Morning Coffee (5/3/19)

Time for Friday happy links!

VERONICA MARS TRAILER. I can't wait.

Ooh: Presidential Production: Barack and Michelle Obama Announce New Netflix Slate, Including a Frederick Douglass Biopic

This is a great profile of Chasten Buttigieg.

SO CUTE: Princess Charlotte’s Fourth Birthday is (Almost) Here, and We Have New Pics

I want to watch pretty much everything in the PBS summer slate.

Aw: A Stray Dog Joined a 140-mile Race in the Sahara (and Stayed to Get His Medal)

This video of Taylor Swift meeting her new kitten is adorable.

A Violent Splash of Magma That May Have Made the Moon

Genetic History Debunks Legend Of Blue Cheese Origin

Italians try to crack Leonardo da Vinci DNA code with lock of hair

Morning Coffee (4/21/19)

Oh no: Blasts at Churches and Hotels in Sri Lanka Said to Kill Almost 200

Lyra McKee: Two teenage men arrested in connection with journalist's killing

Alexandra Petri, great as always: My book report on ‘The Mueller Report’

The Trump 2020 campaign is going after older people with immigration ads on Facebook

Pete Buttigieg, Barack Obama, and the psychology of liberalism

UNH Study: Bobcat Territory Has Moved With Human Development

Ooh: The Boys in the Band Coming to Netflix From Ryan Murphy; Entire Broadway Cast of All-Gay Actors Set to Return

Ben-Fur: Romans brought rabbits to Britain, experts discover

Ukrainian Pysanka – the Writing on the Egg

Perfect. (Yes, The Onion.) Happy Easter! Peeps Unveils New Boneless, Skinless Marshmallow Breasts

Morning Coffee (12/15/18)

Evil: 7-year-old migrant girl taken into Border Patrol custody dies of dehydration, exhaustion

Almost 15,000 Migrant Children Now Held At Nearly Full Shelters

Trump Inauguration Spending Under Criminal Investigation by Federal Prosecutors

Trump was in the room during hush money discussions with tabloid publisher

Trump Is Running Out of Alibis

Not great!! Hungary Creates New Court System, Cementing Leader’s Control of Judiciary

Okay, THIS is good, if mostly symbolic: Senate Votes to End Aid for Yemen Fight Over Khashoggi Killing and Saudis’ War Aims

Here is some exciting news I've been sitting on! Netflix Boards Christmas Rom-Com ‘Let It Snow’ From ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ Scribe & ‘Planet Of The Apes’ Producer

Yay, New York Magazine is unionizing!

Announcing the 2019 PEN America Literary Awards Longlists

Morning Coffee (12/14/18)

FRIDAY HAPPY LINKS.

!!! Get a first look at Netflix's Carmen Sandiego animated series

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Here's When the Mr. Rogers Documentary 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?' Premieres on HBO (and PBS!)

Ooh, Taylor Swift's Reputation tour movie will be on Netflix on New Year's Eve!

Tegan and Sara are writing a memoir!

Olympic figure skater Eric Radford is starting a gorgeous music career

This sounds great! Announcing IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY by Claire Kann!

Have a Gouda Time: There is a cheese theme park in South Korea with cheese wheel buildings and it’s just as glorious as it sounds

Fug Nation Loves Super Cozy Jammies!

Time-wasting quiz of the day: Which Dewey Decimal Number Are You?

Okay, one more: Which Ice Dance Team Should You Check Out?

Afternoon Tea (12/12/18)

Elizabeth Rowe has sued the BSO. Her case could change how orchestras pay men and women.

Why Netflix could have lost Friends — and what it means for the future of streaming

As an Indian Bride-to-Be, Seeing Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas Break Tradition Took My Wedding Stress Away

A ‘Honking Big’ Cave in Canada Lures Geologists to Its Mouth

The 20 Best Crime Novels of 2018

Morning Coffee (10/19/18)

FRIDAY HAPPY LINKS YAY.

If you'd like to spend your morning gazing at pictures of Harry and Meghan's current royal tour, the Fug Girls have you covered.

Whoa: Astronomers find most massive structure in the early universe

Norton Signs Graphic Memoir by Olympic Protest Hero Tommie Smith

Oooh, potential Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret movie!

Look at the cover and excerpt from Sandhya Menon's new book!

Oh yay! V.E. Schwab's long out-of-print debut is getting a gorgeous new release

I was wondering about this: The Inside Poop On 'Spoopy'

Pretty excited about Netflix's Christmas movies, especially the Kat Graham one!

