Morning Coffee (4/5/17)

A Child Soldier Sees His Mother After 6 Years. But Why Doesn’t He Speak?

Blackwater founder held secret Seychelles meeting to establish Trump-Putin back channel

Egypt's president is a bloodthirsty dictator. Trump thinks he's done a "fantastic job.”

What a shock: Gorsuch's writings borrow from other authors

I'm sure this is a shock as well: Donald Trump Revokes Order That Protects Women in the Workplace

Gorsuch refusing to meet with female senators of color is quite something: Merrick Garland Isn’t the Only Reason the Democrats Should Filibuster Gorsuch

National Archives orders Trump not to delete tweets

Trump Isn’t Nixon: Nixon read books, for one thing.

A Rabbi Walks Into a Bar — and Enforces the Law

!!! GP reveals his 30-year secret life as Archers character Robert Snell

I think Todd's right about Bones here: Bones was satisfying junk-food TV that tried — and failed — to be so much more

A Roman Sarcophagus Is Rescued from Humble Duty as a Flower Pot

Morning Coffee (4/14/16)

Me elsewhere: The Hunters pilot was okay I guess. And Bones fans, here are some clips from tonight's premiere.

There are a variety of important points this story about ISIS's finances, but I'd never thought about money being LITERALLY INCINERATED by bombs, so that was striking.

In case you need a refresher or to be brought up to date: Brazil's political crisis, explained in 500 words

I had almost forgotten about this, and it's very important: The Legacy of the Kobe Bryant Rape Case

This is a fascinating approach: Inside Saudi Arabia’s Re-education Prison for Jihadists

"'The other candidate on the Democratic side did not reach out to us,' Annette Nance-Holt, whose 16-year-old son, Blair Holt, was shot on a Chicago bus in 2007, said at a campaign event last month. She explained starkly that she was not swayed by Mr. Sanders’s promise of free college 'because my child is dead.'"

I feel like we just went through this with Rubio, and Kasich, but: PAUL RYAN IS NOT A MODERATE. He just yells less.

A Brief and Joyful Update on Fuckin' Craig Mazin, Ted Cruz's Wonderful College Roommate

NOPE: AMC Entertainment CEO Open to Allowing Texting in Some Theaters

Ooh, fascinating: New Evidence on When Bible Was Written: Ancient Shopping Lists

"In so many other movies, Bridget would have been less of a character than a cautionary tale."

Morning Coffee (11/17/14)

Me elsewhere: TV news, Haven recap, Bones review.

Every year, my friend Beck writes a hilarious review of the Oprah's gift guide. Here's this year's.

This potential New Yorker documentary series sounds interesting.

Jude Law as an Arthurian villain? Yes please.

So, on New Year's Eve, Ryan Seacrest's show will have Taylor Swift in New York and now Harry Styles in Hollywood. Hee. I hope she plays "Style."

Huh. Greg Berlanti is writing the Oscars.

Fascinating: Some Guy Scooped The Baseball Media On The Biggest MLB Contract Ever

This cannot actually be efficient: Westminster gardener ordered to remove autumn leaves one by one

you guys didnt have to do this!
i honestly would have been fine with just like half a dozen putti
and three or four handmaidens
like a dozen handmaidens max would have been FINE honestly

Morning Coffee (11/10/14)

Me elsewhere: TV news roundup for the week, Haven recaps, thoughts on Bones and Elementary.

Some of the SiriusXM holiday stations start tomorrow! (But my favorite one is apparently now only December 24-26. When I won't be in my car much, if at all. Boooo.)

Today in Christmas ads that made me cry: Marks and Spencer.

Also: John Lewis. (Penguin alert!)

Also: Coca-Cola. God, I'm a mess.

NBC is staging live production of A Few Good Men. Interesting.

A Playmobil movie?!?! I'm . . . listening. Cautiously.

Hee: Mallory Ortberg summarizes classic books in 140 characters or less

Women Rejecting Marriage Proposals In Western Art History

Morning Coffee (11/3/14)

Me elsewhere: Thoughts on last week's Bones, pilot posts on The McCarthys and Benched, the week's TV news.

