Kate Linnea Welsh: Google

Thanks to my newest Patreon patron, Jack! That puts me over halfway to my first goal. (I realized Patreon only shows the next goal, not the whole list; maybe I'll put them in a post here so you guys can see what I've set up?)

It's Charles Perrault's birthday and the fairy tale Google doodles are ADORABLE.

Sean Penn interviewed El Chapo. Which one of them got played?

This is a great, juicy overview: One year, two races: Inside the Republican Party’s bizarre, tumultuous 2015

The Nation He Built is a readable, comprehensive overview of President Obama's domestic policy achievements.

I have this scar! (The "This is something they'll live with for the rest of their lives" quote is interesting because that's CLEARLY TRUE and yet it's sort of surprising how little I think about it at this point. Though wait, I DID describe it to a friend last week, so maybe it comes up more than I think it does.)

What Goes Through Your Mind: On Nice Parties and Casual Racism

Insane read of the day: The Celebrity Surgeon Who Used Love, Money, and the Pope to Scam an NBC News Producer

As someone who spent the first few seasons of Gossip Girl telling anyone who would listen about the COMPLEX LITERARY PARALLELS but was disappointed in it by the end, I really enjoyed this: Gossip Girl went from being in on the joke to being the punchline (And as I read it I was astonished at how many of their crazy plotlines I had blocked out of my brain. Remember the Hilary Duff threesome???)

I appreciate that this piece on mail-order brides mentions Sarah, Plain and Tall.

Men Who Have Finally ‘Found Their Sound’ In Western Art History

Monday, January 11, 2016

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."

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Morning Coffee (12/17/15)

You guys, check out today's BEETHOVEN GAME Google doodle! This completely made my day. More computer games should be about classical music, please.

Heh: Five Supreme Court Cases from the Second Trump Administration

This is an important read about sports and child abuse.

This this this: "Because that is the overall message and theme of this photo – women are better silent and unmoving than talking and taking action. That is what these girl are being told, even if you think this joke is 'cute.'"

IMPORTANT: "It's not that girls don't want to go into STEM, or that STEM isn’t 'creative' enough for them—it's that when they get there, they are treated like crap."

“Please correct”: Editing My Mother’s English

"Whether Melville ever found Hawthorne’s penetrating powers to be corporeal as well as intellectual remains a detail lost to history."

Nevada newspaper staff tweet in protest of ownership mystery

Just stop with the stupid viral stunt proposals.

Mobile shopping has its Muzak moment ... must it?

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Morning Coffee (11/12/15)

Hillary Clinton quoted Hamilton on Twitter, and given the way 70% of my Twitter timeline is nonstop Hamilton tweets, I assume this means she now has the nomination wrapped up.

SIGH. People Are Slamming the Veterans Day Google Doodle for Not Being White Enough

At least they apologized? Bloomingdale’s Realizes New Ad Advocates Date Rape and Apologizes After Online Outrage

How Marco Rubio Became the GOP's Foreign Policy Candidate

10 Falsehoods That Netanyahu Told During His Appearance At CAP

"But right here, right now, the moment feels wrong to host a female cage match." Good for THR.

A difficult but important read: 'A Mountain of Misconduct' at New Hampshire Rehab

Life Pulls Back in Afghan Capital, as Danger Rises and Troops Recede

Americans’ questions about Obamacare are changing. Their Google searches prove it.

"MONK #1: I don’t know much about Alexander the Great
only that he was one of the Nine Worthies
what was he like? what did he love? what brought him pleasure?
MONK #2: so the main thing to remember about him is that he loved scolding fish"

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Morning Coffee (10/13/15)

Me elsewhere: Amazon's Red Oaks was okay. And new trailers and premiere dates for Shadowhunters and The Shannara Chronicles.

Whoa: Dell's takeover of EMC is the biggest tech deal ever.

Ha: Guy buys Google’s web domain for 1 minute, gives his reward to charity

Ooh, did they find Henry V's warship Holigost?

Useful! The One Podcast to Start With, Across 24 Topics

I'm one of those people who will read anything about Roanoke, and this look at how Virginia Dare has been co-opted over the centuries is fascinating.

Uh-oh: Wet Weather Causes Shortage of Pumpkins (and Pie)

Hallmark is going to have a Christmas float in the Macy's parade, so that's perfect.

On My Mother and the Person I Could Have Become

Interesting point: "The fact that servants used to be a fixture of domestic life and are now reserved for the wealthy is one of the key, but little discussed, reasons why contemporary middle-class men and women feel overwhelmed by responsibilities."

As usual, I'm skeptical of the ID of possibly famous bones.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Morning Coffee (9/24/15)

Me elsewhere: new show reviews! The Muppets was better than I expected. I liked the world-building in Minority Report. Blindspot was resoundingly meh.

And ICYMI, I started a running ranking of new fall shows, now updated with Rosewood and Limitless.

A little late, but important: You Have to Be an Actual Moron or a Wannabe Dictator to Want Your Wife's Face on the $10

Did you catch what Ben Carson said about Muslims and the Constitution?

Welcome to hell: Apple vs. Google vs. Facebook and the slow death of the web (I've never used ad blockers and with all this stuff currently going on about it I feel so VINDICATED.)

I've been so frustrated with the way people are talking as though Ryan Adams took Taylor Swift's worthless girly pop music and made it SUDDENLY GOOD, so I was very happy to read Todd VanDerWerff's take.

I also recommend Todd's take on peak TV.

Confession: This headline distracted me while I was in the middle of scheduling a tweet. The internet is full of distractions. Here are 7 tips to help you focus.

Paging C.J. Cregg: A Californian Highway May Get A Cougar-Only Overpass

Oh, here's the real story behind that Putin/Elton John hoax.

I'm not surprised that someone is premiering a fashion line on Snapchat, but I'm a little surprised that it's Burberry.

Signs The Vaguely-Named Building In Your Local Strip Mall Is Actually A Church And Not A Coffeeshop-slash-Art Space (I had this exact conversation in real life yesterday. Me: "I need a new writing cafe." Friend: "Bonhoeffer's downtown is good." Me: "Bonhoeffer's? That must be part of a church." It is.)