Afternoon Tea (4/4/19)

The Man Trying to Make Sense of Brexit Is Tired and Would Like to Stop Now

At 71, She’s Never Felt Pain or Anxiety. Now Scientists Know Why.

What More Could I Have Done For My Student, 'Vulnerable To The Slightest Of Breezes'?

I love a good bad book review and this is a GREAT one: Psycho Analysis

I didn't realize this was a New England thing! The Anatomy of a Three-Decker

Afternoon Tea (10/22/18)

What a story: They were a gay, interracial couple in an age of relentless bigotry. The two Harolds didn’t flinch.

Isidore Zimmerman: The Man the System Couldn't Break

Can This Cast-Iron Skillet Be Saved?

10 YA Fantasy Books Inspired By Asian Mythology — And Written By Female Authors

Heh: The 13 Worst Boston Accents in the History of Crime Movies

Morning Coffee (9/28/18)

I THINK WE REALLY NEED SOME HAPPY LINKS THIS WEEK.

Maybe you need to see a new baby panda.

Or a vacation cottage made of chocolate.

How about some cozy new cardigans?

Ooh: NBC Sets WICKED Anniversary Concert

I'M READY: Lifetime's Full 2018 Holiday Movie Schedule: 'One Tree Hill' Reunion & More

Doctor Who season 11 premiere to screen in cinemas

10 Public Art Installations To See In Greater Boston This Fall

Oh cool: Cosmic composers: how scientists helped reinvent Holst's Planets suite

5 Cheesy Hand Pies to Try This Autumn

Game of Thrones epic sets to open as tourist attractions

Afternoon Tea (9/20/2018)

(I'm traveling, so this was written in advance.)

Talk of Ethnic Partition of Kosovo Revives Old Balkan Ghosts

How George V. Higgins Invented the Boston Crime Novel

Europe’s Triumphs and Troubles Are Written in Swiss Ice

About the Ember Days: 'This fast is kept four times in the year'

Strolling in Swansea: take a dander in Dylan’s footsteps

Morning Coffee (8/11/18)

(I'm away for the weekend, so I compiled this in advance!)

Veteran N.H. Lawmaker Accused of Creating 'Intimidating and Abusive' Environment in State House

Airstrike by U.S.-backed Saudi coalition on bus kills dozens of Yemeni children

Wow. GOOD: Judge orders plane carrying deported mother and child turned around, blocks more removals

Puerto Rico Finally Revises Hurricane Maria Death Toll to More Than 20 Times the Official Number

Kansas governor’s race turns nasty as Kobach’s lead dwindles

Related: Kris Kobach won’t recuse himself from a recount in governor’s race. No law requires it.

Building a Trump-Free Barbecue

Uh... Alewife Garage Concrete Falls On Car, Down 500 Spots Today

Whoa: Oreo and Hydrox's 100-Year-Old Blood Feud Is Heating Up Over Claims of Hidden Cookies

Interesting: TV Time Launches Social-Analytics Tool to Break Down Fan Reaction to Shows

Afternoon Tea (7/12/18)

Taylor Swift in conversation with Pattie Boyd is everything I've always wanted.

Fascinating: The Obsessive Search for the Tasmanian Tiger

Madeleine Albright: ‘The things that are happening are genuinely, seriously bad’

Borderlands Noir

Struggle for a Lighthouse: The Raids to Destroy the Boston Light

Morning Coffee (12/7/17)

THIS IS NOT HOW ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE WORKS: Trump Jr. cites attorney-client privilege in not answering panel's questions about discussions with his father

Flynn Said Russian Sanctions Would Be ‘Ripped Up,’ Whistle-Blower Says

"Several advisers said he did not seem to have a full understanding of the issue and instead appeared to be focused on 'seeming pro-Israel,' in the words of one, and 'making a deal,' in the words of another."

This is fascinating: God's Plan for Mike Pence

Bryan Singer: The Epitome of Hollywood’s White Male Privilege Problem

Good: After Sexual Assault Investigation Massage Envy Changes Multiple Policies

Phew: Curious George Store to Stay Put in Harvard Square

I love her: The Duchess of Cornwall poses with four Donald Trumps in London

Ooh, first pics from Abi Morgan's new show.

Found: A New Ice Age Cave Network Below Montreal

Morning Coffee (9/22/17)

Whew. We made it to Friday. As is tradition around here, we're going for links on the lighter side today.

