Afternoon Tea (5/7/18)

I LOVE this: Ironically, Alanis Morissette never got enough credit

How Do We Write Now?

Stephen Hawking’s final paper makes a hopeful case for the limits of existence

This sounds interesting: Helen Weinzweig’s Interior Feminist Espionage Novel

Searching for a Soul Mate (Must Love Sherlock Holmes)

Afternoon Tea (3/29/18)

This is an essential read about Being A Woman On The Internet: Who Does She Think She Is?

How Portraiture Gave Rise to the Glamour of Guns

The Original Little Mermaid: On Kay Nielsen, Disney, and the sanitization of the modern fairy tale.

The Birth of the Cuban-American Mob

Interesting: One of the best Sherlock portrayals came from the Soviet Union

Morning Coffee (1/5/17)

Well, this is terrible: Trump transition seeks info about undocumented immigrants

Cyberwar for Sale

The Russian billionaire carrying out Putin’s will across Europe

Hmm: California Hires Eric Holder as Legal Bulwark Against Donald Trump

Why do Republicans want to repeal Obamacare so much? Because it would be a big tax cut for the rich.

A Convicted Felon Registered A Bunch Of Trump-Related Domains In Asia (And he has links to Trump, it's not just... some random felon.)

Meet the Press: The hustlers, hucksters, hacks, and cowards who helped elect Donald Trump

Pilgrim’s Progress: Inside the American Nuclear-Waste Crisis

In 2017, publishing really needs a blockbuster

Obviously this is terrible but it also sounds like it should be a movie: Thieves steal $6M in jewels while ball drops on New Year’s Eve

Chief Justice, Not President, Was William Howard Taft’s Dream Job

Not My Sherlock

Morning Coffee (2/5/16)

Oh, hey, it's Friday. I almost forgot and neglected to give you happy links. THE HORROR. Do I have enough happy links? Let's see! (And Patreon patrons, you should have gotten a notification yesterday about a post for you on the Patreon site. Let me know if you need help finding it.)

Me elsewhere: Let's talk about the Me Before You trailer!

ICYMI: Movie posts on 45 Years and Inside Out.

My delightful doppelganger (and friend) Kaite Welsh is writing a feminist Victorian mystery series and I am VERY EXCITED.

The BBC is making a Brooklyn spinoff TV show and that actually might work quite well!

I can't wait to go to this Temple of Dendur exhibit, I say knowing my father who has a Met membership is reading this.

Ooooh: London’s Big Dig Reveals Amazing Layers of History

LOOK AT THIS MAP OF A WRINKLE IN TIME

This gets at exactly why I like detective fiction: "What [T.S. Eliot] appreciated, in other words, was the genre’s capacity for conveying intensity of sentiment and human experience within taut formal designs—a quality that might just as soon apply to literary fiction or poetry."

Aah, there's a story coming out about Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes's wedding!

Aww: ‘The Force Awakens’ Reimagined As Calvin and Hobbes Will Make Your Heart Melt

SETTLERS OF CATAN NACHOS

Ayn Rand's Firefly is . . . not THAT different from actual Firefly at times.

Morning Coffee (9/11/15)

(It is, of course, September 11th; I have nothing particularly original to say about that, so I'm going to continue with usual happy Friday links, with the assumption that today of all days making some cheerful distractions available is not a terrible thing.)

Ahaha: When Cookie Met Sally. (With the "I'll have what she's having" bit, and this is why Sesame Street is the best.)

A bunch of my friends are in a fun webseries called Social Medium and they have a nifty new trailer!

My friend Carrie wrote a great piece about The Young and the Restless and soaps in general that made me want to go watch my soap of choice (Coronation Street).

The best possible response to that Victorian piece: I Love 2012. So I Decided To Live In It.

The Martin Luther figurine was Playmobil's most successful new product ever, and I find that fascinating.

One of the main characters in the Captain Underpants books came out in such a refreshing, matter-of-fact way.

Heeee: Taylor Swift: A Socratic Dialogue

Tumblr of the day: Nihilisa Frank

All you wanted to know about Sherlock Holmes in 17 vintage charts

Morning Coffee (4/21/15)

Jon Stewart's last day on The Daily Show is August 6th. :(

Related: A worthwhile, nuanced read on the Trevor Noah controversy: Necessarily the News

The new Mr. Holmes trailer is intriguing.