What Does Your Favorite Shakespeare Play Say About You? (Richard II, and yeah, it's right on.)

I want all of the Nutcracker nail polish.

Morning Coffee (5/22/18)

Ugh: Supreme Court Decision Delivers Blow To Workers' Rights

Trump Grappling With Risks of Proceeding With North Korea Meeting

I believe it's morally abhorrent to call ANY group of people "animals", and especially alarming when it comes from the government.

Diplomats Are Getting Away With Abusing Their Children's Nannies

Good for her: Instead of a moment of silence for gun violence victims, Kelly Clarkson went off-script

What an amazing story: Dovey Johnson Roundtree, Barrier-Breaking Lawyer, Dies at 104

What It’s Like to Be an Abortion-Rights Activist in Ireland

It's finally official: Obamas Ink Producing Deal With Netflix

Heh: The Royal Wedding's Most Remarkable Photo Features 10 Small Kids Actually Sitting Still

Whoa: Asteroid from another star system found orbiting wrong way near Jupiter

Morning Coffee (4/12/18)

Raid on Trump’s Lawyer Sought Records on ‘Access Hollywood’ Tape

Paul Ryan's Awful Legacy

Bank of America to Stop Financing Makers of Military-Style Guns

What We Know And Don’t Know About Election Hacking

In a New Cold War With Russia, Balkans Become a Testing Ground

And a different kind of raid: European Authorities Raid Offices of 21st Century Fox Unit

The biggest Jewish gay “conversion therapy” organization has been operating in secret after US courts shut it down

I see some flaws in this plan: Man tries to woo Taylor Swift by robbing bank and throwing loot over her fence

WHAT OH NO: NECCO-Mania: Fans Stock Up On Chalky Wafers In Case Candy Company Folds

Ooh: ‘Bobby Kennedy For President’ Trailer: Netflix Docuseries Details Dashed Dream

Morning Coffee (3/31/18)

(I'm away for Easter, so I wrote this during my lunch break Friday, a.k.a. 8 news cycles ago. Back to live on Monday!)

Malala Yousafzai Returns to Pakistan for First Time Since Attack

Fired VA Secretary Says White House Muzzled Him

This seems fine: Trump’s Lawyer Raised Prospect of Pardons for Flynn and Manafort

IN A SEWAGE BILL: Kentucky Lawmakers Pass Last-Minute Pension Overhaul

!! New Trial Upheld for Adnan Syed of ‘Serial’

Progress! Kids Are Drawing Women Scientists More Often Than They Did Decades Ago

FX Wins Appellate Court 'Feud' With Olivia de Havilland

Ooh: Getty Completes Study of Paintings at King Tut’s Tomb

HS2 excavations uncover prehistoric subtropical coastline in Ruislip, west London

Hmm: Netflix Teams With Formula 1 Racing For New Series

Morning Coffee (3/30/18)

IT'S FRIDAY. Time for some happy links.

Let's start with the important stuff: 10 Pictures of Baby Goats to Get You Ready for Spring

Sometimes sports are great!! Emergency goalie Scott Foster shuts door for Blackhawks against Jets

EXCITED: Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli preview their queer love story What If It's Us

Ooh! Amy Poehler to Direct, Star in and Produce Netflix Comedy 'Wine Country'

Mark Hamill tried to convince William and Harry that Luke should be a prince, everything is amazing.

The first??? But this is a great fit for her: The Duchess of Cambridge becomes the first Royal Patron of the Victoria and Albert Museum

Here's a trailer for Netflix's Troy show, coming next week.

Also: ‘Monty Python’ Heads To Netflix As SVOD Service Picks Up Entire Comedy Catalog

Fug Nation Loves Cute Sandals!

14 Pretty Flower Nail Art Ideas To Celebrate Spring

Morning Coffee (3/9/18)

Time for some happy Friday links! Just a reminder: If you enjoy these or my other posts, please consider supporting me on Patreon. For as little as $1 a month you can help make sure I can invest the not inconsiderable time required to compile links.

Oooh! Obama in Talks to Provide Shows for Netflix

Eee, cover and excerpt for Holly Black's next book The Wicked King!

Hey knitters, here's the official pattern for Nakia's infinity scarf from Black Panther.

Here's the 2018 longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction.

Look at this Wrinkle in Time jewelry! I'm sure I'll buy something and am agonizing over what; I'm going to make myself wait until after I see the movie in case that makes a particular design speak to me in a way I might not expect.

