October 2016

I don’t blame you if you download all of the podcasts and borrow all of these books instead of following election coverage.
You have to leave your cocoon for a few minutes to vote, though.

Books

Some months I read books without pictures. This was not one of those months.

Comics in general tend to have a high barrier to entry for fans, but I got all of these from the library. I had the library buy Pretty Deadly so I could read it. Library cards are magic!

Nod Away by Joshua Cotter
The main character of this graphic novel is a female scientist. It takes place in space. There are other weird and cool things going on, but he had me at lady space scientists.

Pretty Deadly by Kelly Sue Deconnick, Emma Rios, and Jordie Bellaire
Volume 2 made me cry. A comic book. I cried over a comic book. Pretty Deadly is the most beautiful comic I’ve ever read. Start with Volume 1 (obviously), and don’t worry if you have to read it twice to understand it. Once you get introduced to everyone it gets easier.

Giant Days by John Allison, Whitney Cogar, and Lissa Treiman

I want to be Esther so badly. I just read Volume 1 and I am so excited for the rest.

Podcasts

There is a lot of 99% Invisible on here. I could pretend it’s because I met Roman Mars this month and was cramming to seem cool, but it’s not. That’s just what I do when I like things. I recommend every single episode. Here’s a few to get you started:

Cow Tunnels (Episode 115) by 99% Invisible
I’ve never been so delighted by an episode of a podcast in my life. Put on your headphones and listen to this before you read the text or look at the pictures.

Good Bread (Episode 137) by 99% Invisible
The history, racism, and religion of bread. Sliced bread was a big deal.

Guerilla Public Service (Episode 152) by 99% Invisible
My favorite kind of law breaking.

Coin Check (Episode 156) by 99% Invisible
An update to this story is that he now has a presidential challenge coin. I’ve held it.

This is supposed to be the most rare, but I know in my heart that I would burn a pile of them for one NASA coin. (I realize that I can Ebay it. That’s cheating.)

Mystery House (Episode 162) by 99% Invisible
When I have time I’m going on a scavenger hunt for other historically crazy women who maybe just wanted careers. I would have been a witch for sure, because toads.

Wolf 359
I can’t recommend specific episodes because Wolf 359 is a serialized sci-fi podcast. If you think J.A.R.V.I.S. is sassy, you’ll love my girl Hera. I named my ukulele after her.

Melinda and Judy (Episode 53) by Criminal
This is the only type of true crime media I can deal with. Criminal isn’t gratuitous, exploitative, or gross. Check with me if you have content you’d like to avoid. This episode isn’t graphic, but it’s effed up.

News

Professor Rick Shine wins Prime Minister’s Prize for Science for work on cane toads
He named his cane toad Galadriel. That Galadriel. The one Tolkien said was “the greatest of elven women”. He gets me.

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