I'll start reading this review-book soon, but a new mum just sent me a VM with the little one burbling in the background, and I am *so* here for listening to someone burp their gently cooing babe while updating me on their life.

What really keeps me going when the world is awful is knowing that there are still so many new and young sprogs who need us to straighten up and fly right in everything we do.

All our nonsense bickering had *better* be serving that end... or else what's even the point?

#CoSoMusic

The Beat - "Save It For Later"

"Black air and seven seas all rotten through
But what can you do?
I don't know how I'm meant to act with all of you lot
Sometimes I don't try
I just--"

https://youtu.be/VBoq1HL-rDs

Now the fireworks have begun. 😅

It's going to be a good night to stay up late working, because who can sleep through the party on the streets?

#Copa #Colombia #Sportsball

WE* DID IT!!!!! 🥳🇨🇴🥳🇨🇴🥳🇨🇴

*Well, the team did it. But ask any audience member in attendance and they'll tell you that they all helped. 🤣 #ItWasTheVuvuzela

An example of the hysteria at everything. 🤣 This is when there was almost a goal a minute ago. #Copa #Sportsball #Colombia

😊 I made friends in the second half. A couple of middle-aged ladies and I - all people who have no interest in hiding our love for the thrill of the thing - even won over two *very* done up girls sitting on their phones by their boyfriends, and now the five of us are swapping play-by-play analysis. 🤣🥳

#ILoveThisPlace #ThePassion! #Copa

Second drink: non-alcoholic, delicious delicious mango limonada. 👌🏻😊

There was of course live singing at half time. Let's gooooo! 🇨🇴🥳 #Copa #Colombia #DontScrewThisUp

I just had a flash of memory: When I was younger, I used to watch UFC every major bout (& I was a HUGE stat nut at the time, while doing BJJ), but I used to get anxious about watching people younger than me enter the octagon.

Now, though, I watch all these bright-eyed babies on the field of various sports & just have this great fondness for them making the best of their youthful energy.

Giving up on being a young squirt & embracing middle age has its perks for sure. 👌🏻

#Sportsball #TheOldening

I am having ONE. This beer is pretty generic, but it's considered pretty patriotic because it has all the right colours. #AyOmbe! #HágalePues! #Colombia #Copa

One of the "before" shots. I'm going to watch the first half on the other side of the mall, though. More table space to multitask. #Colombia #Sportsball #Copa

(Quick happy update to say that the street fellow with the nasty infection that I mentioned last week is starting to see improvement. What a difference a few days and the correct course of treatment makes. 🥳 Thank you again for helping me, so I can be more present with others myself.)

Now time to pack up and go work at the mall for the rest of the day.

:) Conveniently finding the perfect spot for tonight's game, of course.

(I'm expecting us to lose, but it'll be a fun one all the same.)

#Copa #Colombia

Also, my latest review at Strange Horizons might pique the interest of some film and science-history scholars... but it's also worth considering as an average reader and writer of #SFF, and lover of our media histories.

There are other vocabularies for cosmic wonder in our storytelling! Keep them in mind when forging your tales.

#Books #Reviews #Film http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/stardust-cinematic-archives-from-the-end-of-the-world-by-hannah-goodwin/

Today, for Rewind Wednesday, we talk about Martin Luther's antisemitism - not for "fun", but because this is a perfect historical example of how people can claim to care about other people, while only really caring about them inasmuch as they serve our own ends.

(And I guess this is also a warning against living too long, in some cases?)

#Humanism #Antisemitism #Religion #History

https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/lessons-from-martin-luthers-antisemitism

Good morning to everyone who hasn't yet unfurled. (Maybe they need a cuppa? ☕️)

Today's piece focuses on Martin Luther, but as I'm drafting it, I just had to do a double take when I saw the age of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. That little punk was 19 when he took office. Turned 21 during one of the most formative events in modern Christendom! No ageism here, but the mind reels at the thought of how different history might've been if someone more experienced had been in his place at that moment.

(More later. Drafting now.)