Hey, Patreon patrons at the $3 level or higher! Our September hangout is tonight at 9pm ET! Get in touch with your Skype handle! And if you're not a patron yet, there's still time to join in time for this!

Aww, look at the Autumn equinox Google doodle!

Whoa: She's a Ballerina. And a Quantum Physicist. And Maybe an Astronaut.

Awesome: Once Teased For Her Love Of Bugs, 8-Year-Old Co-Authors Scientific Paper

This is perfect: If Bostonians Loved Other Local Institutions the Way They Love Their Local Sports Franchises

Ooh, Hank Green is writing a novel.

The best fashion headline ever: This Winter, It’s Chic to Look Like a Muppet

This is fun, from author Kevin Kwan: What to Buy to Look Like: A Crazy Rich Asian

Sold: This new novel set in an idyllic English country bookshop is as soothing as it sounds

Oh gosh: Chrissy Teigen’s Daughter Luna Got a Talking Elmo and Their First Meetup Is Just Adorable

Now I want to try spiced wafers.

CUTE GIANT TOTE BAGS.

Morning Coffee (7/2/17)

The Time I Got Recruited to Collude with the Russians

Welp: CBS News: No Staff Members Left In Science Division Of White House Office

This is SO COOL: What Happens Just Before Show Time at the Met Opera, in 12 Rooms You’ll Never See

Good for her: Gillian Anderson calls out 'X-Files' for next season's all-male writing staff

Feud: Olivia de Havilland v. Ryan Murphy

Ooh! Milk Bar Is Planning a Boston-Area Location

I really have no arguments here: ‘West Wing’ Characters Ranked By How Likely They Would Be To Catch Bigfoot

Ooh: The Remains of an Ancient ‘Skull Cult’ Have Been Found

Huh, I had no idea: A Pittsburgh Church Holds the Greatest Collection of Relics Outside of the Vatican

How an Organic Chemist Invented the Bone-Shaped Dog Treat

Morning Coffee (1/8/17)

Putin Ordered ‘Influence Campaign’ Aimed at U.S. Election, Report Says

"Such is his influence in the geopolitical realm that transition officials have told the Obama White House that foreign policy matters that need to be brought to Mr. Trump’s attention should be relayed through his son-in-law."

Trump has been slamming US intel agencies. They just fired back.

Heh: The Most Interesting Intelligence Briefing in the World

Ultra-rare Jane Austen £5 note found in Christmas card in Scottish Borders

This is great: Food stamps can now be used for online grocery shopping

The Conjunction Fallacy Explains Why People Believe Fake News

Democrats neither can nor should ditch “identity politics”

SO BOSTON: This thief is being tracked through his Dunkin' Donuts cup.

NASA Is Building a $127 Million Space Mechanic

Fascinating: Banned Books and Blockbusters

Here's an interesting look at historians consulting on TV shows.

Morning Coffee (12/31/16)

Happy New Year's Eve!

If you're in the Boston TV market: NBC is switching channels tomorrow! It's very complicated and I'm a bit skeptical of how this will go for them.

GOOD: Planned Parenthood Donations Jump in Northern New England

Fatal shootings by police remain relatively unchanged after two years

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Singer Resigns Over Trump Inauguration Performance: ‘I Could Never Throw Roses to Hitler’

How Donald Trump’s Health Secretary Pick Endangers Women

The Putin Paradigm

Heh: Kremlin Names Trump Employee of the Month

Mock Tudor? Comparing Theresa May's leadership style with Henry VIII's

Post-Mortem: How 2016 Broke Political Journalism

My friend June went to Alaska and saw walruses and wrote about it!

'Where's the beef?' The weirdest stories from 2016’s autobiographies

Want to read all of Shakespeare in 2017? Here's a plan.

Morning Coffee (9/26/16)

Me elsewhere: TV news! And I have been neglecting to share new episodes of my podcast with my friend Holly, but here we were talking about sports fandom!

This piece on Clinton's policy team and agenda was really really great and enlightening.

The Folly of the Protest Vote

Hillary Clinton’s unusual ad strategy: show people listening to Donald Trump talk

Hillary Clinton's problem? We just don't trust women

Enough, 2016: "Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento, Calif., and a former NBA star, repeatedly punched a protester in the face after getting hit with a pie during an event, witnesses say."

"Generally speaking, people who dislike le Carré novels find them boring. I too find them boring, but gloriously so."

I love this story of a Swiss aristocrat and an Indian tech geek teaming up to save child brides.

