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https://www.themarysue.com/men-of-middle-earth-as-bad-ex-boyfriends/

Bad Ex-Boyfriends of Middle-Earth hilarious twitter thread

Every now and then, a Twitter act of creation reminds us that good things can still emerge from our hellish Internet stomping grounds. Such is the case with a viral thread from writer Alex Arrelia, in which Arrelia painstakingly—and hilariously—takes on J.R.R. Tolkien’s characters under the heading of “Men of Middle Earth as bad ex boyfriends who ruined your life.”

This is all in good fun, but the brilliance of the thread is in its co-mingled knowledge of both Tolkien characters and human nature. These labels attached to Middle-earth heroes and villains and Ents work so well because they play on the characters’ inclinations alongside recognizable modern types we may have met (or dated). Arrelia was kind enough to give us permission to feature the thread here, so let’s dig right into this tasty second breakfast:

Not to be limited by the famous characters many of us know from the Lord of the Rings books and films, Arrelia also ventured into more obscure and secondary-character territory on this adventure through Arda.

But Thorin wouldn’t actually be Arrelia’s last request, as The Hobbit still has an active fanbase, and there was clamoring for further analysis therein.

And last but ever vigilant, the Lord of the Rings himself:

As with any viral thread, there has been some trollish responses that Arrelia is handling with further humor and wit; you can also find more character-with-bad-boyfriend-conflation over on Twitter, if you were wondering about the likes of Celeborn, Everard Proudfoot, and Tom Bombadil in a relationship.

Of course, the examples of behavior that Arrelia gives may also apply to women and genderqueer folks in your life. But as Arrelia points out in another Tweet to address some of the angry replies, “‘You did a sexism by mocking this story with a thousand men and three women in it’ is a hell of a take.”

Yet the widespread popularity and overall enthusiastic embrace of this fun thread gives me hope. If we couldn’t delight in the gentle ribbing of beloved characters from epic fantasy literature, it would probably be time to pack up the Internet and call it a wrap.

(via Alex Arrelia on Twitter, image: New Line Cinema)

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—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

May 14, 2020

“Men of Middle-earth as Bad Ex-Boyfriends” Thread Is Absolutely Perfect

https://www.themarysue.com/men-of-middle-earth-as-bad-ex-boyfriends/

Bad Ex-Boyfriends of Middle-Earth hilarious twitter thread

Every now and then, a Twitter act of creation reminds us that good things can still emerge from our hellish Internet stomping grounds. Such is the case with a viral thread from writer Alex Arrelia, in which Arrelia painstakingly—and hilariously—takes on J.R.R. Tolkien’s characters under the heading of “Men of Middle Earth as bad ex boyfriends who ruined your life.”

This is all in good fun, but the brilliance of the thread is in its co-mingled knowledge of both Tolkien characters and human nature. These labels attached to Middle-earth heroes and villains and Ents work so well because they play on the characters’ inclinations alongside recognizable modern types we may have met (or dated). Arrelia was kind enough to give us permission to feature the thread here, so let’s dig right into this tasty second breakfast:

Not to be limited by the famous characters many of us know from the Lord of the Rings books and films, Arrelia also ventured into more obscure and secondary-character territory on this adventure through Arda.

But Thorin wouldn’t actually be Arrelia’s last request, as The Hobbit still has an active fanbase, and there was clamoring for further analysis therein.

And last but ever vigilant, the Lord of the Rings himself:

As with any viral thread, there has been some trollish responses that Arrelia is handling with further humor and wit; you can also find more character-with-bad-boyfriend-conflation over on Twitter, if you were wondering about the likes of Celeborn, Everard Proudfoot, and Tom Bombadil in a relationship.

Of course, the examples of behavior that Arrelia gives may also apply to women and genderqueer folks in your life. But as Arrelia points out in another Tweet to address some of the angry replies, “‘You did a sexism by mocking this story with a thousand men and three women in it’ is a hell of a take.”

