Morning Coffee (4/13/18)

HEY IT'S FINALLY FRIDAY. Let's take a break for some happy links!

ICYMI, important ice cream news: FRIENDLY'S HAS CHIPWICHES NOW

This from the Fug Girls is hilarious and also made me tear up: This Is The Rehearsal Dinner Toast Meghan Markle Deserves

Ooh: Buffy the Vampire Slayer getting new book series from Simon Pulse (by Kiersten White!)

Here Are Images of the First Stellar Remnant Found Beyond the Milky Way

Here's a great thread of famous people modeling for knitting patterns.

The 7 Things We Know About Starbucks’ Most Secretive Store

‘Mercury 13’ Trailer: Learn About The Hidden Women Of NASA’s Mercury Project

These Wonder Woman Makeup Brushes Are Fierce

Sarah Rees Brennan on Georgette Heyer makes me need to go read some Georgette Heyer.

Neat: Strand Book Store Is Hosting An Exhibit On Notable Book Covers Of The Last Decade With Penguin Random House

I am obsessed with this Truly Devious photoset.

Morning Coffee (2/25/18)

This from Dahlia Lithwick is good: The Student Teachers: The teenagers from Stoneman Douglas are fearlessly reimagining how to effect change in the Trump era.

Confessions of a Russiagate true believer

How evil: America’s immigration agency removes “nation of immigrants” from its mission statement

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Hotel Carrying New Trump Brand Secures $6 Million Tax Break

'I want to empower Afghan women': female prosecutor on a lonely mission

!! Stolen Degas painting Les Choristes found on a bus

It’s Time to End ‘Trending’

Ooh, the On Chesil Beach trailer looks great.

Rejecting the Solutrean hypothesis: the first peoples in the Americas were not from Europe

Cute: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Check out the first-ever picture book

Morning Coffee (3/29/17)

Now that the world is an unending hellscape of terrible news, I have a big backlog of links basically all the time. (Both because there's so much hard news and because the less urgent [and also more fun] stuff gets pushed back, though I try to fit in at least a few non-newsy links each day.) I figure more than about twelve links in a post will get overwhelming for you guys (maybe I'm wrong?), so... let's try something new! Morning Coffee will stay as it is, with a mix of current events and other stuff, so if you like that and don't want more, just keep reading what you're reading. But when I have a backlog I'm going to add in Afternoon Tea posts as well. They'll go up at 4pm Eastern on weekdays with a smaller batch of non-time-sensitive links, designed to provide you with a little afternoon break. Let me know how this works for you or if you have better ideas!

Trump is weighing a major escalation in Yemen's devastating war

Killing of a Hamas Leader Could Signal a New Conflict With Israel (Good thing we have Jared Kushner to solve this whole problem. Oh wait...)

Senate Committee to Question Jared Kushner Over Meetings With Russians

Sigh: Donald Trump Claims U.S. Constitution Bars 'Apprentice' Star's Defamation Suit While in Office

Paul Ryan is just not good at his job!

Useful: The Devin Nunes/Trump/wiretapping controversy, explained

Who Should Pay for Evan Karr's Heart?

Regretful Trump Voters Are (Mostly) a Myth

Kiersten White is doing a new Buffyverse YA book series!

This is so important and also FASCINATING: How to revive Massachusetts’ first language

The Trouble with Innocence

DNA Reveals an Early American Dynasty Centered on Women

Morning Coffee (1/27/17)

I can't believe it's only been a week. Ready for some Friday happy links?

Rick Steves, Civil Liberties Hero

Pretty sure many of us need this this week: I Stand With This Pic of Joshua Jackson

The Magicians, Syfy's whimsical drama, is 2017's answer to Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I finally watched the first episode of The Young Pope, which is somehow a real TV show, and you probably want to be reading Nicole Cliffe's recaps.

I'm also quite enjoying Taboo, and the British Library has an interesting related post about the East India Company headquarters.

Hero dictionary Merriam-Webster is exploring knitting terminology here and here.

Ooh, 28 Bookish Mugs for Readers. (I have so many mugs. I do not possibly need more. I want ALL THE MUGS.)

Whoa: This Ice Festival in China Is a Rainbow-colored Dream

Useful! How to Pack a Carry-On

Let's make Anglo-Saxon bread.

What Romance Fiction Can Accomplish

How the Victorian Fern-Hunting Craze Led To Adventure, Romance, and Crime

Morning Coffee (6/11/15)

Martin Sheen is going to be Matthew Cuthbert in the new Anne of Green Gables movie, and I started crying just reading that headline, so obviously I'll handle this well.

X-Files is really happening, you guys.

Dawson's Creek and Buffy reruns are coming to ABC Family!

Oh hey, did I tell you Classic Alice is back? Classic Alice is back.

I don't agree with everything in this, but it's worth a read: What the ATX Festival should renew for next year—and what it should cancel

Apparently this is basically the one law New Hampshire has decided it needs. Okay then.

The story behind that mistaken tweet that the Queen had died is pretty wacky.

A Musician Names Things

Morning Coffee (3/25/15)

DROP EVERYTHING. THE X-FILES IS COMING BACK YOU GUYS.

