Morning Coffee (4/30/14)

If you missed this as it was happening last night: There was a terrible botched execution in Oklahoma.

This was written before the news of Sterling's punishment yesterday, but Jamelle Bouie's take is worth a read.

Here's a good explanation of yesterday's Supreme Court cell phone privacy stuff.

Dear New York Times, don't publish stolen things.

Hey Star Wars -- Where the Hell Are the Women?

Interesting: The story behind the Bundy quote

Ikea is making vegetarian meatballs! Yay!

I'd rather my light bulbs not record and tweet things, thanks.

Wow: Ladies’ Home Journal to End 130-Year Run as Regular Magazine

Flaws Only A Protagonist Could Have

Morning Coffee (4/29/14)

Fox is doing a live televised production of Grease, and . . . this could be great or terrible or hilarrible, depending on the casting.

Whoa, they restored A Hard Day's Night and it will be in theaters in July. Wonder if it'll be nearby?

Gene Demby is always worth a read: What Exactly Qualifies As 'Racist,' Anyway?

I'm still on the library waiting list for the Piketty book, so this Matt Yglesias piece was useful.

The Cheerleaders Rise Up

Well done, Slate: London Human Rights Lawyer Amal Alamuddin Is Engaged

Men who use nicknames for women to win fights are creepy, sexist and dumb

What a linguist found when she analyzed the opening credits to 50 TV shows

Hee: Mom Packs Encouraging Note in Own Lunch

Morning Coffee (4/28/14)

Inside human trafficking: don't call it 'modern day slavery' – fix it already

Wife of Foursquare CEO wore fake bib at Boston Marathon, report says

My fair city: The Totally Absurd, Amazing Story of How Running Over Some Ducks at 15 mph Brought Down a New Hampshire Politician and Police Commissioner

I'm still a bit skeptical of Gracepoint (the U.S. remake of Broadchurch) but these cast photos certainly look right.

Go Cosmo: Jill Filipovic is a good hire.

Again: Happy World Penguin Day! Don't knit them any more sweaters.

Whoa: Transfixing 3D Paper Patterns by Maud Vantours

"President Bartlet, Politics, Puritans, Libertarians." Fair enough.

Hilarious: 2048: Gaius Baltar's Fragile Emotions Edition (Those of you who insist the picture versions are easier than the number version baffle me, though.)

Lines From Go Ask Alice That, In Hindsight, Should Have Tipped Me Off That This Was Not A True Story

Book Recommendation: King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild
Houghton Mifflin, 1999
(Goodreads, Amazon)

I happened upon this at the library while looking for more recent African history, but it provided good background and, more importantly, was a fascinating and horrifying story in its own right. I only knew the barest outlines of this section of the Congo's history, and Hochschild did a good job of weaving a lot of important information into a compelling narrative. And given the timing, reading this this week, I couldn't help but be struck by the way that Leopold's and others' justifications for colonialism, forced labor, and mass murder are being echoed almost verbatim by Cliven Bundy.

Morning Coffee (4/25/14)

Happy Friday!

The final episodes of The Killing will premiere on Netflix on August 1st!

Happiness Study Says Library Trips Are As Good As A Pay Raise (They needed a study?)

The CBC has spoken: Anne Shirley is Canada's most iconic character

The baseball fandom statistics here and here are fascinating.

In Defense of Explaining Things

I can't quite figure out what to think about cat cafes.

This memo about potential Gone with the Wind screenwriters is great.

What's the Difference Between English, Irish, and Scottish Breakfast Teas? Interesting!

How To Tell If You Are In A Charles Dickens Novel

How Much of a Perfectionist Are You? (Very, very much.)

Morning Coffee (4/24/14)

If you missed it, here's the Cliven Bundy story everyone's talking about, containing the line "I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro."

The other thing everyone's talking about: The new net neutrality rules sound . . . not good.

South Sudan Could Be Facing an Ethnic Civil War and a Food Crisis at the Same Time

Sonia Sotomayor: Court’s right wing ‘out of touch with reality’

I actually was wondering why everyone was suddenly talking about Piketty, so this was useful.

The Pay Gap Is Because of Gender, Not Jobs

Big news in the TV world: HBO made a deal with Amazon Prime.

