Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Morning Coffee (10/28/15)

Me elsewhere: Thoughts on Supergirl - I liked it! - and my latest Haven recap.

Many of the things below are FAR MORE IMPORTANT to this, but oh my gosh, this Rockapella reunion rendition of the Carmen Sandiego song just made me so freaking happy.

No, Portugal is not having a constitutional crisis. This is the real story.

What Would Jeb Do?

This Is Not a Game: How SXSW Turned GamerGate Abuse Into a Spectator Sport

Here's BuzzFeed's letter about withdrawing.

And an update: Exclusive: After Gamergate Misstep, SXSW Weighing an All-Day Forum on Online Harassment

I liked this Crimson Peak review: "And the thing to understand about a proper British ghost story is that the ghosts are often incidental to the action. Yes, they're there, but they're a way of making the story's psychological subtext into text, the lurching reminders of the past that threaten to uncover long-buried secrets." (That actually suddenly occurred to me a little while after I saw the movie - that yeah, the ghosts were creepy, but the actual bad things in the movie were done by humans and that was scarier.)

Oooh: Skeleton of ancient warrior and hoard of treasure found in 3,500-year-old tomb

Fascinating: Raiders of the Lost Web

"THE LEARNING WOMAN: I will untie your cravats and your secrets
THE BAD MAN: don’t try to understand me
THE LEARNING WOMAN: I think I can understand you"

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Morning Coffee (10/27/15)

Paul Ryan as Speaker: A Preview of the Fights He Will Face, in Plain English

I really enjoyed Supergirl - my post on it will be up at The Televixen today - and Alyssa Rosenberg's interview with the creators about the show's feminism is a must-read.

!!!! There's a new app to stream Broadway shows!

Ughhhhh. Ricky Gervais To Return As Golden Globes Host In 2016

Phoebe Tonkin has important things to say about the double standard to which female characters are held: “He killed Tyler’s mom on Christmas Eve!” she said. “And [Hayley] was the bad guy for giving birth to his child. Yet he was drowning people’s moms during the holidays.”

Fascinating: Jem and the Holograms Fails in a Way That I've Never Seen a Movie Fail Before

Belgian Scientologists go on trial for fraud and extortion

How Soviets Got Away with Stealing a Van Gogh

June Thomas has interesting things to say about TV's competence fetish, though I don't entirely agree - in certain types of shows, what I WANT is to watch super smart people being smart.

This is the greatest business idea ever.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Morning Coffee (10/26/15)

Me elsewhere! TV news and a Last Kingdom recap.

Hillary Clinton's 11-hour Benghazi testimony was her best campaign ad yet

Why the Jem flop is important: "The lesson they will take from this is that girl-centric properties are not worth the resources of boy-centric properties."

The U.K. is getting its own Sound of Music Live! TV thing, and I am actually interested in this one because they have JULIAN OVENDEN (Andrew Foyle) playing Captain Von Trapp. Please please please make it available here somehow, ITV?

I've always been suspicious of Airbnb anyway, but these ads are the worst, and their spokesman sounds RIDICULOUSLY unprofessional.

Shocking research finding of the day: "Though the thought of a smart woman is appealing to men, a real, live smart woman standing in front of them is actually a turnoff."

Feminists should cheer Paul Ryan for taking a stand for work-life balance

'You're the Worst' just aired the best depiction of clinical depression. Ever.

The fan reaction to the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child news has been fascinating, and Melissa Anelli (of course) has some good things to say here.

Headline guaranteed to make me click: Queen intervenes to settle title feud opening way to title pretenders (But really, the question of the role of modern science in traditional inheritance rules is fascinating!)

I am very exciting about National Geographic's Mayflower movie, though also concerned that it will be terrible! (These things are not mutually exclusive.)

Friday, October 23, 2015

Morning Coffee (10/23/15)

Happy Friday!

Me elsewhere: Hey look! I'm really excited about this! I wrote a piece on Salem for the relaunch of Insatiable Booksluts! Also, my recap of last week's Haven, which - I'm really liking this season so far!

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - the stage play in the works - is officially a sequel!

Aaah, new Shameless trailer!

And new X-Files pictures! (I still haven't found a straight answer to whether the premiere title is a deliberate Knausgaard reference, which is apparently what I'm fixated on with this whole thing for some reason.)

I've been trying to figure out whether I could handle seeing Crimson Peak on the big screen - I'm a scaredy-cat - and also wondering if the heroine has any agency, and behold! Deanna Raybourn has answered all my questions, and I shall see the movie this weekend.

Related: Movie Yelling With Nicole and Mallory: Crimson Peak

I concur: Hulu has overtaken Netflix to become the best streaming service.

I don't know much about the publisher but this pun just delights me so: A Side of Relish: Little Pickle Adds YA Imprint

Rufus Sewell as Lord Melbourne? Yes please.

Heh. The Onion: MPAA Adds New Rating To Warn Audiences Of Films Not Based On Existing Works

Important: Craft-Beer Pairings for Halloween Candy (2015 Update)

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Morning Coffee (10/21/15)

Me elsewhere: I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THE ROYAL WE. I am not excited about Truth Be Told.