!!! Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt (AMC is working on an adaptation of Dan Simmons's novel about this! Starring Tobias Menzies! Good timing, AMC!)

What Happened In Brisbane

I'll admit I'm curious to check out the Boston-area Amazon bookstore.

Morning Coffee (5/13/16)

Happy Friday! THANK GOODNESS.

Me elsewhere: New promos for Wayward Pines and your Thursday Daily Read.

ALSO: My friend Holly and I started a podcast about fandom and the first episode is available for your listening pleasure!

ALSO ALSO: If you want a thorough, no-frills place to keep up with TV renewals/cancellations/pickups, I made you a thing. I'll be updating it as frequently as possible as events progress today/this weekend.

If you look at one link today it should absolutely be this one: This Puppy Was Abandoned At A Baseball Stadium And Now Has A Job With The Team

Aaah, John Dickerson has a book coming out about presidential campaign history! Happy birthday to me! (Obviously I preordered it immediately to support him, so you don't need to actually get it for my birthday, Mom.)

New Monkees song! Very summery.

Vox's summer movie preview is always fun and interesting.

The Fug Girls' account of their trip to England and Scotland is delightful and will make you want to plan a vacation IMMEDIATELY.

Aww: A Bride Canceled Her Wedding, Then Turned It Into a Fancy Party for Little Kids

Why have I never seen these Boston History Dioramas???

LOOK at this knitting needle gauge ring.

Hee: The Darcy Shirt, A Tour Rider

Crush Cakes: Lin-Manuel Miranda (Crush cakes are a GREAT idea. Let's make this a thing.)

Speaking of, I assume you want to see Chris Hemsworth making a birthday cake for his daughter.

It's Friday. Let's look at some beaches.

Morning Coffee (1/23/16)

ICYMI: Yesterday's Oscar Project post was on World of Tomorrow.

Me elsewhere: I explained that Romeo and Juliet sequel in the works at ABC.

I can only assume this will increase his support: Trump retweets support from neo-Nazi ‘White Genocide’ account

Shocker: Putin ‘Probably Approved’ Litvinenko Poisoning, British Inquiry Says

Charlotte Rampling's comments on the Oscars and diversity are obviously terrible and disappointing but this sort of thing also always makes me think "Where are her PR people and why was she not prepared for this question???"

And here's another entry in "This is terrible and SURELY IT WAS SOMEONE'S JOB TO STOP HER:" Carly Fiorina accused of 'ambushing' children for anti-abortion rally

Who Poisoned Flint, Michigan?

Here's some good historical context for the A Birthday Cake for George Washington controversy.

SIGH: State Police drove Patriots game balls to Gillette after refs forgot

Hey Boston-ish friends, let's go to the Mapparium! That sounds really neat.

It will be interesting to watch what happens with this: Narrowing a Gap in the Sci-Fi Universe: One Fangirl Giving a Voice to Others

Women With Snake Boyfriends In Western Art History

Morning Coffee (1/22/16)

Happy Friday!

ICYMI, yesterday's Oscar Project post was on Carol, which I found disappointing.

Happy birthday, Wilbur Scoville! Reading about him made me want hot peppers, of course.

The kid in Brooklyn is a delight.

Whoa! 230-year-old secret lovers' code solved by Antiques Roadshow viewer

The Boston Timescape Project is nifty.

io9 doing important work: Kids of The Magic School Bus, Ranked

11 Things Women With Curly Hair Are Tired Of Hearing Especially this one:
"4. 'I have curly hair too, but I always get up in the morning to straighten it.'
Wow, cool, very awesome. But also, how sad for you."

Interesting: Gently Posed Photos of Everyday Life in Late-19th-Century Rural Japan

I came across these Stars Hollow art posters this week and they are gorgeous.

The odds of me buying something from Taylor Swift's fashion line are . . . certainly greater than zero.

Prayers That Would Double As Excellent Pickup Lines If I Possessed Even An Ounce Of Real Courage

Morning Coffee (1/11/16)

Big thanks to my newest Patreon patron Alissa! Learn more about how you can support the blog and get extra content here.

Me elsewhere: Lots of TV news!

Check out today's cute Alice Paul Google doodle.