An important read: “His Career Will Be Absolutely Fine”: On Telling People About Being Molested

Morning Coffee (4/23/14)

Today in everything is awful: The American Middle Class Is No Longer the World’s Richest

And Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy

And Two degrees: How the world failed on climate change

And Male doctors get $50,000 more annually from Medicare than female doctors

"Apologies to those for whom these Josh Lueke tweets interfere with their enjoyment of a game, but the threat of sexual assault interferes with how a vast majority of women enjoy life."

In Aereo case, the Supreme Court struggles with the precedents it might set

"While dolphins may not serve alongside US warships in an official capacity, occasionally dolphins act as unpaid privateers."

Two Medieval Monks Invent Maps

Morning Coffee (4/22/14)

I've had a busy couple days (Easter and then watching the Marathon), so let's clear out some older links I saved and never posted . . .

From Breaking Bad to Lost: The Quality of 13 Famous TV Shows, Charted Over Time

BuzzFeed has been doing some really great celebrity profiles. Here's Martha Plimpton.

Heh, a dwarf planet called Biden.

How My Parents Accidentally Got Caught Up in the Iranian Revolution

The Great Digital BFF Renaissance

This is great: What It’s Like To Be The Gay Children Of Gay Parents

Sorting Hogwarts: Charting a Deeper Meaning to the Four Houses

Macaroni and cheese waffles??

Morning Coffee (4/21/14)

This xkcd free speech comic is my new favorite thing.

Why we root for Chelsea Clinton

They're putting up an Edgar Allan Poe statue in Boston and it's amazing.

Whoa. I need to try a Cadbury Creme Egg egg cream.

"Promposal?" Stop the madness.

This Star Trek Timelines game looks . . . possibly interesting.

Area Man Mystified By Layout Of Adjacent Town’s Kroger

Which Sports Night character are you?

Morning Coffee (4/18/14)

Happy Friday!

Chelsea Clinton has announced that she's pregnant. Congratulations! (The baby can run in 2052, if you were wondering.)

Eee, the trailer for the movie version of Jersey Boys! I can't wait.

Huh. There is now a distillery in my city.

Here's an interesting read on Michelle Kwan's political career and her role in her husband's gubernatorial campaign. Good for her!

Important: Twenty-First Century Science Writers

This week in entertainment headlines Mad Libs: Downton Abbey Producer Developing Freud Crime Drama from X-Files Writer

Wondering what books were challenged most in 2013? (I'm all for reading challenged books, but . . . no, please don't make me read Captain Underpants.)

Plenty of Room for Stupidity: On P.G. Wodehouse

Morning Coffee (4/17/14)

Good news: Judge overturns North Dakota’s 6-week abortion ban

If you've been online in the past day, you've probably heard about the New York Times piece on the Jameis Winston case, but here it is just in case.

This whole study is worth a read if you have time: Girls View Sexual Violence as Normal

"The confident may end up being more successful than the competent, but is that dubious form of power worth striving for?"

Phyllis Schlafly thinks "The best way to improve economic prospects for women is to improve job prospects for the men in their lives, even if that means increasing the so-called pay gap." Which is not surprising of her, but . . . wow.

Here's the answer to why William Shatner has been live-tweeting the CW.

9 questions you’re too embarrassed to ask about normcore

Here's the promo for that new reality show in which they're telling American women they can marry Prince Harry, and it looks so ridiculous that I'm going to be tempted to watch, and . . . darn it, they're winning.

I've never quite understood the concept of "training" bras, but this teen girl-run company is fascinating and the owner is saying a lot of good things.

History’s Smuggest Brides: Vintage Engagement Photos That Perfectly Embody The Spirit Of “I Got Mine”

Morning Coffee (4/16/14)

Good for them: First Women Move To Army Platoon Artillery Jobs

This piece about a 13-year-old Mongolian eagle huntress is amazing.

I'm so glad The Toast is doing well.

I think there's a lot to be said for killing comment sections.

Hot Topic now has Veronica Mars stuff, and I really want this Mars Investigations shirt.

Shut Up About "Clickbait"

10 More Novels That Could Fuel the Teen-Movie Comeback

Which The West Wing character are you? (Josh, apparently.)

Book Recommendation: The Setup Man by T.T. Monday

The Setup Man by T.T. Monday
Doubleday, 2014
(Goodreads, Amazon)

Baseball noir! Johnny Adcock is the Veronica Mars of the MLB, a relief pitcher who spends his off hours moonlighting as a PI, tailing cheating spouses and doing favors for his frenemies. Monday's characters and world-building were great; his writing was a little rough at times, but this was his first novel so I'm definitely interested to see his future efforts. If you like both baseball and mysteries, this is a great spring read.