A few belated Halloween links that I found on Halloween:

7 charts that explain Halloween

When Did N.H. Towns Start Calling The Shots On Trick-Or-Treating?

This Halloween history video featuring Kate Hackett of Classic Alice is cute.

Whoa: Starbucks delivery is coming. Probably not coming here, but still.

#GamerGate's scary plan to wipe Gawker Media from the face of the Earth

They're publishing the first bilingual Goodnight, Moon. Awesome!

Sarah Rees Brennan is parodying The 100 and it's as funny as you might expect.

Amazing: Dirtbag Mrs. Whatsit

Morning Coffee (10/21/14)

(Sorry for the lack of post yesterday. The bookmarking service I use was down for a bit, so I had no actual links for my links.)

Me elsewhere: This week's TV news; thoughts on last week's Bones.

What tolerating online harassment costs us

Interesting: Italy Just Pulled Out of Recession Because It Began Counting Drug and Prostitution Revenue

Baskin-Robbins is doing thematic ice cream for one of Hallmark's new Christmas movies. What a world.

Haiti wreck not Columbus flagship

Ooh: Richard III’s reinterment route is announced

What It Feels Like To Be Killed Off A Popular TV Show (And Come Back) Tommmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyy.

"These clowns are luxuriating in warmth and enjoying feeling in their extremities, but I’m saving $37 and proving my hardy New England mettle."

Dirtbag Henry IV

Morning Coffee (10/13/14)

Me elsewhere: weekly TV news; pilot posts on Cristela and The Affair; thoughts on last week's Bones and Haven.

Sad news: author Zilpha Keatley Snyder has died.

The main thing that surprised me about this study is how late everyone apparently goes to bed.

When it is diversity that needs to be justified

Reza Aslan is always worth reading: Bill Maher Isn’t the Only One Who Misunderstands Religion

A fascinating read about Microsoft: The Empire Reboots

I agree that hug culture is out of control.

Apparently Danica Patrick is writing for Derek Jeter's The Players' Tribune, and her first piece is interesting and thoughtful.

The funniest thing I have ever read: Commenting Comment: A Magazine Dedicated to Internet Comments

Morning Coffee (10/6/14)

Me elsewhere: Weekly TV news roundup; new show evaluations Bad Judge and Gracepoint; reviews of last week's Haven and Bones.

Intel buckles to anti-feminist campaign by pulling ads from gaming site

Important: The American College of Pediatricians is not the equivalent of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

‘Stalker’ creator says the show is meant to raise awareness. It’s really, really not. Also: here's the Stalking Resource Center's open letter about the show.

An amazing read: On Poisoned Apples, the “Great YA Debate,” and the Death of the Patriarchy

Lawsuit accuses Nicholas Sparks of racism, antisemitism and homophobia

“You are not Walt Whitman,” he said. “The 21st century is different in so many ways from the 19th that the comparison is meaningless. No one is forbidding you from self-publishing, but neither is anyone required to pay attention.”

Everyone is excited about this adult Book It! Alumni program but I'm enraged because you just sign up and get pizza. You don't even have to read any books.

Unhappy Mothers in Western Art History

Morning Coffee (9/29/14)

Me elsewhere: weekly TV news roundup, pilot review of How to Get Away with Murder, Haven recap: "Spotlight," Bones premiere review.

Aww: The last Mitford sister has died.

Robin Wasserman on adolescence and hysteria: Girl Trouble

Interesting: Readers Predict in 1936 Which Novelists Would Still Be Widely Read in the Year 2000

Look Out Look Out Look Out: The Dark YA Fiction Of The Shangri-Las

Not sure these are all surprising, but they're interesting: 22 maps and charts that will surprise you

Going West: The World of Live Action, Competitive Oregon Trail

The Gibson Girls: The Kardashians of the Early 1900s

Two Monks Invent Denominations

Morning Coffee (3/17/14)

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today's Google Doodle is cute.

