AUTHORS!! Remember that case where a bunch of authors sued AI for stealing their work? And WON? Well, the settlement money has been announced. Each WORK that got thefted will be compensated $3k (split 50/50 bw publisher + author). So authors will be compensated $1500 per WORK stolen. More here:

Update: a further reference to it confirms it is TLS not TSL, so it's PROBABLY the Times Literary Supplement, which I am currently combing through. But if anyone knows any other TLSes, please let me know!

Elvish immortality in Tolkien is like the Hotel California. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. #Tolkien

Fandom isn’t your job. Take a month off. Take 3 years off. Post incomplete fics. Post incomplete art. Never post again. Switch fandoms. Stay loyal to one fandom only. Do whatever tf you want. You literally make all the rules of engagement in this arena.

With ICE and other extremist groups trying to claim #Tolkien, this old post still holds up: “Tolkien does not simply give us hope for a better future or strength to endure hardship. Instead, the text [is] a call to action, a challenge...” luke-shelton.com/2021/01/08/r...

I found a metaphor about AI that I like, and I'm going to stick with: AI is like mercury or lead or plutonium. Yeah, it has some practical uses, but those practical uses are vastly outweighed by the fact that they are actively toxic, destroying both our brains and the environment.

me at the end of class: here's a little speculative exercises; imagine you wake up from cryosleep in 2085. what's the kind of tech-society r/ship you'd like to see around you? students: no AI I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion

We're currently at 46%, which is incredible! Thank you all so much, every little bit helps, and I'm tremendously grateful. Keep sharing it around if you can!

Don’t make me tap the sign.

Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House. Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity. They are not the same.

Hivemind help me out, I'm chasing a thread. I'm looking for SOMETHING called TSL, a magazine or a journal, publishing in 1973/74, probably in UK or South Africa, but could be elsewhere. It COULD be the Times Literary Supplement just turned around, but I want to cover my bases. Anyone recognize TSL?

I know this is my profesh account not my personal one, but I'm so incredibly happy that my city voted with their hearts and all that fire for justice that I know & love. I'M SO PROUD OF YOU NEW YORK CITY, MY BELOVED HOME. I MISS YOU EVERY DAY. CONGRATULATIONS ZOHRAN MAMDANI, THE PEOPLE'S MAYOR!

HOPE LIVES!!!!!!

It's Election Day! Get out there & vote (if you haven't already)! Also, in addition to the Missoula City Council races, here are some other results I'll be tracking: - NYC Mayor - Seattle Mayor - Virginia Governor - New Jersey Governor If there are any races you're watching, let me know as well!

Hivemind help me out, I'm chasing a thread. I'm looking for SOMETHING called TSL, a magazine or a journal, publishing in 1973/74, probably in UK or South Africa, but could be elsewhere. It COULD be the Times Literary Supplement just turned around, but I want to cover my bases. Anyone recognize TSL?

...but it strikes me that there ought to be more investigation / acknowledgement of how sexuality is very grey and wandering and a lot of historical figures deemed to be gay/lesbian (and indeed sometimes straight) were actually far more complicated in their patterns of desire.

I'm *really* hoping this will be the last week that I have to make this post, as my bills and paychecks are edging towards cooperating more than they have. But I'm still struggling to pay the hotel right now. #MutualAidRequest #TransCrowdFund cash.app/$Settiai paypal.me/poicelle venmo.com/u/Settiai

So apparently, the US Gov, in their most recent series of dog whistles, are pulling LOTR references and are outright saying that their fascist reign of terror is akin to protecting the Shire. Absolutely fucking not. The comparison is a straightforward dogwhistle, don't let them confuse you.

I feel like we're in a Golden Age of historical dramas (or maybe at the tail end of it): high-quality TV dramas, well researched, artistically interesting. So here's a small selection of TV historical dramas I would kill for, in no order:

The utility of the Internet Archive in providing access to old books and magazines cannot be overstated. Instead of having to schlep to Tulane and request access to the rare books of the medical library, I can just read an 1855 bulletin on yellow fever whilst I sit in a coffee shop.

A very small pet peeve: when people choose ancient Egyptian items to point to and go REPATRIATE. Egypt has lots of stuff & doesn't actually want full repatriation. There are many many other stolen items that actually are being asked for back. The Partenon Marbles and the Benin Bronzes for example.

Favorite terms from "The Queer Arab Glossary", a book on queer slangs gathered by contributors from various Arab/Arabic-speaking countries, plus personal writings about being queer with multifaceted (and often politicized) identities. Purchased at Jakarta indie bookshop Transit Bookstore. #Booksky

I'm a very serious academic, I tell myself as I use my OED access to see if they have an entry for the term rough trade. PS, they do, and their first known usage is from 1927. I love the OED nerds so much.

