Apparently, I meant to post a link to this article about your treasure being where your heart is back in August, but it isn’t what I would consider time sensitive. John Scalzi is a science fiction author who is well beloved in the Nerd Kingdom. I discovered him through an article he wrote awhile back that compared being a straight white male to playing on the lowest difficulty setting on a video game. (That one is definitely worth reading, especially if you don’t understand privilege.) Both articles are worthy of your attention–as is most of Scalzi’s blog–so go check out his thoughts. He has good ones. 🙂
This picture has nothing to do with the rest of the links here, but it’s gorgeous. I’m pretty sure it’s from Disney’s Fantasia. Yes/no?
Business Insider shows us a map that features the most famous book set in each state in the US. I gritted my teeth in annoyance when I saw that Washington’s most famous book to date is Twilight. *suppresses gag reflex* It makes sense, but I was still disappointed that it wasn’t something like Snow Falling on Cedars. Maybe one day, I will write a book set in Washington that will become more famous than Twilight and remove the sour taste of sparkly vampires from the world’s collective imagination. (Not likely.)
I think most people know that Joss Whedon is credited as saying, in response to a question asking him why he writes strong female characters, “Because you keep asking that question.” I’m not sure if it originates with this video from an Equality Now event, but that same line is included. I’m linking you to the transcript of the speech, but the video is embedded at the bottom of the page as well.
My friend who is reading her way through Penguin Classics also has a knack for creating pretty stellar mixtapes/mix CDs/playlists. She made a set of playlists for each house in Hogwarts, and this is the Gryffindor playlist. 🙂
And finally, the music video for Lorde’s “Royals.” This song took off in popularity in the US, and I keep shaking my head at the various interpretations people have about it. What do you think Lorde is saying?
Note: the version featured here is not the U.S. version on Lorde’s Vevo account. As far as I can tell, it’s the original version of the music video.
Ellayne Shaw 
I personally love Royals because of the bass line. It’s awesome. Lorde is getting a lot of crap from radio DJs because the song essentially blasts “normal” goals of famous people. I think that the song is contentment, not resentment about being from a “turnip town,” as many people assume.
That’s more or less my understanding of the song. She lists in the chorus what everyone else keeps singing about in pop music and says, “Hey, my friends and I can’t relate to any of that, but we’re pretty happy where we’re at right here.” I’ve watched a couple of her interviews, and I would never have guessed that she is only 16 years old. She is both intelligent and eloquent.