Awesome: Gender-specific books demean all our children. So the Independent on Sunday will no longer review anything marketed to exclude either sex.

Here's a fun look at This American Life in Veronica Mars.

And a discussion of the technology in the movie's mystery.

This behind-the-scenes picture from Bones is ridiculously cute.

'Enlisted' Creator Opens Up About Life, Death and Friday's PTSD Episode

Jed Bartlet won The Wire's best fictional president bracket, as he should have.

I love these parody letters from Chris Kimball.

Morning Coffee (11/15/13)

Happy Friday!

If you're a Bones fan worried about the show's move to Friday (tonight!), check out what Marisa and Sarah have to say at Give Me My Remote.

I promise my friend Libby's post On BETRAYAL is not going where you think it is and is indeed suitable for Happy Friday.

If this is true, then I actually more or less agree with People about the Sexiest Man Alive for maybe the first time in recent memory. (I mean, maybe I wouldn't put him FIRST on the list, depending on my mood, but it is a Solid Choice.)

OMG, a zonkey!

Now I want to make Thanksgiving cocktails for our guests.

Hee! Literary Airlines

Burt's Bees Stages Classic Works of Literature in Six-Second Vines

These Biblical infographics are fascinating, and some are quite beautiful.

Morning Coffee (10/23/13)

This is probably the most amazing thing you will see today. Warning: It had me sobbing into my coffee.

CBS, always popular with the youngsters, is airing an I Love Lucy Christmas special.

Bones fans should absolutely read this great interview with the writer of the wedding episode.

Aww, the wedding video Kelly Clarkson shared is adorable.

This quiz everyone's been doing actually matched me to the state I'm from. Whoa.

Jessica Valenti's essay "Sunday Sauce, Saving Me" is beautiful and powerful.

Wow. This is an extreme reaction to messing up your wedding planning.

Sigh: Boy Scout Leaders Get Booted for Knocking Over Ancient Rock Formation (And Recording It, Obviously)

Morning Coffee (10/2/13)

Elsewhere: I wrote about this week's episodes of Bones and Sleepy Hollow at Read the Screen.

Okay, this I'll watch: ABC is doing a Christmas decorating reality competition show.

Was Neville Chamberlain right?

Ooh! Iron Age fort and Bronze Age burial mounds uncovered in New Forest

American Girl fashion

Love this sort of thing: King's Cross then and now

15 Things You Need to Know About Whiskey

Fascinating: Mapping a Lost City

Art, Science, and Butterfly Metamorphosis: How a 17th-Century Woman Laid the Foundations of Modern Entomology

Morning Coffee (9/25/13)

Elsewhere: At TheTelevixen.com, I wrote about the premieres of The Blacklist, Lucky 7, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Goldbergs, and Trophy Wife. And at Read the Screen, I wrote about this week's episodes of Bones and Sleepy Hollow. (Yeah, I'm pretty tired this week.)

Oooh: Popular Science is shutting off its comments. Because they're bad for science.

Want some of George Orwell's blood? Ugh, that's . . . a little weird.

Jason Segal in a Canadian maple syrup heist comedy? Yes please.

Hillary in Midair

Because of course this exists: 50 Shades of Grey wine. Sigh.

The mystery behind @horse_ebooks has been revealed.

How to Design a City for Women

The Guardian is doing a 100 best novels thing, but with explanatory essays, not just a list, and so I'm really excited.

Morning Coffee (9/18/13)

Me, elsewhere: I wrote about new Fox comedies Brooklyn Nine-Nine (good) and Dads (not good) at TheTelevixen.com
And I reviewed the Sleepy Hollow pilot and wrote up a few thoughts on the Bones premiere at Read the Screen.

Why The New Fox Comedy “Dads” Is Actually Evil

Here's the Bryan Goldberg piece you've been wanting.

Ooh, here's the trailer for the Grace of Monaco biopic.

Delightful: Literary Trysts It Gives Me Great Joy To Think About: Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman

A Chat With Rainbow Rowell About Love and Censorship (Eleanor and Park is great. You should read it.)

