Cameron Bourquein

Starmer says trans bans must be implemented 'as soon as possible' Keir Starmer has ordered that public bodies to enforce the Supreme Court's controversial gender ruling "as soon as possible".

"Queer people in the UK have it so much better than before, and so much better than elsewhere, you should be grateful for the improvements and not keep whining about being oppressed." A paraphrased quote from a conversation I was in recently.

Fuck this.

www.thepinknews.com/2025/06/30/k...

And I will definitely third @mercuryreads.bsky.social's work! ❤️

Credit for the original image that the image in this thread is largely based on goes to NASA, ESA, P. Kalas and J. Graham (University of California, Berkeley), and M. Clampin (NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center) /End🧵

This peer-reviewed paper is based on two separate papers presented at PCA in April of 2023 and Tolkien@UVM in April of 2024 and forms the theoretical basis of my larger #SauronProject. 7/

That high degree of indeterminacy and ambiguity has implications for how Sauron is interpreted by readers, fans creating fan works, and those producing adaptations that feature Sauron. 6/

Lastly, it argues that when viewing Sauron across the entire legendarium, Sauron can be said to be gestalt across an additional metatextual dimension. 5/

Further, it argues that #RingsofPower season one *attempts* to mimic the indeterminacy of Sauron in #TheLordoftheRings through the construction of a “Schrödinger box” (as opposed to a “mystery box”). 4/

Building on the semiotics work of Nagy (2013), it argues that Sauron in The Lord of the Rings can be read as gestalt across the spatial, temporal, and mythological dimensions of the Secondary World and has a geographical dimension that can be interpreted through the Gestalt laws of perception. 3/

It argues firstly that Sauron’s high degree of indeterminacy and ambiguity suggests he can be read as a gestalt entity, one the reader creates by mentally constructing a whole from (seemingly) disparate parts. 2/

The words "Perceiving the Perceiver "Viewing" Sauron Through the Gestalt Theory of Perception are overlaid in white on a slightly manipulated image of the star Fomalhaut and its debris ring as photographed by Hubble (NASA). The image appears to show red and orange lines of light radiating from a central point. The center is cut through with a dark "slit" which looks like a slitted pupil. The light brightens and forms an oval ring (actually the star's debris ring) around the slit and central point. The effect of this is to make it appear as if we are seeing a flaming eye like the Eye of Sauron.

"Perceiving the Perceiver: 'Viewing' Sauron Through the Gestalt Theory of Perception" uses Gestalt theory, the Gestalt laws of perception, & the reception theory of Wolfgang Iser to elucidate #Sauron as he appears in #LotR, #RoP, & #Tolkien 's wider legendarium. 🧵/

scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftol...

I am beyond humbled to have my very FIRST peer reviewed paper, “Perceiving the Perceiver: Viewing Sauron Through the Gestalt Theory of Perception” published alongside work from such amazing scholars! My thanks to the editors and peer reviewers for their hard work. (As always, JTR is free to read!)

Thanks for the mention @thetolkienist.com and for compiling all this!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the episode. It was a lot of fun!

❤️🥰❤️

Thanks @thetolkienist.com! ❤️

This paper came up a lot in the @podcast.athrabeth.com episode I was invited to guest host. I'm glad I finally get to share this conference paper!

This paper posits explanations for this lack of synthesis and also argues that aspects of each of these modes can be traced back to abandoned characters who appear in The Book of Lost Tales.

Some of the evolutions that accompanied this expansion are not retroactively reflected in the tales already written, hence these “modes” of Sauron could be said to remain in tension.

...Sauron’s role in the Legendarium expanded significantly across Tolkien’s lifetime as Sauron became the primary antagonist of two additional Ages of Middle-earth.

While Sauron’s most robust First Age appearance (in the tale of Beren and Lúthien) remained relatively unchanged from his introduction in the 1920s until Tolkien’s death...

Abstract: this paper argues that Sauron is a metatextual shape-shifter. Through diachronic analysis it identifies and charts three distinct “modes” of Sauron coexisting in Tolkien’s legendarium.

A landscape oriented image. The background is a screenshot from Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" depicting Sauron as the flaming eye. In front of this, and obscuring much of it, is centered a black rectangle in which a title is written in uppercase: Wizard, Demon, Cat; Reformer, Satanist, Bureaucrat:". Below but overlapping the black rectangle along its bottom edge is a second rectangle, this one orange, in which a subtitle is written: "A Diachronic Analysis of Three 'Modes' of Sauron in the Legendarium in Light of The Book of Lost Tales."

My #Tolkien paper from Oxonmoot 2023 is published in JTR: "Wizard, Demon, Cat; Reformer, Satanist, Bureaucrat." I argue Sauron is present in 3 modes in the Legendarium, each reflecting three abandoned characters from The Book of Lost Tales (Tevildo + 2). scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftol...

Image of a burning McDonald's sign with text that reads "The beacon is lit, America calls for aid".

... And Queer Lodgings will answer! We took a bit of a break because... well... *gestures broadly at everything* But we just had a planning session for our next few episodes, which should include some great guests!

She is totally awesome!!!

I've been inactive on here for a few weeks and missed sharing this when it first went live. Go give the most recent Athrabeth episode a listen. @aranelparmadil.bsky.social does a fantastic job breaking down feminist scholarship on Tolkien, past, present, and (hopefully) future!

My book "Illustrating The Lord of the Rings in the Soviet Bloc" has a cover! Featuring artwork by the most excellent Yassen Panov, illustrator of the 1990-1991 Bulgarian #LOTR translation Vlastelinat Na Prastenite. The book is currently scheduled for release on September 18th #Tolkien

The paperback proceedings that contain @cameronbourquein.bsky.social and I’s paper on “Reading, Rending, and Queering the Web of Story with the Lens of ‘Con-creation’ and Process Theology” is now available! Get yourself a copy and enjoy some great work from some amazing #Tolkien scholars!

Thank you. Just purchased an audiobook of the expanded edition. Will be my evening listen.

On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder - Timothy Snyder On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come.

For WEEK 1 of America's #AuthoritarianCrisis, your reading assignment is #OnTyranny by @timothysnyder.bsky.social. Get it, study it well, & return to it often over the next four years.
#AmericanId

han solo and a stormtrooper are looking at a statue of c-3po .. ALT: han solo and a stormtrooper are looking at a statue of c-3po ..

This was the first response that popped into my head *LOLSOB* (one of the many gifts of anxiety 🫠)