Elsewhere in niche jewelry I'm sure I'll buy: LOOK AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM'S ENAMEL PINS.

'Suits' Spinoff With Gina Torres Lands USA Network Series Pickup I'm excited to see her lead a show!

Everyone Has A Book Genre That Matches Their Personality — Here's Yours (This quiz told me I was a mystery novel, so obviously it is correct and accurate in all ways.)

The Original 'My Little Pony' Toys are Back and Making Your Childhood Dreams Come True (I sold mine in a yard sale and VERY MUCH REGRETTED IT.)

Whoa: This Glass-bottom Pool in Honolulu Has the Most Breathtaking Views

Afternoon Tea (12/5/17)

I wasn't ACTUALLY named after Linnaeus but I feel we are KINDRED SOULS: How the Index Card Cataloged the World

This had a lot of titles I'm now excited about: The Must-Read Books of Winter 2018

The Curious Plight of the Modern Debutante

What Netflix doesn’t want you to know about how its synopses are written

Want to Learn How to Mine in Space? There's a School for You

Afternoon Tea (9/1/17)

100 Books Across America: Fiction and Nonfiction for Every State in the Union

This is cool: Inside Netflix and Marvel’s heroic efforts to keep track of all the injuries to their superheroes

This photoessay about similar Hilton rooms around the world is actually pretty soothing.

Mozart’s Visit to what became Buckingham Palace

Did German U-Boats Smuggle Alcohol Into the U.S. During Prohibition?

Morning Coffee (5/25/17)

This is horrifying (and was wild to watch play out on Twitter last night): Greg Gianforte, Montana G.O.P. Candidate, Is Charged in Attack on Reporter (He'll probably still win the election today.)

Important to note: The reporter he attacked broke this last month: GOP candidate has financial ties to US-sanctioned Russian companies

Top Russian Officials Discussed How to Influence Trump Aides Last Summer

How a dubious Russian document influenced the FBI’s handling of the Clinton probe

What a shock: AG Sessions did not disclose Russia meetings in security clearance form, DOJ says

I can't believe he's making us side with THERESA MAY: Manchester attack: May to tell Trump to stop intelligence leaks

The Czech Republic got a new name, but few people seem to have noticed yet (I had forgotten about this until I saw this story. I AM PART OF THE PROBLEM.)

!! Found: A Hidden Vault Door Beneath the Rhode Island State House

A bitter legal battle in California is blocking everyone from eating sweeter strawberries

Interesting: Netflix viewers like comedy for breakfast and drama at lunch

Morning Coffee (4/7/17)

Finally Friday. Time for some distracting links.

Obviously the original issue here isn't happy, but the reaction is: Dutch Men Hold Hands in Solidarity With Attacked Gay Couple

This is SO COOL: An Excavation Of One Of The World’s Greatest Art Collections

The new Netflix Anne show looks... pretty good, you guys.

Fascinating: Translating Agatha Christie into Icelandic: 'One clue took 10 years'

What it's like to run an all-romance bookstore in Los Angeles

Hee: Sony Asked Us to Share Footage of the Smurfs: The Lost Village Premiere and We Said Yes

Hahaha: Harlequin Brings Its Romance-Novel Hunks Into the Real World, With Hidden Cameras Rolling

Want To Ogle Some Official Gifts Given To The Queen? WHO DOESN'T?

Martha Stewart and a drone!

Ooh, so organized: Mayim Bialik’s Passover Calendar Looks Intense

I didn't know the Mary Poppins house was real!

Let's run away to a castle in Italy.

Morning Coffee (4/3/17)

Me elsewhere: TV news for the week.

In Anatomy of an Afghan Bombing, Clues of a Tangled War

Vice President Pence’s “never dine alone with a woman” rule isn’t honorable. It’s probably illegal.

This piece from Dara Lind on the visa process is important: The art of denial

"Many career diplomats say they still have not met [Tillerson], and some have been instructed not to speak to him directly — or even make eye contact."

The destruction of Hillary Clinton: sexism, Sanders and the millennial feminists

Not... really! GOP lawmaker: The Bible says ‘if a man will not work, he shall not eat’

Quite some Internet sleuthing: This Is Almost Certainly James Comey’s Twitter Account

Making Freedom Free

Good expose on for-profit schools for "troubled" kids: Hard Lessons

Spy report that criticised Marlowe for 'gay Christ' claim is revealed online

Do not want: Netflix lets you literally choose your own adventure

Morning Coffee (4/1/17)

Warning: It is April Fool's Day. BEWARE. (I will not knowingly fool you.)

