Chat About Anything

[Lena]

Awesome. The second that link becomes hot in Amazon or B&N I’m putting in my order. As the foundation anthology of this group I will reserve its release month, or as close as possible, for it to be the book of the month.

[Fiona]

That's so exciting! Absolutely will be joining Lena in hovering over the order button. :)

[Lena]

The latest Dark Crystal Trailer: https://youtu.be/KGZm3bagJbc
August 30th - nothing else will be happening that day for me. Dark Crystal is my favorite childhood film.

[Lena]

People of Color do Star Wars aka The Mandolarian - https://youtu.be/gqUJx2ePXrc
I’m hoping this is an epic one off like Rogue One - the only new Star Wars I liked and respected.

[Lena]

To the knitters out there I found a prerelease sweater app!
https://www.bellish.co/email-success

[Fiona]

Lena wrote: "To the knitters out there I found a prerelease sweater app!
https://www.bellish.co/email-success"

Commented on SSS that this is legitimately exciting - but it really is, and the option to create your own clothing goes a REALLY long way towards a more sustainable life!

Lena wrote: "People of Color do Star Wars aka The Mandolarian - https://youtu.be/gqUJx2ePXrc
I’m hoping this is an epic one off like Rogue One - the only new Star Wars I liked and respected."

This does look good, I've got high hopes too!

I also discovered a hidden gem of a movie recently, Fast Color, trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tySUZ...
Gugu Mbatha-Raw is absolutely amazing in it, and the movie itself is so original and great - and somehow I never heard of it until now? Whyever that is, there's a tv series coming, but the movie itself absolutely deserves attention.

[Lena]

Went to this today, San Antonio’s very first vegan food festival! I ate spinach kolaches, a vegan torta pastor, bought a jar of Happy Gut fermented purple daikon goodness (yes, that’s what they called it), and had the non-alcoholic Sangria Smoothy of my life! Even better, I got to bring my dogs. Pet friendly events are the best. A happy soul made this Solarpunk LEGO for the kids room.

When I heard about this I thought it would be mostly white college kids - wrong! Gladly wrong. It was as diverse as a Solarpunk novella. Seriously, there were gorgeous mixed race tots running around in Plant Eater dinosaur T-Shirts! Ah, a good day!

[Fiona]

That sounds amazing Lena! The Lego creation is a thing of beauty - was it there as part of an exhibit of some sort?

I'm super intrigued by the idea of a non-alcoholic sangria in smoothie form, sounds like there were some really innovative foodie-type things going on as well. Love the sound of it - glad you had a great day!

[Lena]

The LEGO display was behind a yellow chain, but it was also a kid area so undoubtedly it was touched, lol. I only stayed long enough to snatch the photo because for some reason the music was very loud in there. It was made by http://www.texlug.org/ Not every LEGO obsessive becomes an architect/engineer, some take the obsession to adult levels. The rest of us appreciate their work more than concrete office towers.

There was also a cannabis patio away from all the main events, most of if was surely just cannabis oil but the smoke smell was strong. I have no idea how they got away with that and it was a stupid risk for an amazing event.

[Fiona]

Lena wrote: "The LEGO display was behind a yellow chain, but it was also a kid area so undoubtedly it was touched, lol. I only stayed long enough to snatch the photo because for some reason the music was very l..."

That's so cool! Completely agree about appreciating Lego works more than yet more concrete office blocks :) The world could use more wonder in it.
Also agree about the cannabis patio - it's the first year for this event, right? Terrible idea to take such a risk for what was otherwise an awesome event. It happens a lot here at music festivals etc, too, and I get that the two crowds have a big overlap - but it's still taking the risk of shutting something awesome down.

[Lena]

Jason Momoa stars in a new post apocalyptic Solarpunk series!
https://youtu.be/7Rg0y7NT1gU

[Lena]

Found these on my last visit to Barnes & Noble! I’m contemplating springing for hard copies.
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/climate
https://www.permaculture.co.uk/back-i...

[Lena]

If you are really playing God you don’t care what other people think.
OMG - real life biohackers!!!
October 18th - Netflix
Docuhorror
https://youtu.be/WIIVh7H6nvI

[Lena]

Apple has a selection of amazing EcoApps today! Plant trees as you do searches and snap a pic and get rid of junk mail!
‎Think Global, Act Local : App Store Story
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&s...

[Fiona]

Lena wrote: "Apple has a selection of amazing EcoApps today! Plant trees as you do searches and snap a pic and get rid of junk mail!
‎Think Global, Act Local : App Store Story
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&so..."