Trump got ABC to drop the Union Leader (a big - the biggest? - NH daily newspaper) as a co-sponsor of an upcoming debate, and . . . I don't know. IN THEORY I understand objecting to a news outlet that has made an endorsement being a sponsor, but that has never ever been a problem for anyone with debates in NH before. And Trump is so clearly just mad that the paper is critical of him. And between this and the WMUR thing with the Democratic debate, it really looks like ABC is happy to just drop whatever local partner anyone tells them to drop, without thinking about how that will affect or play to the voters in the state for whose benefit the debate is supposedly being held. I never expected to be siding with the Union Leader on something, but here we are.

In other local media news: NBC Will Launch Boston Station, Threatening Longtime Affiliate WHDH

A very good point about Game of Thrones: "When you’ve come to prize outcomes over the journey that leads to them, and to fetishize being spared the dread specter of so-called spoilers over the quality of prose, character development or carefully established themes, what you’re really admitting is that you care less about engaging with a work as a whole than knowing the basic facts of the story."

Great read: The Tax Sleuth Who Took Down a Drug Lord

In Silicon Valley Now, It’s Almost Always Winner Takes All

Yes yes yes: "If only it were possible to do something good and rewarding without publicly prioritizing what effect that act has on you." (I am all for reading authors from a great variety of backgrounds, and am trying to be more mindful of it in my own reading this year, but this trend of talking on and on and on about how great you are because you won't read ANY straight white men because NONE OF THEM HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY just drives me completely nuts.)

Shocker: The economics of prettiness: more attractive women get higher grades

This story is insane and amazing and I want someone to write me a big thick historical novel based on it RIGHT NOW: How A Dead Millionaire Convinced Dozens Of Women To Have As Many Babies As Possible

Heee: "As far as the amendment, of course it’s the former. If every private citizen had the right to carry a musket, a thousand people would’ve shot Patrick Henry by now, am I right? Don’t worry about it. Everyone will know what it means."

Morning Coffee (5/21/15)

Ooh, IndyCar is coming to Boston.

Science proves there were exactly three pop music revolutions, so that’s settled.

Matt Czuchry, feminist.

Did they find Captain Kidd's treasure? (I'm always skeptical, but these stories are still fun.)

Whoa: Airbus had 1,000 parts 3D printed to meet deadline. We're living IN THE FUTURE.

A Palace Chef on What the Royal Family Really Eats

Did you see that DFTBA is now selling delightful Rainbow Rowell things?

Did you follow Mallory Ortberg's kitten saga this week? Here and then here.

Morning Coffee (4/9/15)

Yesterday Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty on all charges.

40 maps that explain the Middle East

A title referencing John Le Carre is in fact the way to make me read your story about a spy and al-Qaeda, but it was fascinating anyway and I recommend it!

Why Did A Group Of Medieval Monks See Part Of The Moon Explode?

Perfect: Things My Male Tech Colleagues Have Actually Said to Me, Annotated

I roll my eyes at this kind of thing but also . . . I love swings.

The Onion: Avoiding Popular Songs Somehow Accomplishment For Local Man

Reasons Why I Am Furious With Everyone Today God, I love Mallory Ortberg.

Morning Coffee (3/31/15)

Me elsewhere: I guested on my friends' Shameless podcast this week! I talked about Chekhov's gun and vampires and please try to contain your shock.

Today's Eiffel Tower Google doodle is cute.

Yesterday's N.S.A. incident sounds . . . potentially less alarming than it sounded at first, so that's something?

Yay home state: Connecticut becomes first state to boycott Indiana over anti-LGBT law

Thank you, John Oliver. April Fools' Day is the worst.

Live-action Mulan!!!

Here's an interesting read about the Boston Olympic bid.

Glen Keane's revolutionary new animated short will change the way you think about movies

"She is the most banal and simultaneously the most monstrous person to ever move to Florida; her heart is a gun and her brain is a ledger."

Morning Coffee (3/26/15)

Um. Maybe you should reconsider this system, California.

New Harper Lee book cover!

This story is insane and says a lot about race and class and . . . other things.

Two good reads re: that terrible Deadline piece: “Ethnic” actors aren’t stealing white roles and Shonda Rhimes is not having it with that Deadline story.

Well this is . . . alarming: Boston House Was Rigged to Explode When Someone Turned On the Lights

“Apocalypse is right around the corner”: Rick Perlstein unloads on Mike Huckabee-style conservatives

Sigh: Cops Find Suspect Hiding in Cabinet After He Posts Snapchat Story of Himself Hiding in Cabinet

Why It Matters Who Steve Jobs Really Was

Men You Meet While Traveling By Airplane