradiegetic music. Let us enjoy their splashes and woofs unembellished.

just to be clear, everyone, when 8 pm EDT comes and goes, regardless of what does or does not happen, the president still threatened genocide and war crimes and we should still impeach, arrest, and try him

Let me say this plainly: Iranian children have as much of a right to live and thrive as American children. Their babies MUST be as precious to me as my 6 niblings and my baby grandnib are IF I want them to have a future. If I want a future for my kin AND humanity, I MUST act like it. So must you.

A few have suggested that some aspects of this mission--joy, international teamwork, diversity--are being played up to stick it to the hateful attitude of the administration. But I don't think it's that. I think it's just that those things are essential to and inseparable from a mission like this.

This about sums it up. #history

Pigeon of the Day: Spinifex Pigeon 📷 Ged stranger

Realizing that some of my inexplicable sadness about the Artemis II stuff is that it feels like a trans-dimensional communication from an America that took a different path and chose joy instead of fear and hate.

Incredible work everyone else can go home now.

Just to be clear, Donald Trump does not care if a bunch of journalists wear pocket squares with the First Amendment written on them as a “protest.” First of all, the man is functionally illiterate

I mean we're talking about a guy whose parents hated him so much they couldn't even be bothered to give him a first name

It’s time to post one of my favorite memes of the year.

I like it when you promote your book, share you article, tell us about your new job, announce your promotion, brag about your kids, post your pet photos, and post the yummy things you cooked. All of it.

Saturday night book game. Show me two books you’ve had on your shelves for some time and plan on reading this year.

Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark is BOOK OF THE WEEK in The Times, and it's frankly outrageous that a small marching band hasn't trundled into my house to make some little celebratory parps in my honour 😤

Setting aside Bach and Haydn for a moment; may I commended to you Schütz’s wonderful setting of the Seven Last Words:

I'm trying to send a birthday bouquet to a relative and every arrangement I click on has a "pet safety precaution'. It would be soooo nice if florists had a filter where one could exclude toxic to pets arrangements. (1/2)

Post something random or you will have an awful April

Ferruccio Busoni was born April 1, 1866. Remembered today as a composer & transcriber, he was among the most titanic pianists of his generation. No technology could properly capture the scope of his playing (or anyone's) but his 1922 discs still reveal superb pianism. Link with audio & details below

If you haven't yet read this amazing novel, now is your chance to remedy that!

This movement has never been about violent criminal aliens, undocumented immigrants writ large, or even immigration in general, but about the country’s changing ethnic and religious makeup. It has always been about white Christian nationalism.

My life is exponentially better due to the trans people in it. On this trans day of visibility I hope for a world where it is safe for trans people to be openly and visibly trans should they so choose, and for it to be unsafe for bigots and transphobes to be.

The Otherwise Award "honors works of science fiction and fantasy that expand and explore our understanding of gender.” This year's winner is Silvia Park's science fiction novel Luminous!

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Last book for this go round! I Didn't Talk by Beatriz Bracher (trs. Adam Morris, New Directions 2018) 31/31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Black Opera: History, Power, Engagement by Naomi André (University of Illinois Press, 2018) 30/31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Lake Like a Mirror by Ho Sok Fong (trs. Natascha Bruce, Two Lines Press 2020) 29/31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge (Da Capo Press, 2001) 28/31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell (Vintage, 2019) 27/31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Natalja's Stories by Inger Christensen (trs. Denise Newman, New Directions 2025) 26/31

Ah, so Andy Weir is like... *dumb* dumb gizmodo.com/andy-weir-st...

What on earth was Verdi THINKING with that dreadful, leaden, cabaletta after Di Provenza? It's rare for him to make a misstep that egregious but this is a doozy and I can see why it's virtually always cut.

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 The Complete Butcher's Tales by Rikki Ducornet (Dalkey Archive Press, 1994) 25/31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 The Scent of Buenos Aires by Hebe Uhart (trs. Maureen Shaughnessy, Archipelago Books 2019) 24/31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Winter's Tales by Isak Dinesen (trs. Isak Dinesen, Vintage International, 1993.) 23/31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 The Place of Shells by Mai Ishizawa (trs. Polly Barton, New Directions 2025) 22/31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson (first published in 1951, this edition is Penguin Classics, 2013) 21/31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Under the Poppy by Kathe Koja (Small Beer Press, 2010) 20/31

#TheWriteWomen: • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Lend Me Your Character by Dubravka Ugrešić (trs. Celia Hawkesworth, Michael Henry Heim, and Damion Searls, Dalkey Archive Press 2005) 19/31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Hell by Kathryn Davis (Ecco Press, 1998) 18/31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 More catch up. Prodigies by Angélica Gorodischer (trs. Sue Burke, Small Beer Press 2015) 17/31

Back from the printer: the collected poetry and other writings by Belgian Dadaist Clément Pansaers. Arguably the most Dadaist verse to be found among all the Dadas: Tzara and Picabia seem almost traditional in comparison.

Dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive.

Only companions of aging male felines will understand this, but I am SO relieved my beloved cat just peed in his litter box! (It's been more than 12 hours since the last urinary emission so...)

So, just because I'm curious and my opera friends always know so much more than I do: has Spyres ever sung Alfredo (La Traviata)? Maybe early in his career? Also, just to make this a more participatory post, who's your favourite Alfredo?

This is stunning. If you have any interest in Frank Martin's work or 20th century classical music in general, you really must listen to this superb performance.

I'm no good at keeping track of award deadlines and dates so wondering if others here know if Mai Ishizawa's 'The Place of Shells' (trs. Polly Barton) was eligible for this year's International Booker. If it was, I'm just amazed and appalled it wasn't nominated. And I'll just leave it at that.

Feldblumenstrauß, Paula Modersohn-Becker, 1906.

They want to police our genitalia and run tests on our bodies to “prove” we are women, at which point they will still deny it. This is why the only feminism is trans-inclusive and why transphobia and anti-trans discrimination should be a top political priority.

This is disgusting. Anyone who thinks this is effective or ethical or a way forward goes on my instant block list. What the hell is wrong with people?!?