I bet Rotten Tomatoes thinks this means "Where are you, good movie?" but it actually means "Why are you, good movie?"

I bet this would feel *incredible* after I've spent all day hunched over my laptop.

(Morgan Library, M.730, fol. 226r)

I hate it here

Today's medieval art is brought to you by the letter E!

Why do these medieval wild men look like they're in a frat?

(St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek / Cod. Sang. 357 – Missal / p. 17)

Tired, grumpy medieval allegory begins his day.

(BNF Français 25526, f. 1r)

Eve looks less than enthused about being created in this image from Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 083 (f. 1v)

"I thought I'd be able to retire before now, but this economy....."

This zombie doing construction is a mood.

(Paris, BnF, Français 64 f.209v)

Reading Ibn Battuta's 14th-century travelogue today, and his description of Gaza is haunting in light of the modern day.

"there is no wall round it."

The medieval bestseller The Golden Legend has a wild aside about Jesus' incarnation, suggesting he almost did not incarnate himself because there were so many sodomites.

So he sent a bright light that exterminated all of them right before he incarnated. 🫥

Laundry day for me today too!

(Brit Lib, Harley 3469 f. 32v)

This would make a certain amount of visual sense, since medieval Christian artists often portrayed the soul as a little baby. (Brit Lib, Arundel 318, f. 123v)

I wonder if the modern image of the stork carrying a baby in a cloth is related to the medieval image of the virtuous soul being lifted to heaven in a cloth.

(Brit Lib, Additional 71118 F)

Today, my Medieval Ghost Stories class is reading 13th-century Gervase of Tilbiry's Otia Imperialia, which includes Gervase's incredible aside that he thinks people these days are **too weak** to come back to life after being dead.

The ultimate "kids these days!" complaint!

Gandalf is so much meaner in the books than the movies.

"We could do with a bit more queerness in these parts."

I've decided to reread the Lord of the Rings for the first time in over a decade, and it's going well.