We've Always Appreciated The Attention To Detail In Charles Lee's "The Golfers."

I've started Master and Commander, and 2 hours in I have the following to report:

They're doing the fastest Enemies to Friends to Shipmate Speedrun.

Each of them infodumping in turn, then talking about music.

They have the following DELIGHTFUL exchange, about Castillan and Catalan (as best as I can remember it):"But they're quite similar? A putain, as they say in French? - Oh non, they're different languages. And a patois, if you please. - Oh ? I'm sure the other word exists, I think I've heard it."

A guy who Jack is talking to for the first time snitches on another by saying that he's gay. Then asks what Jack thinks of this "buggery business".

For the record, Jack is against it, but doesn't like to see a man hang for it. It turns out that Lt Snitch doesn't really have anything concrete, it's more of a vibe-based accusation.

I'm letting all nautical talk gently flow through me without making any impression. I think Maturin is doing the same.

I have some extra audible credits. Would you recommend using them on the Aubrey-Maturin serie?

always

I've just finished watching Interview with the Vampire and I can't believe Daniel passed up the opportunity to point out how high the Paris Covent would score on the BITE model of cults.

“Vimes and Vetinari exchanged looks. Sometimes Carrot sounded like a civics essay written by a stunned choirboy.”

— Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant

burning some leitners, as a treat <3 ( tma art tag )

We're all having a very normal election time.

I have reopened the webshop and art-for-sale at tomgauld.com and added a few new drawings: www.tomgauld.com/art-for-sale

i think the thing about intracommunity conflict over who can 'claim' certain queer figures from the ancient world (e.g., was sappho a lesbian or bisexual, was iphis a lesbian or a trans man) is that it basically never tells us anything interesting or new about the ancient material and only ever becomes an opportunity for ppl to show their worst, most vitriolic assumptions about the experiences of other queer people today.

i think this happens bc often these inquiries come from a place of wanting to see one's own identity and experience reflected exactly back in ancient material, which i don't think is harmful on it's own, although it's often a little boring because it limits our field of vision for seeing how ancient gender and sexuality could be queer in ways that don't immediately register to us -- when norms around gender and sexuality are different (which they unarguably were in many, many ways), the experiences that fall outside of those norms are also different. but this way of approaching queer history gets really nasty when it couples with a view of contemporary gender and sexuality that is, well, bogged down by any number of issues: an excessive attachment to identity as ontology ("this category terminology reflects perfectly who everybody is inherently inside"); a perception of privilege and oppression as zero-sum (aka the pokemon typing theory of structural violence); a watered down understanding of what intersectionality means (thinking only about individuals who occupy multiple marginalized positionalities rather than considering how multiple marginalizations overlap or are linked).

all of this has no effect on sappho (dead) or iphis (fictional), but it does have an effect on the queer people today who get caught in the crosshairs when ancient figures are used as cudgels and mouthpieces to lend historical authority to contemporary disputes. when really it seems like the most historiographically responsible answer to "was [ancient figure] a [queer interpretation a] or [queer interpretation b]" is "yes. and no. and original historical context matters. and the way that figure has been interpreted outside of their original historical context also matters. and that original historical context usually can't be completely reconstructed. and also we don't need the certainty of complete reconstruction to draw connections. and also ancient queerness looks a lot different than we expect. and also modern queerness looks a lot different than we expect."

rharmaouiclaquin2024.fr

Asma Rharmaoui-Claquin & Audrey Leclerc — 7ème circonscription des Français de l'étranger — Nouveau Front populaire

Hello French folks living in the 7th district abroad*, here are your Nouveau Front populaire candidates!! Head on over to this brand-new website to meet them, check out their platform, get updates on events and more!

And remember -- if you are able to, VOTE on June 30 & July 7!!

online, if your email address and phone number were up to date by June 16

in person at your local polling station

by proxy (vote par procuration)

Spread the word!!

*Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Slovakia

The thing is, The Magnus Archives have rewritten my brain and are now associated with every tape recorder I even think about. And then of course there's the Horrors.

this is by far my favorite safety/warning sign btw. they really went off with this one