Morning Coffee (4/15/14)

Today is the first anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings. The Globe is a good place to start for memorial coverage.

Speaking of which, yesterday the Globe won a Pulitzer for their breaking news coverage. Here are all the winners.

An important read: I Was Racially Profiled in My Own Driveway

Why Cosmo Is Getting Serious About Its Reproductive Rights Coverage

The content of this article is actually even crazier than the title makes it sound: VA GOP candidate: No incest exception for abortion because sometimes it’s ‘voluntary’

Hilarious (but obviously spoilery): If Our Media Reported The Thing That Just Happened On “Game Of Thrones”

Tumblr recommendation of the day: Composers Doing Normal Shit

If "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" Had Used Suggested Hashtags

Morning Coffee (4/14/14)

Forget Obamacare: Vermont wants to bring single payer to America

Scottish Town Raises $8,000 for Statue of Stray Cat

Game of Thrones fans, make sure you read this Maisie Williams profile.

Hee: Five Slightly More Plausible Dystopias We'd Love to See in YA Novels

Surprisingly enough, this isn't the local thing that was actually on X-Files.

How We Won the War on Dungeons & Dragons

This look at the music theory behind a Katy Perry hit is interesting.

Which Little Woman Are You?

Book Recommendation: Tunnel Vision by Susan Adrian

So I was raving about this book last night on Twitter, and then I realized, hey, I have this blog and could theoretically use it for something other than lists of links. So I'm going to start trying to post book recommendations semi-regularly. We'll see how it goes. (I do post about all the books I read on Goodreads; my account there is not under my real name; let me know if you want to find/friend me and we'll make it work.)

Anyway, the book! It's a young adult slightly-science fiction thriller called Tunnel Vision, by debut author Susan Adrian. The bad news is that it's not out until next year, so I'll probably re-up this post to remind you then, but since I was so effusive on Twitter I figured I might as well post now. Here's the description from Goodreads, where you should add it to your TBR shelf immediately:

A teenage boy who has a power he calls tunneling—he can decipher where anyone in the world is (and what they’re doing) by holding something they own—is brought to the attention of the U.S. government.

This book grabbed me from page one - and then it just kept getting better and better. At several points I was thinking I had the book figured out, knew more or less where it was going - and then Adrian pulled the rug out from under the reader in the best possible ways, with twists and surprises that feel utterly inevitable in retrospect, rather than just being shocking for the sake of it. Sometimes after you read a lot of books in a genre, you start feeling like you have a general sense of where things are going, and the way this book upended those expectations was so refreshing. And even aside from the main thriller plot, Tunnel Vision has loads of heart and humor, a bit of romance - the hero mentally compares his love interest to Veronica Mars, so you know he's got good taste - and some fascinating family dynamics, especially a sibling relationship that was my favorite part of the book.

(Disclaimer: I know Susan, but I would not lie to you about something as important as a book recommendation.)

Morning Coffee (4/11/14)

Happy Friday!

Eeee, here's the Masterpiece summer schedule!

If you're wondering about the fate of your favorite yet-to-be-renewed show, Dan Fienberg's write-up is very good.

I want Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon's bookcase risers.

Wife insists Welsh dragon must go

Previously.tv's Firefly theme remix series is great. Here's yacht rock and polka.

This is your brain on knitting

This look at TV writer Julie Plec's office and work routine is great.

Klingon beer, anyone?

The Onion: All Of Man’s Time-Wasting Websites Exhausted Before Lunch

Morning Coffee (4/10/14)

On the equal pay debate: "So here’s a question for all the naysayers: What’s the precise amount of discrimination you’re okay with?"

Northwestern University fights back against NCAA football unionization

Dara Lind has an important Obama administration deportation explainer.

What It's Like to Actually Know Hillary Clinton

Dove's latest marketing scheme: Still terrible. Maybe the most terrible! Also, who the heck describes herself as a "distinguished scholar"?

Huh: Your reality is actually 15 seconds long

"Why is it so terrible if a pretty girl who'd never heard of the Guardians of the Galaxy until two months ago suddenly walks into your comic shop and wants to read about them?"

Is it okay to object to a college president because he's a Confederate hobbyist?

Don't Go Anywhere. This Was NPR.

Morning Coffee (4/9/14)

Update: Kate Mulgrew is not a geocentrist after all. Phew.

A sheep/goat hybrid was born in Ireland and this whole story (and video) is adorable.

