Weekend Reading

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  • It’s A Very Muppets Controversy!
    In October, parent company Disney fired Steve Whitmire, the man who has voiced and handled Kermit the Frog since creator Jim Henson’s death in 1990. While Henson was alive, he was the sole voice of the famous frog.
    Men and their egos ruin everything, even the damn Muppets!

  • Why is hyperfemininity expected of fat women?
    When I’m in a group of fellow fat women, I often catch myself mesmerised by the attention to detail they have each put into creating an outfit. It is not unusual for us all to be rocking full faces of make-up.
    Guilty of this. A good read if you have any fat friends.

  • Rugby ref Nigel Owens reveals ongoing bulimia battle
    Rugby union referee Nigel Owens reveals his struggle with eating disorder bulimia nervosa is not over and remains an ongoing battle. There have been a number of “firsts” in my life.
    He denies it, but this is a brave man.

  • Ancient Avocado Toast Recipes Suggest This Generation Didn’t Invent It After All
    Though avocado toast — the complicated culinary concoction in which mashed avocado is placed atop a piece of heated bread — is used as shorthand for everything that’s wrong with the 2010s* boom time bubble.
    NOTHING IS NEW! I bet hipsters think beards are new too… *rolls eyes*

  • Is Surfing More Sport or Religion?
    Even hardcore devotees disagree, though many acknowledge there’s something profoundly spiritual about catching waves—a feeling scientists attribute to the power of being in the water.
    Large stretches of water are so powerful for many reasons, but I can see why surfing elevates things to a spiritual level

  • Hear the 150 Greatest Albums by Women: NPR Creates a New Canon of Albums That Puts Women at the Center of Music History
    What is it with all the trendpieces on great women artists, writers, directors, singers, etc.? What, indeed. To ask the question is to acknowledge the premise of such pieces.
    I’ve been through all of this list yet but there are some fantastic albums but artists I’d never even heard of. (mind you, there is a band headling the largest gig venue in Glasgow soon that I’ve never heard of so I’m maybe not the best barometer!)

  • A new way to love: in praise of polyamory
    Polyamory isn’t monogamy and it isn’t swinging, it’s being open to having loving relationships with different people of different sexes at the same time, and in that way learning to love yourself, too I have never enjoyed typical monogamy.
    One of the better balanced and nuanced pieces on polyamory I’ve read for a while.

  • England’s Mental Health Experiment: No-Cost Talk Therapy
    England is in the midst of a unique national experiment, the world’s most ambitious effort to treat depression, anxiety and other common mental illnesses.
    Granted I live in Scotland but I had NO IDEA this had been happening. Where’s the publicity? Is there something similar in Scotland??

  • Meet the Man Who Has Lived Alone on This Island for 28 Years
    Is this where my stripping back, reduce clutter, simplify my life journey ends? Might not be so bad.

  • How a Lack of Touch is Destroying Men
    In preparing to write about the lack of gentle touch in men’s lives, I right away thought, “I feel confident I can do platonic touch, but I don’t necessarily trust other men to do it. Some guy will do something creepy. They always do”.
    Linked to by a friend and I’m still processing this. A lot of it resonates, some of it seems a little over-reactionary, but… yeah for a lot of this article, it me.

  • Stephen King on The Leftovers
    There’s not some finite amount of pain inside us. Our bodies and minds just keep manufacturing more of it.
    I am a huge fan of his writing style (if not of some of the stories), so here is a book review by Mr. King.

  • The Poisoning
    My first taste of gin made me sick. I was fifteen or sixteen, and, on a night I’d been left alone, and for reasons now lost to me, I drank down a great deal of my parents’ Tanqueray.
    Gin lovers ASSEMBLE!!

  • In defense of puns
    Some guy once besmirched the play on words by calling it the lowest form of wit. Which speaks to a time-honored tradition in the literary community of running smear campaigns against things that whoever runs the campaign can’t do very well.
    Who doesn’t like a pun? (bet you were expecting a pun here, right?)

  • Being Neurotic May Help You Live Longer
    Neuroticism isn’t generally considered a desirable attribute, and many studies have linked the personality trait to poorer health and an increased risk of mental disorders.
    Tomorrow: Being worry-free and upbeat may help you live longer.

  • The Alternative to Thinking All the Time
    One evening last week, I was sitting on my front stoop waiting for a friend to come over. I brought a book out with me, but instead of reading I just sat there and let my senses take in the scene. There was also a scent that I only recently learned has a name: petrichor.
    Not ONLY linking to this so that damn word – petrichor – might stick in my head for once, but because it’s got good advice in there too!