Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag. For more links and commentary you can follow us on Twitter, Tumblr. You can also support us on Patreon.
1. Kameron Hurley posted her Keynote speech from the Sirens 2018 conference: History, Storytelling, and Narrating the Future. I found this piece very helpful, inspiring, and recalibrating.
2. I've seen some really great compilation posts of Halloween costumes that I wanted to share. First Gal Gadot highlighted a bunch of Wonder Woman costumes. Lupita Nyong'o shows off some tiny Wakandans. And Jenny Han posted pics of some Lara Jean cosplayers, along with a very appropriate quote from her books.
3. There's one last costume I really feel everyone needs to see - it's Dog Ross.
4. The Discworld's Watch series is getting a TV show!!
5. Simone Biles becomes the first female gymnast to win four All-Around world titles. What a champion!
6. Speaking of gymnastics, watch this high bar routine done in full unicorn costume.
7. Here's a fantastic thread about why The Last Jedi is so wonderful.
8. Idris Elba is People's Sexiest Man this year. Bless this decision!
9. Diego Luna is going to be Cassian Andor in the new Star Wars live action TV show. This is a lot to process.
11. I rarely post about US politics in this space, but I had to share this list of firsts for women in the recent midterm election. It's a long and beautiful list, featuring many LGBTQ+ women and women of color. And it's not even complete, as results in close races keep trickling in. It's so fantastic to see our elected officials starting to look more like our population, and I hope the trend only continues.
12. Finally for the purest content you will see this week, may I recommend readingtheend's Twitter thread of hugs from Star Wars.
13. BIG EXCITE: AMC optioned Autonomous by Annalee Newitz! I really liked that book and also, ROBOTS.
14. Now that I'm back from Campaign Grind, I've been enjoying catching up on Youtube videos, like this book haul from Elizabeth, this monthly wrap up from Claire, and this video after what to do after elections from Taylor.
16. I kept saving things I wanted to read because I had no time to read, and the first thing that caught my eye as a sorted through my many link collections was What Is the Gayest Marvel Movie? It's almost six months old and it's still great. Take that, FOMO!
17. Still great? This cover of a Les Mis song I had never heard before this video, because I know nothing about Les Mis. Except this one cover of a song by a random family in Utah.
18. If you're not following Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Instagram, you should definitely do so. She's giving her followers a tour of stepping into the role of a representative in Congress and she is amazing.
19. ... So the trailer for Detective Pikachu dropped, and I don't remember the last time I was this conflicted about watching a movie! On the one hand, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to stick the humour of this, based on what's in the trailer. On the other hand, all of the Pokémon look really cute!
21. I like this dismantling of popular myths about the medieval period, especially for the explicitly pointing out that trans and genderqueer people have always existed.