I absolutely want to read this story by ten-year-old future Queen Victoria.

Magna Carta: Runnymede Eco-Village 'hippies not wanted'

Aww: 7-Year-Old Writes George Lucas To Change The Rules So Jedis Can Get Married, So He Can Get Married

The eeriness of the English countryside

Perfect: When I win this fucking award, I won’t even know what award they’re talking about at first. “No, I’m serious,” I’ll say. “What award?”

Morning Coffee (2/25/15)

Never too early: The 15 films to look forward to at next year’s Oscars. (One of them is Star Wars.)

Oh, Aaron Schock.

Jeb Bush’s foreign policy vision: Sound confident and compliment his brother.

Henry VIII's evidence to support break with Rome turns up in Cornish library

Speaking of things turning up, I'm enjoying the controversy over the newfound Sherlock Holmes story.

What If "Barks and Recreation"?

I never watched Two and a Half Men but this finale recap was great.

Hahahaha: "Thank every item in your refrigerator deeply – kiss each one of them softly and slowly with your mouth – then prepare for each item a small Viking funeral."

Morning Coffee (10/3/14)

Happy Friday!

More of my new show reviews: Happyland (cute!), A to Z (very good with one big caveat), Stalker (NO NO NO DO NOT WATCH).

I have never seen Murder, She Wrote, but this makes me want to watch it all.

Likewise, I don't have a waffle iron, but these latke waffles make me want to get one.

This is quite the combination of things I like: The creator of Foyle's War is writing a new authorized James Bond novel about Formula One.

They found a lost Sherlock Holmes film!

Would an excerpt from a Christmas historical romance by a writer I like improve your Friday? Of course it would.

Have they discovered "Dracula's Dungeon"?

This was a great read: Who Killed Bugsy Siegel?

The Reclusive, Doll-Collecting Copper Queen of Fifth Avenue

Secret societies are fascinating, even ones that sound terrible.

what if a duck was sad
i don’t know
what if a pine tree were lonely

Morning Coffee (3/21/14)

Happy Friday!

Awesome: The Phantom of the Opera is getting its first black lead. (Hey, and it's Liv's senator boyfriend from Scandal.)

Oh my gosh, they're making a Jem and the Holograms movie.

Margery Kempe is now online! (I mean, her writing. Margery Kempe herself is dead.)

Apparently we're still trying to figure out the real Sherlock Holmes, for some reason.

40 Inspiring Workspaces of the Famously Creative

As usual, Polly gives good, important advice.

Tumblr recommendation of the week: Heds Will Roll

Hee: True Detective meets Hardy Boys

Morning Coffee (1/21/14)

Sad news: Conductor Claudio Abbado has died.

This this this: It’s Elementary, Sherlock: How the CBS procedural surpassed the BBC drama

Ha. Candy Crush is trying to copyright the word "candy," more or less.

The Fug Girls visited the Sleepy Hollow costuming department.

Important: "If you want to be in fandom, you gotta figure out the healthy way for you to engage in the discussion anyway."

A few of my favorites are among these overlooked books by famous authors.

How did toast become the latest artisanal food craze?

Miniature world food art

Morning Coffee (3/28/13)

Obituary of the day: Rabbi Who Cried to the Jews of Buchenwald: ‘You Are Free’

This is a fascinating interview about Coronation Street, and now I want to start watching.

These Peeps dioramas are just incredible.

Your dumb publishing article of the day: "With a name like Gone Girl, you’d imagine the novel might only appeal to women. . . ." FFS.

Oooh, Sara Bareilles is releasing an album this summer!

With this week's 'Wolverine' and 'Iron Man 3' trailers, has our spoiler culture reached an event horizon?

Is Sherlock Holmes in the public domain?

This Edwardian Opulence exhibit sounds great. Can't wait to go.

What I Watched: Haven, Blue Bloods, Elementary

Haven, "Double Jeopardy (EP305)" - Oh, Nathan. Nathan Nathan Nathan. I completely understand why he's doing what he's doing, and yet it's killing me at the same time. I absolutely do not trust Jordan, but their dynamic is undeniably fascinating. And I liked Duke better this week than I had in quite a while. And with Audrey - again, I understand why she's doing what she's doing, but ARGH. I thought the Trouble of the week this week was particularly good, and creepier than usual.

