Awesome interview with Susan Cooper. Not new, but I’d never run into it. www.thelostland.com/about/interv...

I went to this session organised by Kathryn Walls last night, discussing recently deceased NZ author Maurice Gee’s children’s books. It was absolutely fabulous: five people with insights into Gee’s work I’d never thought of. natlib.govt.nz/events/celeb...

I have smashed The plum Flavored lacroixs That were in The cooler Hell yeah brother The dudes They do rock

Born in 1873 Maori scholar Mākereti Papakura is believed to be the first indigenous woman to matriculate at University of Oxford. She enrolled in 1922 to read Anthropology at Pitt Rivers Museum but tragically died just before graduating. She will be awarded a posthumous degree in Oxford next week.

Ah, forgot a couple: - friends will get you through times of no sex better than sex will get you through times of no friends - extravagant romantic gestures are rarely received in the spirit in which they are intended. extravagant friendship gestures are.

Better Wellington/independent Together not even managing to switch to the right Facebook account to claim they’re not the same organisation is some kind of performance art, right?

I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.

Thoughts on Procreate (iPad drawing app)

The Princess Labyrinth

Amélie The Last Unicorn

Ka tākaro, ka pōti ai mō te manu o te tau. Play then vote for the bird of the year. #voteforkakī 🖤🩷🖤🩷🖤

this cat looks like one of the Old Master painters who's just slept with three servants, argued viciously with his annoying patron about the inferior ham he receives, and then painted his masterpiece out of spite

I’ve been thinking about another YA fantasy novel. mkcs.nz/dangerous-sp...

Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath, nor motion; As idle as a cheesecake ship Upon a blueberry ocean.

The eye exam is the perfect game design. That big E is a great tutorial that teaches you the basic mechanic. But it doesn't baby you and quickly gets hard as they introduce the small and blurry enemies.

My neighbor has a greenhouse and grew naked man orchids! I didn't even know these were a thing. Im 💀

'Four Ravens' screenprint by Susan Point, contemporary First Nations, Musqueam Coast Salish artist, who works in the Coast Salish tradition #ReframingWomenPrintmakers

🇳🇿 NZ Bird of the Year

Archaeologists have found a real treasure; a medieval toy production site! Quite touching and another reminder that the old idea of medieval children being treated as adults and not having a childhood is nonsense. www.swr.de/swraktuell/b...

social media gold

aussiemandias be like "yeah go on, look on my fuckin works cunt and have a sook"

Literally the second meme I've made in my life.

I’ve been trying to pull my thinking together about both Tolkien and Jones’ takes on the destined king thing. They seem to me to be less than all-in on that trope. (Again, it’s obvious that I’ve been very inspired here by @eightdaysofdiana.bsky.social.) mkcs.nz/echoes-of-to...

I’ve been thinking about possible interpretations of the ending of ’The Spellcoats’, by Diana Wynne Jones. (@eightdaysofdiana.bsky.social has a given me a lot to think about!) Here’s what I see as one of the points Jones is making. mkcs.nz/the-undying-...

reactormag.com/making-the-m... Great article. Made me actually laugh aloud.

NZ govt rates buildings before experts. After spending $10M to restore carrillon and its bells, Ministry sacks the bell ringer. NZ govt spent $Ms on Pukeahu education centre too and are now sacking two historians who teach kids about NZ, Gallipoli + Vietnam wars #NZpol www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Gorgeous essay on AoNZ books reception in the US and all the subtext that gets lost. Communication failures across culture, are significant, esp btw a hegemonic culture and anywhere else.

I listened to the 8 Days of Luke podcast from here. It’s so, so good. And I’ve never actually noticed quite so much that Brunhilde in this story is alone, forever, while Siegfried is in heaven. Like, he’s sad, but he has his mates. She’s just sad, with no hope of change. www.eightdaysofdiana.com

And hey, an intersection of my interests, circuses and fine art: Gustav Dore’s “The Acrobats.“

Apparently knowledge of Māori as skilled ocean navigators goes back a long way - far enough that a sunken Pacific continent was seen as plausible. Edith Howes published this in 1929.

Anecdotal, but as someone who has had awful PMDD for my entire adult life, I’ve had two cycles where I didn’t even notice I was in the run up to my period. What changed? 90-120g of protein a day and taking 5-7g of creatine per day. Thats it.

When you register your name in the Icelandic phonebook you can choose to state your profession. And they have a pretty loose definition of what exactly a profession entails. This person for example has opted for „þjóðhetja“. It means „National Hero“.

youtu.be/URhyzJmWnb0 Somehow there is always something in his lyrics that really works.

Actually my favorite bird etymology is that in 1400s England they gave human nicknames to birds (Jenny Wren, Tom Tit) but some of them stuck. Jack Daw became Jackdaw, Maggie Pie became Magpie. With Robin Redbreast they just dropped the original name of the bird entirely.

With Tom Lehrer's passing, I suppose this is a moment to share the story of the prank he played on the National Security Agency, and how it went undiscovered for nearly 60 years.

I'm glad Tom Lehrer got to spend over a year in a world without Henry Kissinger

How great was Tom Lehrer? In 2020, he moved his entire catalog into the public domain because he felt he'd made more than enough money off of it. Enjoy every Tom Lehrer album: tomlehrersongs.com

Really badass graffiti spotted in town

So much about the rage-hate for Mayor Whanau is bewildering. Conveniently forgetting there was *literal shit in our streets* until she came along, so they can launch yet more attacks on the basis that (checks notes) she can get it??? Racism/sexism is a hell of a drug.

Finally, I can post this video I've been hanging on to since somebody sent it to me.

Armadillo-shaped crocodiles! (Sort of.)

Excellent article.

A powerful article on OSH reform "The rate of workplace death in New Zealand is 60 percent higher than Australia and 500 percent higher than the UK, or that our rate of serious injury is 35 percent and 330 percent higher respectively than those two countries" newsroom.co.nz/2025/06/09/h...

Until yesterday I thought Thomas Covenant and Piers Ploughman were the same book and had a fierce argument with a guy, insisting he must be really stupid if he couldn’t tell Thomas Covenant was an allegory for mediaeval Catholicism.

Real? I had understood it was made of NZ stone in the modern era.

One of the problems with the liberal use of name suppression is that it immediately casts suspicion on a wide range of people who *could* be the person.

I have just learned that cicadas in the US piss torrents of sugar water on bypassing victims and am I glad the worst ours do is rob me of my sibilints.

I wanna be as cozy as that frog in literally any situation.

Dromaeosaurus commission