iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

I’ll try for something less cursed next time 😂

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

This is what happens when I run across a 15 year old interview on a website that only exists in internet archive form.

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Rory (they/them) @roryq.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

"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...

thepinknews.com

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".

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

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

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

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🧵

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

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/

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

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/

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

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

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

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/

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

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/

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

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/

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

"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...

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.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

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!)

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

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

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

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

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

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!

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

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.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

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.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

...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.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

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...

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

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.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

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...

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."

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Queer Lodgings: A Tolkien Podcast @queerlodgings.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

... 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!

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

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

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!

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Joel Merriner @joelmerriner.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

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

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Nick Polk (he/him) @tolkienpop.substack.com · 26/01/2025

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!

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

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

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Tom Emanuel @realtomemanuel.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

"What weather they shall have is not ours to rule." Gandalf, "The Last Debate" The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien

It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set,, uprooting the evil in the fields we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

I'm not watching (because I just can't), but thinking about it makes me feel sick.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Often it's in response to him starting down a path towards an egalitarian end either in narrative or metaphysical postulations, but not going all the way, or pulling his punches. Not that any human being is ever really consistent. But I've spent a lot of time thinking about this one in particular 😅.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

One of the best parts of the season, IMO, though I hope we still get full on Celebrimbanner.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Sometimes I get angry at him, but I also love this man. ❤️

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Prof. Dimitra Fimi @dimitrafimi.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Excellent news! I’ve got a chapter in this volume on #Tolkien, folklore, and foxes! 🦊 🦊 🦊 The keynote lecture on which my chapter is based, can be accessed here: youtu.be/rAAYOnkVnwk (Apologies in advance for the ear worm!) @uofgfantasy.bsky.social @uofgartshums.bsky.social

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Mercury Natis @mercuryreads.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

My conference paper for the Mythopoeic Society OMS, "Sauron, Seduction, and the Queering Mechanism of the Ring", is finally available in print proceedings! Please keep in mind that this is very much a conference proceedings and not a finalized work, but here it is! dc.swosu.edu/mythpro/vol2...

dc.swosu.edu

Sauron, Seduction, and the Queering Mechanism of the Ring

It has often been argued that Sauron is barely present in The Lord of the Rings, existing as a villainous presence on the margins of the narrative. This paper will argue that Sauron is present through...

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Tolkien is such a balm to my procrastinating, perfectionist soul.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

P.S. The importance Tolkien places on mental visualization for the experience of Fantasy runs into issues in light of aphantasia. If not all people experience mental images via a mind’s eye, what does that mean for Tolkien’s framework? Topic for some future research.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

And of course check out the State of the Arc podcast (youtube.com/@ResonantArc) : especially their KILLER #Xenogears analysis!

youtube.com

Resonant Arc

In-depth video essays and podcasts on the techniques of good storytelling in games.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

For a look at the history of text-based adventure games, check out the documentary Get Lamp (2011) (youtu.be/LRhbcDzbGSU?...).

youtu.be

GET LAMP: The Text Adventure Documentary

YouTube video by Google TechTalks

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

For a recounting of the history of JRPGs check out Aidan Moher’s Fight, Magic, Items: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West (2022) (fightmagicitems.rocks)

fightmagicitems.rocks

Fight, Magic, Items – The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Some adjacent links: check out the account @crtpixels.bsky.social for a fascinating archive revealing how the look of pixel graphics took advantage of the technology of CRT televisions.

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Cameron Bourquein @cameronbourquein.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

But despite the growth in research on video games over the past 20 years I’ve not found much that addresses the shift into cinematic conventions and the effect this has had on the engagement of a player’s imagination. Any new sources, if they’re out there, would be helpful!

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