Oops: Washington Post Accidentally Publishes Biden Presidential Announcement Story (Someone did that with a One Direction story yesterday too. CALM DOWN, EVERYONE.)

If you are inclined to write off the CW and its shows, or interested in how TV works in general, please read this.

This is so important: Why We Are Burning Out in the Arts

Trollope Uncut Comparing those two versions sounds fascinating.

This New Yorker true crime reader look great. I keep going to order it and then remembering I have access to all the stories in the archives. But if you don't, maybe you should order it!

This "Psychic Robot" Can Read Your Mind. Um. Oh goody?

Hee: Honest Harry Potter titles. Harry Potter and the Time Hermione Did Literally Everything is my favorite.

A Sailor’s Annotated Map of the Pacific Illustrates a Tour of Duty During WWII

American Women in the 1900s Called Street Harassers 'Mashers' and Stabbed Them With Hatpins

Things Men in Literature Have Died From is perfect:
"Chaste homoeroticism for a schoolfellow who died in the trenches
That surprise in the corridor
Patriotism"

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Friday, October 16, 2015

Morning Coffee (10/16/15)

Happy Friday!

Me elsewhere: I recapped the Haven premiere.

This week's New Yorker arrived in my mailbox yesterday with a piece about Thoreau LITERALLY ENTITLED "POND SCUM" and few things have ever made me so happy.

Except, actually, GQ's Taylor Swift cover story (by Chuck Klosterman!), which pulls off the pretty amazing feat of being genuinely interesting while making her seem even more exactly the person I've always wanted her to be. (Reading profiles of celebrities you like is always such a RISK.) There are many, MANY great things in that piece, and I really urge you to read it, but probably the BEST is the way Swift realizes that if her parents hadn't moved her to Nashville to focus on her music as a teen, she'd now be working in some kind of marketing like the rest of us.

I tend to put The Toast at the bottom of the link list, I guess because I'm a creature of habit and like ending with something funny, but Mallory's North and South is just too good:
"MARGARET: can you at least give me a general outline of your problems with the Church?
MR. HALE: sorry no
MARGARET: are you an atheist? a Methodist? a Tractarian? a schismatic? a Baptist?
MR. HALE: don’t worry about it
just know that I cannot renew my vows, so we must move North and be unemployed
MARGARET: Can you…specify which doctrine?
MR. HALE: No
and in fact I will never be discussing my new beliefs again
MARGARET: Will you at least be following your conscience and preaching whatever doctrine you think soundest up North?
MR. HALE: I will not."


The Zombies have a new album! Did you know the Zombies were still a thing? I most certainly did not!

"Being Santa Claus gives a person a political edge, he said. On more than one occasion he has called a legislator, lobbying for support on a child welfare issue. When he’s been brushed off, he has called local media and introduced himself. Then the local media, seeing a story, called the legislator. And then, magically, someone from the politician’s office called to discuss his concerns. It seems no politician wants to come out publicly against Santa Claus, he said."

!!!!!! Students Create 3D-Printed Wheelchair For Disabled Kitten

It's Friday. Let's look at Tom Hiddleston in glasses.

Go Inside the World Of June Kenton, H.M. Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Bra Fitter

Whoa: Beautiful Harry Potter stop-motion short film builds Hogwarts from the pages of the books themselves

In a Small Village High in the Peruvian Andes, Life Stories Are Written in Textiles

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Morning Coffee (10/7/15)

This Voter app sounds neat, but when I read "Tinder-like app for matching with a presidential candidate" I thought it was going to tell me which candidates were GEOGRAPHICALLY NEAR ME. Because I live in New Hampshire, and that would actually be a useful function. (I mean. To go to campaign events. Not to hook up with them. If that was unclear.)

This Brazilian Woman Turns Domestic Violence Scars Into Beautiful Tattoos

A sad, powerful read: "Are You Still Married?"

High School Football Inc.

This "find your perfect climate" map is fun!

WELL: Ancient Cats Drove Ancient Dogs to Extinction

"He has now become a full-time Viking."

The history of Tiger Beat is fascinating!

I am weirdly freaked out by Avery Fisher Hall changing its name.

Don’t Stand So Close To Me: People Ignoring Personal Boundaries In Western Art History

Monday, October 5, 2015

Morning Coffee (10/5/15)

(A bit of personal news - we had a death in the family over the weekend, so I may miss a day or two of posting this week as I'm traveling to the funeral, etc. Thanks for understanding.)

Me elsewhere: TV news for the week and my take on Dr. Ken, which I really did not like.

And in more sad news: Henning Mankell has died.

I recommend Colbert's monologue on the Oregon shootings.

Gun violence in America, in 17 maps and charts

I thought from the beginning that Peeple sounded more like a reality show attention-grab than a real app, so I'm glad Snopes agrees. And NY Mag has some interesting stuff on the topic, too. I still can't decide if these people are evil or just hilariously naive; my main question is still about the supposed millions in funding they've gotten.

Putin’s Credo: Never Let Them See You Sweat

We Can Now 3D Print Ribs !!!

