utagawa kuniyoshi

 

what, you thought cats were an internet thing? utagawa kuniyoshi begs to differ! lol but, obviously, if the thought of living with these images is just too much you can order them here from the public domain review. double win!

old english and middle english

 

the weight

 once upon a time i took a copy of vesalius' de humani corporis fabrica down to the gym where i used to go, a bold move i would say, in a country that doesn't love books, where even medical types are more often than not, ignorant even of the name vesalius. the gym lads were well up for it, so much so i left the book for them to look at while i did my sets, no banter, no jokes, just genuine interest in the illustrations and the poses.

around the same time i read sven lindqvist's (better known for a history of bombing and exterminate all the brutes bench press, a wee curate's egg of a book about his own experiences with body building, again a book i could discuss at the gym but, quite literally, nowhere else!

so when i saw that 99% invisible/nice try! were doing an episode on weights i was clearly going to listen. and entertaining it is. i did not know that weightlifting involved am american/canadian face off, that. as ever, lifting weights was part of the fight against communism, or that cross fit was in any way associated with white supremacy. but apparently so! (and there's more! lol)

chili klaus

one of the more niche swedish activities i miss is watching surströmming videos and the efforts of the legend that is chili klaus 

norsemen

 the norwegian version of this isn't available here which is a shame but the english version is pure comic genius. i've been missing the island but, at the same time, literally crying with laughter at the familiarity of this.