Sidetracks - February 17, 2022

[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. You can also support us on Patreon.

Anna

1. I really enjoyed this video of reenactments of homoerotic USSR & PRC friendship propaganda posters

2. A Stream of Blood and Tears Mixed Together: Monarchy, Consorts, Power, and Stories by Nghi Vo was published in 2019, but I recently read it for the first time. It’s an excellent piece on women, power and storytelling, and reading it really crystallized my anger about how the story of Consort Yang has been told. Even if you know nothing about her, this is a great read!

3. A while back Foz Meadows tweeted about the very racist “Chinese Alphabet” that their son brought home from school. Tom Mullaney used it as jumping off point for whole thread about the history of "Chinese Alphabets" that includes some fascinating projects created by Chinese inventors.

KJ

4. This Polygon video on the most important video game question of all time -- can you pet the dog? -- includes interviews with Tristin Cooper, the creator and maintainer of canyoupetthedog, and Greg Kasavin, one of the developers of Hades. Kasavin shares some interesting details about how they designed the petting mechanic for Cerberus, who is a very good boy.

5. NPR music critic and Pop Culture Happy Hour host Stephen Thompson writes about being a critic who is out of step with popular audience consensus, in this case regarding the movies Encanto and Don't Look Up.

6. melannen shares some tricks for using bookmarking service Pinboard for finding fic and other fannish content. It's not quite the goldmine that the old de.li.cio.us was (I will forever mourn one of the best online resources of all time), but it still sounds worth checking out. Maybe it's time to dust off my old Pinboard account…

7. Max Read digs into the connections between the celebrities who are pushing crypto and NFTs and the companies that are heavily invested in them, particularly Creative Artists Agency.

8. Cartoonist Nate Powell discusses the challenges of creating work that you know will be challenged in schools and libraries and shares his strategies for keeping it in the curriculum and on the shelves.

9. He's here, he's there, he's... on Sesame Street?! Roy Kent hanging out with Oscar the Grouch is everything I never knew I needed.

Renay

10. *chuckles* I'm in danger.

11. In the "lots of fascinating books rec" category once again, this thread was...lucrative...for the TBR.

12. Interested in making the Games Hugo permanent after the wins by Hades for 2021? There's a whole site with resources! This is especially important if you're planning to be at the Business Meeting. I, a lowly Supporting Member, don't get to vote on WSFS policy. Ira has done a ton of work on this, both in research, policy refinement, and concerns. This award needs to become a reality!

13. BTS is doing this urban fantasy webtoon thing that I haven't quite had time to...figure out. But there's a song for it that Jungkook sings and Yoongi produced and it's lovely! There's a percussive section with the music/vocals that's wonderful.

14. This article on just how quickly disinformation can spread and become the accepted knowledge about an issue reminded me a lot of the whole "thieves are robbing trains on the west coast" story that did the rounds. My partner shared it with me then came back a few days later and was like, "oops, my bad" with a different source. What was actually happening: the companies and the police were, if not lying, then deliberately providing incorrect info. Journalists, especially in the big papers, were once again acting as stenographers for the baddies. I really encourage anyone reading about stores closing due to stealing to question that thesis, to ask why wage theft of working people doesn't get covered as breathlessly, and remember that if you see someone stealing food or hygiene items: no, you didn't.