The Trauma of Facing Deportation

Good refresher/update on the situation in Venezuela: Venezuela Muzzles Legislature, Moving Closer to One-Man Rule

Oh: Trump administration stops disclosing troop deployments in Iraq and Syria

2 White House Officials Helped Give Nunes Intelligence Reports

Josh Marshall has a good synthesis of Flynn, Nunes, etc.

WHAT A SHOCK: Russians used ‘Bernie Bros’ as ‘unwitting agents’ in disinformation campaign: Senate Intel witness

Interesting: How a Republican Congressman Accidentally Disclosed a Secret Intelligence Debate

The Problems with Trump’s D.C. Hotel Deal Aren’t Going Away

The wine detective battling counterfeiters

Before you yell at them: Why shows leave Netflix

Ooh: See the Ancient World Through Virtual Reality

How Many Books Will You Read Before You Die? (NOT ENOUGH, clearly.)

Morning Coffee (9/29/16)

Me elsewhere: I wound up hating the MacGyver pilot because it was just so boring.

Women of America, this is how much leading Republicans hate you

Chelsea Clinton's convention diary for Marie Claire is interesting and also a master class in how working mothers have to modulate their narratives to not be cast as monsters.

Always a quality you want in a president: "But Mr. Trump found it hard to focus during those meetings."

Non-Profit Accused of Exploiting Sex Trafficking Victims It Was Meant to Help

This new biography of Hitler sounds fascinating, and in her review Michiko Kakutani does a great job of making CERTAIN PARALLELS obvious without actually articulating them.

Big lie, little lie, and the media’s role in telling the difference

Cosmo Designed a Car for Women, and That's Going Over About as Well as You'd Expect

That's a . . . lot: Netflix Targeting 50% of Content to Be Original Programming, CFO Says

OH MY GOD HOW HORRIFYING: Ask a Boss: My Co-worker Wants Everyone to Call Her Boyfriend Her ‘Master’!

William the Conqueror Reassessed

Morning Coffee (7/29/16)

It's Friday AND the start of my birthday weekend, so it's time for some happy distracting links!

My friend James Moran (you may know him as a writer for Doctor Who and Torchwood) is making a webseries based on Dracula and it looks nifty. Here's a teaser.

Oprah will be in the A Wrinkle in Time movie and I remain cautiously optimistic about this whole endeavor.

Netflix is getting a bunch of stuff from the slow TV movement in August, including knitting and train rides!

The Cambridges are officially headed to Canada. Will they take the kids with them so they can be adorable with Justin Trudeau???

Speaking of: Prince George Has an Extremely Adorable Way of Ordering Cake

Whoa: WW2 silk escape map dress sold in Harrogate

Important investigative journalism: That 'S' Thing Everyone Drew in School, WHAT IS IT?

Ooh: Vatican library digitises 1,600-year-old edition of Virgil

How the Key to the Bastille Ended Up in George Washington’s Possession

When ‘Arrow’ sings ‘Hamilton,’ we all win

Morning Coffee (6/3/16)

Happy Friday! As usual, we'll go with some lighter links today.

Me elsewhere: Some thoughts on the Outlander renewal and a new episode of The Fourth Wall!

!!!!!!!!!!! Netflix Sets ‘Julie’s Greenroom’ Preschool Series From Julie Andrews, Jim Henson Co.

I have never watched The Bachelorette but this guy is my new hero.

This xkcd showing how to estimate the dates of maps is amazing and hilarious.

New emoji are coming! I'm excited about some of the food ones.

You had me at Post-It note war.

The Rolling Stone feature on Hamilton and accompanying interview with Lin-Manuel Miranda are worth a read.

As is Esquire's delightful profile of Daveed Diggs, who plays Lafayette and Jefferson. (And I feel like in all the talk about him having the fasted rapping on Broadway, people don't even MENTION that it's in a non-native accent! [French, as Lafayette.])

This will sound familiar to anyone who has tried to get a toddler to pose for a formal picture: Mike Tindall opens up about daughter Mia's scene-stealing handbag moment in the Queen's 90th birthday portrait And of course the Queen was the one to realize how to get her to behave, because this is the kind of thing she's dealt with constantly her whole life. Never say Her Majesty isn't good at her job.

Heh: Kate Middleton May Have Called Prince William “Babe”: What Does It Mean?

Perfect: How To Tell If You Are In A Transcendentalist Essay