Brains are so fascinating! The day I ordered pizza that 'doesn't exist'

Why Do We Admire Mobsters?

What It's Like Speaking a Different Language from Your Parents

Important Sources of Protein for Introverts

Friday, October 2, 2015

Morning Coffee (10/2/15)

First: Let me say that my thoughts are, of course, with everyone affected by the terrible killings in Oregon; my dad has worked at a community college my whole life so this one hit close to home, emotionally. But I don't have anything interesting or unique to say about it, so I'll just say that I'm proud of my President and I hope, though I don't necessarily expect, that laws will change.

And now I'm going to proceed with my usual happy Friday links. Please take this in the spirit in which it is intended: a positive distraction for anyone who might need it, rather than a sign of disrespect.

Me elsewhere: Code Black was kind of boring.

ICYMI, I pulled out some of the best lines from Choire Sicha's Ina Garten profile.

This is amazing: the linguistics of shipper portmanteaux.

I loved this celebration of Goodfellas. Why am I not watching Goodfellas RIGHT NOW?

If you, like me, were confused about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writing a Mycroft Holmes novel, I recommend this profile.

Food Network is doing a Cake Wars: Christmas series this year, because they love us and want us to be happy.

The shots of old catalogs in this piece on American Girl dolls made me so nostalgic I almost cried.

I want an Alice Roosevelt YA novel: Global Diplomacy Was in Theodore Roosevelt's Hands, But His Daughter Stole the Show

Would also read a novel about this lady: Way to go: the woman who invented Britain’s road signs

Whoaaaa, look at this map of literature. (I have some nitpicks with it, but it's GORGEOUS.)

I am very excited about the prospect of a Game of Thrones coloring book.

Look at these gorgeous illustrations from a 16th century book on herbal medicine.

A Style Guide for the Dystopia

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Amazing Sentences from Choire's Ina Garten Profile

If you have any interest in Ina Garten, a.k.a. the Barefoot Contessa, I highly suggest you read Choire Sicha's profile of her immediately. And then, if you are anything like me, you will feel the need to watch some of her show, just to warn you. (And THEN, if you are me, you will discover that it is not available on demand, but lo! Netflix just made the first season of her Back to Basics show available for streaming.) Anyway, you should really read the whole thing, but here is A TASTE (ha. I crack myself up.):

"The only time I have seen her forehead is in a black-and-white picture from her wedding day."

"It reads straightforwardly as an endorsement — and yet, when you look at the actual words, they assemble themselves, as so much does in Martha’s world, into some kind of menace, an alpha act of undermining."

"This problem is solved by a youngster named Lidey Heuck, a 2013 Bowdoin graduate who started working for Ina right after graduation, after having written Ina a letter delivered by means of a classmate's father who is Ina's attorney, because apparently she inhabits some marvelous Victorian novel."

"Recently, also, Ina followed a friend to the grocery store just to see how people shop."

"In an episode of Barefoot Contessa from 2007, Ina makes the somewhat gnomey Jeffrey a lovely mild breakfast of asparagus and eggs, because he is going away on a business trip. He has spent the last thirty years on a business trip."

"Jeffrey Garten is not a bumbling idiot. He finds the house in Napa without difficulty. After all, any reasonably close reading of his resume suggests that he certainly either was, or equally likely was not, working for the CIA in Asia and Latin America for decades."

"Being free from frozen packs of Penne Pasta with Five Cheeses and Tequila Lime Chicken that bear her face is a sign of her focus and brilliance."

Really: Read the whole thing.

Morning Coffee (10/1/15)

It's October?!?!

Me elsewhere: I liked Grandfathered and The Grinder!

After Decades of Peace, the Situation in Northern Ireland Is Looking Extremely Fragile (And that linked to this fascinating New Yorker piece from March, which I'd missed at the time.)

Todd VanDerWerff has a great take on the Pope meeting with Kim Davis.

This new people-rating Peeple app sounds so terrible that I kind of doubt it will ever get off the ground. But I'm VERY curious about their investors - these two people who made it not thinking it through is one thing, but the company is valued at $7.6 million?? Also: I was wondering to what extent the REAL plan was getting famous via this webseries they were making about making the app. Also: Last night they locked their Twitter account but this morning it's open again. ALSO: They are on Good Morning America this morning. ALSO ALSO: They have added an "Ode to Courage" to the front page of their site and it's hilarious. ALSO ALSO ALSO: They are doing really terribly with SEO because even with all the current coverage of them I had a hard time finding their various social media presences - I could only find their YouTube and Facebook pages once I'd found their website, not by searching YouTube and Facebook.

I am very curious to see how this prospective Serial TV show will turn out. (To head off the "We already have true crime shows" protests: this show is supposedly about the making of the podcast, not just the investigation.)

IMPORTANT CHEESE CRIME UPDATE

Ooh, they've recovered new artifacts from the Antikythera shipwreck.

If the Great British Baking Show got you, too, curious about traditional custard tarts: the Guardian is on it.

Yale Grapples With Ties to Slavery in Debate Over a College’s Name

Someone write me a novel about whomever takes this remote Scottish teaching post.

Two Monks Invent Religious Iconography