Ooh, thanks Lena! If you're like me and iPhone free, these apps do work on iPod and iPad, should you have those alternatives :)

[Fiona]

Tor released a two-parter this week, a follow up from a panel at ReaderCon which mostly focused on the crossover between Solarpunk and Afrofuturism - they link the video in the first article.
Brilliant discussion, and the articles themselves are well worth a read! They're here:
Part One - https://www.tor.com/2019/10/29/in-sea...

Part Two - https://www.tor.com/2019/10/30/in-sea...

[Lena]

Great find Fiona! We’ll have to start nominating The Lesson.

[Fiona]

Lena wrote: "Great find Fiona! We’ll have to start nominating The Lesson."

Sounds good to me, it looks very intriguing :)

[Lena]

Library wait times just got longer...
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-...

[Fiona]

Yes Lena, that frustrates me so much! They talk about readers choosing 12.99 or free - but Macmillan are also awful when it comes to geo-gating their books. That restriction wont just apply to regions where it's even possible to buy their books, I'm sure.

[Lena]

Feel good story from Paris: Aquarium Adopts Goldfish
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel...

[Lena]

I saw Jumanji 2! For the first half the older people were unbearable but it left room for ending that nearly had me in tears! Best retirement ever! And yes, the epilogue made it clear there will be Jumanji 3!

[Lena]

For documentary fans!

[Lena]

Your funny of the day: https://youtu.be/wzZPNpL0FqQ

[Lena]

Best of Netflix!

[Fiona]

ooh, I have to catch up on Dark. sounds like it was a good follow up!

[Lena]

[Lena]

Diverse Barbie Dolls!
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-...

[Lena]

Nestlé is the worst.
https://www.theguardian.com/environme...

[Lena]

To all the toilet paper buyers out there, you can still panic environmentally!!! These are my two favorite brands, you don’t need to destroy a forest to wipe your ass!

[Lena]

National Emergency Library!
https://archive.org/details/nationale...

[Fiona]

1.4 million titles - that's impressive!

The poll for May's book of the month is now up, folks; invitations were sent to those who've been active in our more recent reads, but voting is open to all who are interested. We'll be revisiting one of our previous reads, so it's a great chance for especially our newer members to join the discussion.

[Fiona]

Oh, and the poll can be found on the group's homepage, at the bottom - or just click here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

[Lena]

Free audiobooks for everyone, no log in required! https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

[Lena]

Happy Alien Day!

[Lena]

Funny of the day!

[Lena]

Silver lining of Covid, the animal shelters are emptying: https://youtu.be/yUB55V-Tr5Q

[Lena]

Coming in July Zac Effron gets Down to Earth!
https://youtu.be/oMzYiY5wcHU

Anyone else binging on Dark?

[Lena]

Who doesn’t want to see at least one episode of this soon-to-be-show just based on that?!?!

[Lena]

I finished Dark! Most of me thinks That was gorgeous! and the rest of me thinks there was an episode missing that focused on Claudia-Regina’s conception-birth-babyhood and Agnes-Tronte’s conception-birth-babyhood.

And maybe it got off the rails a little on episode 5 but they put in several cute little info-dumps, think Jurassic Park, to get that unsteady train rolling.

Someone finish and talk to me about it, lol!

[Lena]

From the World Weaver Press Blog:

For the last two years, we've donated a percentage of the royalties from the solarpunk anthologies to Rainforest Alliance, an organization dedicated to fighting climate change and empowering the indigenous peoples who are often at the forefront of environmental battles. This year, we were able to add a donation to the Black Lives Matter Global Movement as well.

WWP is the publisher of the Glass & Gardens series that inspired me to start this group with Fiona.

[Lena]

Sacha Baron Cohen rips into Facebook: https://youtu.be/irwVRMH04eI
He was surprisingly well spoken.

[Lena]

France has begun to build a nuclear fission reactor. Six minutes: https://youtu.be/bAw-rdl9YZg

[Lena]

🎉🎉200 Members🎉🎉

[Fiona]

Lena wrote: "🎉🎉200 Members🎉🎉"

That's fantastic, what a wonderful milestone - it's been great watching this group grow.

[Beige]

Becky Chambers and solarpunk? Sign me up 😁

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

[Lena]

Woohoo! More books for us!

[Fiona]

Beige wrote: "Becky Chambers and solarpunk? Sign me up 😁

A Psalm for the Wild-Built"

So excited for this series - Becky Chambers and Solarpunk are a match made in heaven!

[Lena]

The Social Dilema: https://youtu.be/uaaC57tcci0

[Beige]

Lena wrote: "The Social Dilema: https://youtu.be/uaaC57tcci0"

Oh my. I knew all of that, but seeing it in a slick trailer is something else. Thanks for sharing.