Stuff!

Hi friends!

Happy Father's Day to all of you to who it is relevant!

Does anyone have any special plans for Father's Day?

I know I've been sort of absent around here lately and it's a bit because my reading is at a slow pace as is my TV watching. I always think it's funny how when I have a day off and I manage to read a whole book or something, my minds tricks me into thinking that's what I always do, but in reality sometimes it takes me a week or more to read a book. :( It's sort of the same with TV, when I have a chunk of time to watch, I somehow think I actually have lots of TV time.

And of course, I'd be lying if I said the fact that it's summer and I've gotten really into following baseball this year wasn't playing a part. I feel like going from casual fandom to like...more learning is actually quite intense there's so much to learn and I ridiculously got sort of obsessed with the draft last week which ate up time because I had so much fun seeing what all the smart fans of my team thought and then seeking out the players reactions on Twitter. LOL. My team isn't even doing all that well, they are doing okay and still within playoff contention, but they are definitely underperforming. But man, there are so many reasons why I think it's fun to follow the sport and the team anyway and I will hopefully finish a post about that soon!

And I learned how to make gifs! I am not very good at it, sorry to say. But in my defense, I only have an older version of photoshop elements which makes everything harder and more time consuming from what I can tell reading tutorials. But it's still been fun to mess around and try my hand at it! So far I have mostly made figure skating gifs because the videos are easily accessible, but I hope to graduate to baseball soon. And then maybe more. Though maybe also never again--it is pretty time consuming and exhausting and they aren't really that great. Still, it's fun to feel a little bit empowered in an age where it seems so much is pictures.

And then of course there is real life stuff!

Anyway! A few links and thoughts:

*Courtney Summers is writing a sequel enovella to This is Not a Test!!! This is so exciting! Basically Courtney Summers writing anything is exciting!

*Remember how Fox made a pilot of Delirium? Well they are making it available on Hulu for a limited time. I'll definitely be checking that out. I wish the CW would do the same with The Selection!

*Sara Zarr used a phrase recently that totally got my attention--outrage fatigue. Yes. I'm so glad someone gave it a name because it's a condition I have. Ana, the most evenhanded and perhaps generous of spirit person I know wrote a little about it, and I agree with her that for me anger is exhausting. I often feel like everything is a battle on the internet these days and I wish there was a way we could have conversations instead of shouting matches sometimes.

*Speaking of, did anyone see The Fault in our Stars yet?

*The Casual Vacancy has a cast. Can't imagine this will be fun to watch.

*Oh even though I didn't much care for Bunheads myself, I really enjoyed Ana's review of it, especially all her reasons why the Hubbell relationship was problematic:

But the idea that you actually do know someone you obsess about from afar, that whatever you project onto them is not the stuff of your imagination but a real glimpse into their minds, is foolish and dangerous and wrong. It’s the kind of stuff that encourages harassment and stalking, and it’s deeply dehumanising for the person on the receiving end. Having a complete stranger presume to know you intimately and act accordingly, feeling your individuality be erased by their projections, is a seriously distressing and unpleasant experience. I’m so, so tired of stories that legitimise creepy behaviour by dressing it up as romantic.

So well put and to be honest, I'd never thought about it like this myself!

*Rectify season 2 starts this week, but I probably won't be able to watch it for awhile? I'm glad to see it get good reviews, though, because I have seen more people discover the show since it ended up on Netflix and it's such a rich and beautifully written show. Kind of amazing it exists.

I guess that's all for now! Hope you are all well and I hope to also bring you some reviews this week!!! Don't forget Zombie Book Club is reading Aftertime by Sophie Littlefield and discussing the 30th! Join in!