Amassing a number of adjectives synonymous to tiring would be an exaggeration for what this month was for me but it truly was exhausting. Two big reasons: Avengers, The Big Bang Theory, and Game of Thrones have just ended and I suffered from a long and literally draining diarrhea.

The 1968 Sci-Fi that Spookily Predicted Today (BBC)

Sometimes I wish we preserved the brains of great authors to determine how they worked and how their amazing stories came about. The references to historical fiction is relatively easy to understand but science fiction proves to be rather challenging: did they predict or did they inspire what is currently happening? Did the authors merely express their desires for the future, describe what they wanted to happen, what they wanted to change but couldn’t in their time? Have our current innovators read any of these literary pieces? Have they been inspired by such notions?

The Princess who Thought She was Made of Glass (BBC)

This is a fascinating read about *read the effing title* because it sheds another light to the reason behind attaching the word ‘fragile’ to people. That, according to the article, more men ‘swallowed glass pianos’ also gives another depth to how we describe someone as delicate.

How ‘The Big Bang Theory’ Normalized the Nerd Culture (The New Yorker)

I wonder if The New Yorker received any backlash for using ‘normalized’ in this article’s title. Choosing the most appropriate word seems to be rather difficult in an era where everyone can promote his/her opinion on the internet. Aren’t nerds ‘normal’ in the first place? After all, there have been several films about how nerds, usually portrayed as the underdogs, aren’t any different from ‘normal’ cliques like the cheerleaders or jocks.

Anyway, this wasn’t the theme of the article but it compared The Big Bang Theory to other sitcoms to determine what made it click to viewers. Some of the elements discussed in the article are the standard settings, number of jokes, types of jokes, and the variety of characters.

The Criminals who fool Doctors

It is a very timely article particularly after elections. In the Philippines, it is not uncommon for politicians, with several cases of graft and corruption, to use the wheelchair for lighter punishment and run for elections after some years. Talk about malingering.

What I am curious about is whether Vincent Gigante’s life would be turned into a movie or a TV series. Now that mainstream media are glorifying crimes and sex in TV series, it is not far from happening. We might as well be entertained by how Gigante finally admits faking psychosis.

Starting with Succulents

The initial idea was to include articles on succulents in this post but I thought it best to just include those articles in my previous one for reference links. And also to promote my own blog. You can read how I started my succulent journey and how I came up with their names–it really is such an informative article and I’m not pulling your leg.

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I have started reading Assassination Classroom after watching its short first season (only 22 episodes!) and it has made me missed teaching a bit. It has made me missed being a student more. It would be amazing being in Class 3-E and sitting right next to Karma.

As per usual let me know your thoughts on the articles, or on this list in general.