So I just learned that the Van Gogh Museum has a whole website devoted to his letters, including digitized facsimiles AND the full text in original language and English, and curator notes. I'm in awe of this website and devastated that we don't have this for Tolkien when we could SO EASILY.

70 years of Éowyn stabbing the Witchking in the face 🔥

Rewatching Rings of Power S2 and every time there’s a choral swell we’re singing these lyrics: genius.com/Tyler-bates-...

I am beyond excited (and nervous!) to announce that my first book, "The House Archives Built and Other Thoughts on Black Archival Possibilities" is available for sale! This series of essay includes reworked talks, new reflections, and a lot of my heart weherespace.myshopify.com/products/the...

Something that I think the Left needs to learn IMMEDIATELY is that in order to succeed you need BOTH radicals and moderates working towards a common goal. The far Right knows this, and they're very good at it. They're so good at it that they're encroaching on the moderate Left now.

The Bering Sea— A reminder that beauty lives where danger breathes 😌 Good morning and happy Tuesday

Tolkien Society Seminar - this Saturday Don't forget to sign up for our 2025 Seminar on "Arda's Entangled Bodies and Environments", taking place this Saturday! The event is free to attend and open to all. The full schedule is on our website. #BookSky www.tolkiensociety.org/events/semin...

We're currently at 46%, which is incredible! Thank you all so much, every little bit helps, and I'm tremendously grateful. Keep sharing it around if you can!

Handy suggestion to anyone getting tax refund letters in the mail: they are making you confirm your biometrics if you don't have a UK passport. We should all just request cheques, annoy the hell out of the bureaucracy and show we don't like the biometrics!

Funeral Invitation, 1688. Funeral invitations first appeared in the 17th century, and acted as an admission ticket to both the church and the funeral feast. Pallbearers were often assigned a number on the ticket to signify their position in carrying the coffin.

Gay Studies, Queer History, Queer Theory (They/She)

My Femme Fatale Sauron paper is in this!! Get 'em while they're hot!

A thing I would love to do professionally, but won't because I hate doing things like this for the asshole public: Trip Planning. So to my friends, if you're ever super stressed about a trip and don't have time to plan for yourself, I will happily do it for you for a small fee. I'm very good at it~

I'm thinking a lot about paradoxes lately, but I think the greatest paradox that everyone really should understand is that language is essential for communication, but will always be limited by the need to define and thus unable to truly communicate perfectly.

UK universities are doing it tooooo www.npr.org/2025/09/17/n...

I'm convinced that people who prefer endnotes to footnotes don't actually read endnotes. Endnotes suck so much and only exist to prevent aesthetic clutter.

I truly love getting Dracula Daily emails, even though I am not doing the read along this year. I enjoy knowing that it's currently Dracula Season, and Jonathan, Mina and the Gang are getting into shenanigans.

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, I'm so grateful for all of the generosity! I've now spoken to the surgeon and updated the costs, detailed to some degree in the summary. The goal has now been updated for worst-case-scenario in Spain. Please keep sharing around, every little bit helps!

Anotha one: New Tolkien Pop! podcast with @clarelmoore.bsky.social who is a Ph.D. student at the University of Glasgow, researching disability in Tolkien’s legendarium. She gives insight into feminist and disability thought in Tolkien’s works: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

If you’re working on any area of fantasy and the fantastic, come and join us at Glasgow in June 2026 and do consider presenting or running a workshop! All the info you need and the full CFP is here: fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/20... @uofgfantasy.bsky.social @uofgartshums.bsky.social

Just got back from a family trip to Riga, and came back with some artists I now really like a lot: Janis Rozentāls (1866-1916) and Sigismunds Vidbergs (1890-1970).

*Any new LOTR thing is announced* Me: Ok but does it involve complex interpersonal relationships that break down masculine stereotypes

Not going to elaborate right now, maybe later, but I had this realization while at an art museum that people really misunderstand Tolkien's opinion on modernity versus the past because they aren't considering it within the context of the Arts, which is what he means generally speaking.

So instead of writing anything about my thesis research, which was the hope, I wrote a blog post about history behind the weirdest thing people have done on the internet in a while. CW this is a possibly traumatic read, I'm traumatized knowing it. open.substack.com/pub/anditsfo...

Hey bsky friends, I need your help! I've made a GoFundMe for top surgery, which I ideally want to do early next year (funds allowing). Because I'm only able to work part-time due to disability and PhD, any little bit helps towards this goal. Please share far and wide! gofund.me/639f4a03