Kate Linnea Welsh: Doctor Who

HAPPY FRIDAY. Finally. I just realized that I have enough items bookmarked to make this entire list about current and former British royalty, but I suppose I'll be nice and mix it up a bit and save some of those for next week sometime.

But really, you need this headline: Prince George adopts a lobster "We do not know if the crustacean has been named, nor if the adoption was a gift from The Duke to The Prince."

And this one: Princess Anne to visit island where Prince Philip is worshipped as a god

Clarence House (the official presence of the Prince of Wales and his family; it's like saying "the White House" and not meaning the actual building) is Instagramming about Daleks, so I think we can all go home now.

One more: Someone bought a slice of Charles and Di's wedding cake for £828. Yum? I am bringing this up mainly because one of the articles I read about this mentioned a Seinfeld episode in which Elaine eats a piece of Wallis and Edward's wedding cake and I CANNOT BELIEVE NO ONE EVER TOLD ME ABOUT THIS. Why isn't Seinfeld streaming? I think I'd like it a lot better now than I did when it was on. (I know: because money. Still.)

No, wait, one more: BBC America is giving us a special on Harry at 30, because they love us.

OKAY MOVING ON: This is a little old, but Will Shortz's young female assistant is my new hero.

Awesome: Walter Tull, the first black officer in the British army, to feature on £5 coin

The 6 Reactions Book-Lovers Have to People Who Don't Read

This is good customer service. (Note: kitten!)

Science Headlines I Would Like To See More Of

Friday, December 13, 2013

Morning Coffee (12/13/13)

Happy Friday!

How to Explain Megyn Kelly's Fear of a Black Santa

A movie about the kids of Disney villains? FUN.

Keep Flyin': An Exclusive First Look at Firefly Online

My friend Hannah runs a home daycare, so she spends a lot of time with little kids, and she's got some tips for making your family's December go smoothly.

Arrow became great by emphasizing characters above all else

Dinosaur carousel!

Here is the Countess of Wessex and a Dalek.

I'm Your Lawyer, Mr. Grinch

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Morning Coffee (11/21/13)

Here are the National Book Award winners.

Monty Python is reuniting for a live show!

The New York Public Library has acquired Tom Wolfe's papers.

Shonda Rhimes is writing a book.

Amazing: NHS chief called in to treat ill Cyberman on BBC set

I actually love reading about people's media diets.

I've never seen Going My Way OR The Bells of St. Mary's, but after reading this I really want to.

5 Wine Labels That Should Not Exist

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Hey, women, stop perpetuating the "fake geek girl" myth!

Today this essay started popping up on my Twitter feed and promptly enraged me and several of my friends, but really, it's just the latest example of a genre that crops up far, far too often. In it, the (female) writer expresses her very serious worry that Stephen Moffat and the BBC have risked the entire Doctor Who franchise by casting an "all wrong" person as the twelfth Doctor - and by "all wrong" she means not that Peter Capaldi* is another white male, but that he's a white male who isn't young and hot enough. She states that the show's popularity is due to the sex appeal of the last three Doctors and that this casting means it will "potentially lose half its audience."

And this way of thinking, this common, common way of thinking about young women and their media consumption, well, it makes me want to throw things. Because it does a terrible disservice to everyone, really, but specifically to those young women and to young girls coming of age in this society that assumes that they can't actually like something because it's good, that they can only be lured in by pretty boys and pandering to their shallow - young women must be shallow, you know - frivolous interests. Did having attractive people on the show help grow Doctor Who's audience? Sure. (You know what else has attractive people? Virtually every show on TV.) Is having a lust object literally the only reason for young women to watch a science fiction show? No! That's ridiculous! Apparently this might be a shocking statement, but I swear, young women will watch shows they like, and they'll like things for any number of different reasons. It's almost like they're people or something.

But no, of course young women couldn't watch a science fiction show because they like science fiction. People like the writer of the above essay (and there are many; this is just the one that pushed me over the edge) are careful to say that they themselves like the show on its own merits, of course, but everyone else, all those FAKE geek girls, they must be the majority and they can't possibly be watching for the "right" reasons, and therefore they must be patronized and pandered to at every opportunity. It's infuriating enough when men say things like this, but seriously, women, stop spreading this nonsense about other women. You're not making yourself look better by claiming you're not one of "them." You're just making things worse for everyone, because by reinforcing the idea that young women have a very narrow range of interests, you're encouraging people to make a narrow range of entertainment options for all of us. And by saying women will only watch a Doctor who's young and hot, you're giving every man - and woman - who's looking for it permission to dismiss the opinions of the women at their gaming stores, at their conventions, in their lives, and to take for granted that the women around them aren't really people with a right to be there, because they're just "fake geek girls."

* I don't want to get too far into the specifics of any actors, as that's not really my point here, but I'll just say that I think Capaldi is very talented (and, you know, attractive, which it IS possible for someone over the age of 41 to be!) and I've quite liked him in other things, and I'm looking forward to seeing him in the role.

Morning Coffee (8/8/13)

My friends Heather and Crissy have their Vampire Diaries companion book Love You to Death 4 coming out soon, and look who wrote the foreword!

The awesome Holly Black is touring in September, including some New England dates. Go see her!

Leonardo DiCaprio might play Harald Hardrada, and I appreciate that the first line of this piece is basically "But he's already playing Rasputin!", because that was my exact reaction.

After last night's Broadchurch (more on that later), if you need a phone notification sound of David Tennant yelling "Bloody Twitter!", well, here you go.

Ryan is wise: “Doctor Who” has a new lead, but is in more desperate need of a new showrunner

I had no idea about this history of The Oregon Trail. (The game, not the actual historical thing.)

Interesting read: Who Am I to Judge? Francis Redefines the Papacy

Stephen King's Family Business

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Morning Coffee (8/6/13)

Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) is buying the Washington Post. Wow.

Mystic Seaport has relaunched the Charles W. Morgan whaling ship!

Peter Capaldi wrote to RadioTimes about Doctor Who when he was 15.

Another day, another children's clothing store telling girls they're bad at math.

Yep, Farmer Boy always makes me hungry.

Ooh, check out the history of paper dolls. I love paper dolls, actually.

Fascinating: A Script for the Queen's Speech, in Case of Nuclear War

Faked Photos of WWI Aerial Combat That Really Had People Fooled

Monday, April 22, 2013

Morning Coffee (4/22/13)

Jesus, this week.

Apparently Google is actually trying to build the Star Trek computer.

Absolutely fascinating: When Dickens met Dostoevsky (or, you know, didn't)

Eden Foods doesn't want to pay for employees' contraception as required by law, so you might want to buy different soy milk.

Rock albums as book covers

Interesting read: Meet the Gaybros

Ooh, read about the new Mary Rose museum.

Mary Robinette Kowal sneaks the Doctor into all her historical fantasy novels.