I'm sure you've seen this already, but just in case: This Harry Potter parody of "Uptown Funk" is INCREDIBLE.

Five Important Ways Ted Cruz Will Drive The GOP 2016 Field To The Right

Ooh: Sweden adds gender-neutral pronoun to dictionary

There have been some developments in the UVA rape case story this week, and I found this timeline very helpful.

Issues of church and state are particularly fascinating in Italy.

Having a referendum on the Boston Olympics bid seems wise. Those of us just over the border will be counting on you to do the right thing, Massachusetts!

The most perfect thing ever written: Every Argument About “Buffy” On The Internet, From 1998 Until Now

Morning Coffee (1/30/15)

Happy Friday!

This Is How You Get A Busy Person To Respond To Your Email (Or, 5 Rules For Good Email Etiquette)

Listen To NYC's Mayor Do A Dramatic Reading Of 'The Onion'

Oh my gosh, POMPEII IN LEGO.

Ha, look at this modern reimagination of Busytown.

This is great: Ten Things I Learned from Loving Anne of Green Gables

Amber Benson talks books, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and being hit on by teenage boys

More Cool Maps of Fictional Literary Places

Princess Estelle watches figure skating!

"Something has gone terribly wrong with the earth’s orbit, but modern gender roles are still pretty much intact."

Morning Coffee (11/5/14)

Me elsewhere: Thoughts on the most recent episodes of Sleepy Hollow and Elementary

Local people, check out this charity event with Amber Benson in Lawrence.

An interesting take: The Right to a Sexual Narrative: On the Lena Dunham Abuse Claims

Should Boston Become A City Of Canals? Sure! Sounds fun!

Nifty: The British Museum Will Now Let You 3D Print Copies Of Its Artifacts

Whoa: My Grandma the Poisoner

Feast Your Eyes on This Beautiful Linguistic Family Tree

This Is What Happens When You Send Tinder Guys The Emails From “You’ve Got Mail”

WARWICK: will your marriage settle the question of succession?
EDWARD IV: oh my god no not at all
her name is Elizabeth and she’s literally nobody
WARWICK: why did y–
EDWARD IV: idk
she seems nice
itll work out

Morning Coffee (9/10/14)

Oh hey, the Man Booker shortlist! I should get reading.

The season of CBS Sunday night football delays is almost upon us! They're tweaking their alert system. Grumble grumble.

"In one sense, Tuesday's release of the complete mono catalog of the Beatles on vinyl LPs is the most technologically ambitious attempt yet to take what is arguably the most significant body of recorded music in the pop era and do... absolutely nothing."

Iceland's 'Pompeii' emerging from the ash

I just . . . no. I don't get this whole "proposals must be a complete surprise!!!" thing. I mean, what do I know, but I'd think ideally marriage should be a decision agreed upon by two equals rather than a shocking gift bestowed by a man.

The Allure of Imagined Meals

Can You Guess These TV Shows By Their Emojis? (I am proud/embarrassed to say that yes, I guessed them all correctly.)

Rupert Giles, MLS

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 (4/7/14)

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 (12/18/13)

Ronnie Biggs, the "Great Train Robber," has died.

ALERT: Prince Harry grows beard; hangs out with Alexander Skarsgard.

As my friend Holly remarked, this is a lot of hot dudes on one charity calendar.

Pivot - a television station that I apparently actually do get - is airing Buffy and Veronica Mars reruns starting in January.

John Dickerson tears apart the false choice between recording moments and living them.

Why I Am Not Coming in to Work Today

If you haven't seen it yet, the Sesame Street Lord of the Rings parody is cute.

And this Lego Rivendell is just amazing.

Personalized TV Recommendations for Teen & Supernatural Drama Fan

@Medlinniel on Twitter asked for recommendations; here's what she likes: "Vampire Diaries. Pretty Little Liars.. True Blood and... The New Girl (which isn't out yet)"

Okay! First of all, if you like Vampire Diaries, you must try The Secret Circle. It's made by the same people, and based on another trilogy by the same author. It's about a young girl who moved to a small seaside town to live with her grandmother and discovers that her family is one of several families of witches in the town. I've seen the pilot and liked it a lot. For your viewing convenience, it's on the CW on Thursdays at nine, right after Vampire Diaries.

You should probably try the CW's other new show Ringer, on Tuesdays at nine. It stars Buffy's Sarah Michelle Gellar and just cast Moonlight's Jason Dohring (also known as Logan from Veronica Mars), so it's sort of vampire-adjacent. It's about a woman on the run who tries to stay safe by impersonating her missing, estranged twin sister, only to discover that people are after the twin as well. It doesn't look like it's going to have a supernatural element, but the pilot has a similar feel to the sort of shows it sounds like you like - somewhere between PLL and Nikita with a little Gossip Girl thrown in.

A few more ideas: ABC's Revenge is a Hamptons soap about a young woman trying to get revenge on the rich community that somehow ruined her family, and it looks like it could be a lot of fun. (It's loosely based on The Count of Monte Cristo. And if you're looking for more shows with magic or supernatural elements, try ABC's Once Upon a Time and NBC's Grimm.

I hope that helped! If you try any of these shows, let me know what you think!