Sidetracks - August 22, 2019

[helloladies]

Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag. For more links and commentary you can follow us on Twitter, Tumblr. You can also support us on Patreon.

Jodie

1. Here is a very smart thread about YA becoming synonymous with diverse lit. Sarah Waites follows this up with a separate, equally smart, thread.

2. Update on Marvel movies I am invested in - the Black Widow film, starring Scarlett Johansson is finally coming, and nobody wants it anymore, Natalie Portman is going to be Thor, and EVERYONE wants it, and Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings stars Simu Liu (be still, my heart)!!

3. This post about Natalie Portman, Taika Waititi, and the new Thor film is fantastic.

4. Jia Tolentino's Grub Street Diet just made me want to eat all the food.

5. This thread about trying to make bread with ancient yeast is amazing. Science + history = fun, kids!

6. Amazing gender-swapped version of Loki's costume, covered in crystals.

7. It's always worth reading Sarah McCarry, even at the end of the world:

tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? it is ninety-something degrees in new york and the answer for me right now is, as it has been for some time, drink too much and cry in front of the air conditioner watching law & order reruns i have already watched in a similar condition in a similar emotional state an embarrassing number of times. i am trying to be patient with myself and with my sadness. i have felt better before—quite recently, in fact—and i will feel better again, which is a hard thing to remember even though i know from long experience that this will prove to be true.

Cassandra at the Glacier is a pretty bleak, and mentions despair, and a book about cancer, so just a quick warning in case those things hit your buttons right now.

KJ

8. The Muppet Movie recently had its 40th anniversary. Linda Holmes at NPR shares this tribute to its wonderful soundtrack, an album I own and still listen to from time to time. (Though I enjoy The Great Muppet Caper more as a movie.)

9. Jaimie Alexander volunteers her character Sif to be Valkyrie's queen in the upcoming Thor movie; I'm in.

8. Aliette de Bodard shares some thoughts on the erasure of mothers in fiction.

9. Over at The Daily Dot, Gavia Baker-Whitlaw looks into why Netflix keeps canceling original programming that seems popular and successful -- especially shows by diverse creators and/or with diverse casts.

10. The subject of competitive Tetris came up in chat recently, and I was pointed toward this article about a journalist who accidentally discovered that his wife was possibly the greatest player in the world. The story of how she set the official record is fascinating, both on its face and for a glimpse into the world of competitive arcade games.