This gorgeous chart attempts to represent the whole Civil War.

Dog: Medieval Man's Best Friend

Pretty Pincushions, Embroidered by British Soldiers in WWI and Sent To Their Sweethearts Back Home

Morning Coffee (9/11/13)

The Man Booker Shortlist is out.

X-Files fans: my friend Marisa at Give Me My Remote is doing a great series for the 20th anniversary in which she talks to TV writers about how the show influenced them. The first is with Hart Hanson of Bones.

Headline of the day: Angry moose vandalizes Norwegian school.

The Pope Gets on the Line, and Everyone Is Talking

Ooh, they're restoring Dickens's house.

Here's a great picture of what was happening under Julia Child's kitchen counter.

In case you also hadn't seen it yet, here is Tom Hiddleston gleefully tormenting Cookie Monster, and it's really worth the watch.

81 of Fall TV's Biggest Stars

Morning Coffee (8/28/13)

Terrible: Montana teacher gets 30 days in jail in rape of 14-year-old student who later kills herself

Fox fans, here are fall preview videos for Bones, Almost Human, Sleepy Hollow, Glee, and more.

Ugh, Jamie Oliver.

Davis & White's Olympic ice dances will be to My Fair Lady and Scheherazade. I am happy.

Sigh: N.F.L. Pressure Said to Lead ESPN to Quit Film Project

Fascinating: The Man Behind The Historic Implosion Of The Ex-Gay Movement

Even I think it's too early for Christmas music.

Heh: 15 things you absolutely must know about social media or your face will melt off and get eaten by goats

Morning Coffee (8/21/13)

Sad news: Marian McPartland has died.

More sad news: Elmore Leonard has died.

And The Onion's obituary is pretty great.

Okay, happy news: Tim Stevens (formerly of Engadget) is headed to CNET.

Oooh, sneak peek from season three of Borgen!

An agent friend being smart: There is no perfect publisher.

TiVo has an amazing new model that I want badly.

Here's a little dose of adorableness for Bones fans.

Morning Coffee (8/19/13)

Sophie Turner ADOPTED THE DOG WHO PLAYED LADY, oh my God.

Yes yes yes: I hate Strong Female Characters

Bones fans, I recommend this interview with Hart Hanson about the new season.

The world's oldest words

Ooh, another reason to go to the Victoria & Albert

Here, have a Princess Beatrice retrospective.

Also, this Coronation exhibit looks amazing.

A history of the chatelaine

What I Watched: Bones, Castle, HIMYM, Gossip Girl

HIMYM, "Nannies (EP803)" - This was a cute episode, and the nanny stuff was all funny and in character. (And I'm always happy when we get to see Marvin a lot.) And the rest of the episode did a good job of laying the groundwork for the upcoming breakups, though I'm a little concerned that we're in for another round of Robin and Ted before either of them actually make any progress.

Bones, "The Tiger in the Tale (EP804)" - This was . . . not my favorite episode. The case itself was, I don't know, fine I guess, but I didn't enjoy the rest. The stuff about Brennan running for president was just silly, and this was one of those times when they suddenly wanted us to believe that she had literally no idea how the world works. Since they kept messing with Sweets and Daisy, I'm just as happy that they went ahead and broke them up, but it wasn't done very well. And the conflict between Hodgins and Angela just seemed manufactured and out of the blue.

Gossip Girl, "Gone Maybe Gone (EP601)" - Oh, I don't know. At this point I'm trying to think about this as little as possible and just enjoy what I can from the last handful of episodes. I hate what they've done to a lot of the characters, but there were several really funny lines in this premiere. And Barry Watson was an interesting addition.

Castle, "Secret's Safe with Me (EP503)" - This was a fun episode - I liked the case, and the relationship stuff is still adorable but believable. I was happy to see Martha and Alexis back, and the scene with Alexis and Castle at the end made me cry. It was nice to see the human side of Gates, too. Overall, this felt like an episode from the early seasons, with the added bonus of Castle and Beckett being together.