Yet the widespread popularity and overall enthusiastic embrace of this fun thread gives me hope. If we couldn’t delight in the gentle ribbing of beloved characters from epic fantasy literature, it would probably be time to pack up the Internet and call it a wrap.

(via Alex Arrelia on Twitter, image: New Line Cinema)

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—


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May 12, 2020

Mother’s Day Internet Radio Blast! Now AfronerdRadio Can Be Heard Here Live Sunday at 6pm EASTERN

http://www.afronerd.com/2020/05/internet-radio-blast-now-afronerdradio.html



It might take some time but we're confident that our ever loyal listeners/followers will get used to our new broadcasting home courtesy of BTalk 100.  Join your favorite AFROnerdists for this Mother's Day Sunday Grindhouse episode as powered by the Afronerd Radio machine airing at 6pm eastern and again heard at this very website.  The topics to be discussed are as follows:  black culture and music took a heavy hit with the passing of three iconic figures-Richard Penniman aka Little Richard, "The Architect of Rock and Roll," famed music mogul/record executive (Uptown Records and Motown Records) and classic hip hop artist, Andre Harrell and noted R & B songstress, Betty Wright:







More unfortunate but necessary COVID-19 news and developments;  another legendary quarantine inspired VERZUZ match-up took place this weekend and this time it involved stellar neo-soul artists, Erykah Badu and Jill Scott-the ladies garnered hundreds of thousands of viewers via Instagram (will black culture get its social media due? if it's not black Twitter, it's instagram); Oh and is the next battle going to be between rappers, Ludacris and Nelly?; conservative radio host, Dennis Prager raised the ire of the internet from what appeared to be his meandering thoughts about how African-Americans (and Indigenous people) self identify; something we failed to discuss on our last show-the social media debate about UK singer, Adele's weight loss and how the response is actually a form of toxicity;  the creators of the extremely popular Rick and Morty animated series have branched out into another similar cartoon imprint (this time on Hulu) called Solar Opposites;  Dburt discovers yet another UK series that might become a "must watch" streaming exercise entitled, Gangs of London;  oh and CBS' God Friended Me has been cancelled (Argh!);  writers Mikki Kendall (Hood Feminism) and L.L. McKinney (A Blade So Black) might help those who can't view the highly anticipated (and COVID preempted) Black Widow film based on their new writing gig involving the same character via Marvel's Serial Box Exclusive series, Black Widow: Bad Blood; in lieu of a forthcoming Mortal Kombat live action reboot (and the recently released animated download/DVD, Scorpion's Revenge); a trailer for an extension to the MK11 video game just hit the cyberwebs entitled, Aftermath; Lastly, why was the term #newblacks trending on twitter recently? Call in LIVE at our new number: 1-508-645-0100. 


 *AFTER CLICKING ON THE LINK,  FEEL FREE TO FILL OUT THE LISTENER FORM OR PRESS "NO THANKS" TO GO DIRECTLY TO AFRONERD RADIO!!!
function openPlayer(s){window.open("https://radio.securenetsystems.net/v5/"+escape(s),"Player","height=630,width=940,modal=yes,alwaysRaised=yes")}


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May 12, 2020

Our Books, Our Shelves: A Billion Thoughts at Once

https://www.themarysue.com/a-billion-thoughts-at-once-tj-klune-the-extraordinaries/

The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune

I’m disordered.

I’m neurodiverse. I have Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. I’m disordered because it’s right there in the name. At first, I didn’t want to accept that. It felt like yet another thing that made me different, along with depression, anxiety, and a little voice whispering in the back of my head telling me that I was also queer, something that terrified the hell out of me.

Ever since I can remember, my mind has always moved too fast—a billion thoughts all at once, and when I was younger, it was hard to focus, much less exist. And either because, or in addition to that, I was an anxious kid with bouts of significant depression, that ol’ black dog nipping at my heels. I wasn’t like other people; I had an “otherness” that made me different, and whether or not those perceived differences were real or all in my head, it didn’t matter.