Is this the most expensive instrument in the world?

I feel pretty strongly that leggings aren't pants, and yet I applaud these girls.

Can you stop feeling too busy by telling yourself you're not too busy?

Nifty: The ISS Has an Instrument Specifically Designed to Study Lightning

I am not wild about the idea of Monopoly rules changing, mostly just because I hate change.

Modernist Game of Thrones

Morning Coffee (4/8/14)

Rwanda's Keeper of the Dead

The Border Patrol has a big problem with excessive force

All of Shakespeare's Plays, Converted to 3-Panel Webcomics

Whoa: Tetris on a skyscraper

A Gone with the Wind prequel? Must we?

YA characters don't need to be role models.

Huh. Kate Mulgrew (a.k.a. Captain Janeway) has apparently narrated a documentary about the sun orbiting the earth. So.

Dirtbag Little Women

Morning Coffee (4/7/14)

From Washington to Westeros, how rape plays out on TV

Honey Maid Makes Art (and a Great Ad) Out of Hate

Hee: Adult Tries to Steal Ball from Little Girl, Derek Jeter Makes Sure She Doesn't

I'm excited for the History Channel's The World Wars next month.

Major League Baseball, Daniel Murphy, and what real men do when their wives give birth

Well, this doesn't bode well for the Jem movie.

The Logical Conclusions of White Noah

Which “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” Character Are You? (I'm Giles. Of course I'm Giles.)

Morning Coffee (4/4/14)

Happy Friday!

Apparently Tom Hardy and his dad are writing a 19th century period drama for him to star in for the BBC. Adorable.

Here are Disney villains doing the "Cell Block Tango."

Wonderful: Revisiting Pamela: How To Read Books You Don’t Want To

This essay by the white mother of a black son is great.

An Interview With A Hypothetical Super-Independent Athlete Baby

I love this series: Two Monks Invent Byzantine Art and Two Monks Invent Renaissance Art

"Things just get sort of progressively drier, and then the day is over, and there you are."

Magic Mike 2 is apparently shooting in the fall.

Which Rory Gilmore Are You?

Morning Coffee (4/3/14)

The Supreme Court Just Gutted Another Campaign Finance Law. Here’s What Happened.

Exciting news: DreamWorks acquired Eleanor and Park and Rainbow Rowell is writing the screenplay!

If you have Xfinity and are behind on any shows, you might want to check if they're currently on demand for Watchathon Week.

If you, like me, missed the adorable Jimmy Fallon/Billy Joel duet, it is absolutely worth a watch.

Whoa: Just Tap Your Phone On Every Wall and This App Will Draw a Floorplan

Rhys Ifans is doing Under Milk Wood in English and Welsh.

The Catholic Roots of Obama’s Activism

Which Annoying Type Of Person On “House Hunters” Are You?

Morning Coffee (4/2/14)

Shocker: Rowland is implicated in a campaign financing investigation.

Good news! The Television Without Pity archives will stay available.

Related: 10 Absolutely True Stories About Writing For Television Without Pity

Mallory Ortberg's book Texts from Jane Eyre is now available for preorder and I am very excited.

Basically just for the headline: Vampire-LARPing Candidate Accuses His Republican Opponent of Being Too Liberal

As a Threes fan, this was fascinating: 2048 is why we can’t have nice things. As was this history of Threes.

A.O. Scott's MPAA rating explanations are awesome.

Which Star Trek Captain Are You? (I'm Picard. Of course.)

Morning Coffee (4/1/14)

I hate April Fool's Day. To the best of my knowledge, none of the following links are pranks.

The Bomb Girls movie is coming to the U.S. on May 26th! Yay!

The How I Met Your Mother finale was last night and it was terrible. Here's Alan Sepinwall on how they conned us all.

Happy opening... week? Whatever. Here’s How Much It Costs to Propose at Every Major League Baseball Stadium. Tip: JUST DON'T.

I joined my buddies at Ahoy Mateys to record a commentary for the Veronica Mars movie, if such things interest you.

David Duchovny is doing a 1960s-set cop show about the hunt for Charles Manson. Intriguing.

This interview with James Middleton (brother of Kate) about his marshmallow business (no really) is pretty great.

Oh good: Glenn Beck Sued for Defamation Over His '212 3B' Boston Marathon Bombing Conspiracy Theory

Okay, this one is a joke, but it's not pretending not to be: Dirtbag Anne of Green Gables