The depression is still there, as is the anxiety, though both are better than when I was younger. I have mental health experts and proper medication to thank for that. The billion thoughts all at once? Yeah, I still have those too, but it’s gotten easier over time, not because it’s lessened, but because I was taught the proper tools on how to manage it: medication, structure, limiting distractions, time management (this is a big one), and prioritization, to name a few.

As I usually do when I am feeling low, I turned to books as an escape. I read anything and everything I could get my hands on. It didn’t matter if it was fiction or non-fiction, or far above my reading level. I wanted to read it all.

Looking back, I think I was hoping to find someone like me: someone who could be sad and anxious for no reason at all, someone who understood what it was like to think too hard about everything, dissecting it down to minute details that, in the long run, didn’t matter. I felt like my own worst enemy, and it was harder when I couldn’t find a character like me in the books I read.

I got better as I grew up, knowing the parts of me that I once thought made me an other weren’t necessarily the only parts of me, or even the biggest or most important. I wasn’t going to be free of these challenges; a kid with ADHD turns into a teenager with ADHD who then becomes an adult with ADHD. Once I understood that, a weight lifted off my shoulders. I couldn’t change my circumstances, but by god, I could make the most of what I had.

But still. What if there were people out there, people just like me who wanted to find a book that they could point to and say, here, here I am, here is what it’s like for me?

And so I wrote The Extraordinaries.

On the surface, it’s about a fanboy who has a deep, deep love (read: obsession) for the superheroes that protect his city, so much so that he writes self-insert fanfiction about them. The book follows the journey of Nick Bell, a sixteen-year-old queer kid who doesn’t think he’s something special.

And while that’s a fun enough story on its own, it’s not the entirety of his journey. Nick—like me, and so many others—has ADHD, something he struggles with. When the novel opens, he sees it as something holding him back, something that makes him different than his peers. Nick (like many people his age) is smart, loving, and more than a little clueless. I wanted to write a book where the main character was allowed to act a bit stupid, and would make mistakes. However, he needed to learn from those mistakes to avoid making them again in the future (so he can make new ones entirely, of course).

And learn as he does. The bigger picture of The Extraordinaries is that it’s a coming-of-age queer comedy, but at its heart, it’s about a kid learning to accept the parts of him that make him different, and to celebrate those differences.

We aren’t all the same. That’s what makes the world a wonderful place, though it can sometimes seem scary. And instead of letting it drag us down, we should be letting it lift us up. It’s trite to say that we’re all in this together, but even so, it’s the truth. I gave Nick a voice because I want others to see themselves in him and know they aren’t an other. And though you might have a disorder (or three), there’s nothing disordered about you. You are as you’re supposed to be. You are, for lack of a better word, extraordinary.

Remember that.

(image: TOR Books)

TJ Klune is a Lambda Literary Award-winning author (Into This River I Drown) and an ex-claims examiner for an insurance company. His novels include The House in the Cerulean Sea and The Extraordinaries. Being queer himself, TJ believes it’s important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive, queer representation in stories.

Don’t forget to check out the other excellent additions in our exclusive Our Books, Our Shelves column with Tor Books!

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—


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May 12, 2020

What It Truly Means To Live Below Your Means And The Perks Of Doing So

https://madamenoire.com/1162597/what-it-truly-means-to-live-below-your-means-and-the-perks-of-doing-so/

Save thousands in interest rate costs by refinancing your student loans

Source: kate_sept2004 / Getty

What it is and what it’s not

When living beneath one’s means if mentioned in conversation, many assume that it means depriving yourself of the things you enjoy. In actuality, living beneath your means is simply a matter of not spending more money than you earn. It’s a matter of building in a substantial enough financial cushion that when unexpected expenses pop up, you have a surplus of emergency funds to absorb costs. To do this successfully, many financial coaches recommend living on at least 15 percent less than the amount you earn. For example, if your monthly income is $5,000, then your monthly expenses should not exceed $750.

Continue reading to find out how you can begin to live below your means and why you should commit to doing so.


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