Blue Bloods, "Scorched Earth (EP304)" - Hey, they remembered Jamie exists! Awesome! I like this kind of plot for him - normal issues that a new cop would have to confront, but heightened because of the microscope he knows he's under. I also like when one case ends up linking the whole family like this, though at the same time, if they did that every week it would be completely unbelievable. And Frank Reagan and Kate Beckett should team up with their "get out of my city" speeches. That was awesome.

Elementary, "Child Predator (EP103)" - I keep liking this show more and more, and not just because they keep having Jonny Lee Miller be shirtless for no apparent reason. They developing dynamic between Holmes and Watson is done very well, and I like the way they make it clear that Holmes's skills are extraordinary without being gimmicky about the presentation. At the beginning of this episode, I thought I saw where the case was going, but I was wrong AND the actual solution was better than what I expected, which is basically the best thing for a case of the week to do.

What I Watched: Elementary & Scandal Premieres & More

Elementary, "Pilot (EP101)" - My post about this will be up at TheTelevixen tonight, but a few quick thoughts: I love the casting, and the idea of having a Watson who is female and a person of color. And so far, I like the way both of those portrayals and their dynamic is playing out. I'm a Sherlock Holmes fan but not a purist, so I like the premise. I thought the case itself was not great, but I'm generally willing to let that go if I like the characters.

Scandal, "White Hats Off (EP201)" - I'm torn about this whole Quinn thing, because on the one hand, I want to know why Olivia was involved and what the rest of the story is, because there must be more, as it doesn't make any sense the way it is. On the other hand, I don't really care that much about Quinn and am much more interested in the political stories. So I'm curious to see where the season goes. I loved Fitz in this episode; I think he's one of the more believable and compelling examples of the "great but hugely flawed politician" role that seems to be cropping up on TV a lot lately.

Last Resort, "Captain (EP101)" - I posted this link before, I think, but since the pilot actually aired last night, here's my review. To sum up: I thought the pilot was great but am not convinced that the premise will work as a long-running series.

I've also been catching up on The LA Complex. It's amazing how a show can have so many of its characters make such consistently awful life choices and still have me feeling mostly sympathetic.

Morning Coffee (8/31/12)

Happy Friday!

A good point to remember: Barack Obama spent a lot more time in the private sector than Paul Ryan

You absolutely must read this: Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital

Nifty: Campbell's Soup Creates Limited-Edition Andy Warhol Cans

Benedict Cumberbatch is doing a really good job of making me stop liking him.

Ann Romney Speech or Taylor Swift Lyrics?

Read Sarah Rees Brennan on Veronica Mars.

Morning Coffee (7/3/12)

Good morning! Tomorrow is a holiday and then I'm gone for a few days to be in a friend's wedding, so I may or may not post again until next week.

In case you somehow missed it, Anderson Cooper's coming out post is worth a read.

Sherlock Holmes vs. Frankenstein? Well.

Adam Levine is starring in a movie with Keira Knightley. So... that is a thing that seems to be happening.

Ooh! Every RAF Bomber Command base in England mapped.

Sure, a robot can win rock-paper-scissors all the time... if it cheats.

Were dinosaurs really cold-blooded?

A Christian textbook is using the Loch Ness monster as proof of creationism, so... that is also a thing that is happening.

Huh. I'd never thought of the sports-related issues with cloning competitive animals.

Morning Coffee (7/2/12)

July already! Wow!

Dan Fienberg joins me in being annoyed at the way Sherlock fans are talking about Elementary.

This vanishing book is the stuff of nightmares.

Cory Booker is getting involved in a social video startup.

Crock pot bread? My mind is blown.

I just loved this lede: "If Bernie Ecclestone gets his way – and he is not a man particularly at ease with compromise . . ."

Paging George Smiley: Tory minister spied for Communists in the House of Commons

Wonderful/horrible news for us Olympics addicts: NBC will show every Olympic event live online.

Stolen 415-year-old atlas returned to Sweden

Why I Want to Give Elementary a Chance

Yesterday CBS released the first footage of its new Sherlock Holmes adaptation, Elementary. If you haven't seen it yet, here you go:



A lot of the discussion around this has revolved around people either saying that there's no reason for this to exist because BBC's Sherlock already exists, or saying that they'll refuse to watch it on principle because of their loyalty to Sherlock. And really, everyone should do what makes them happy, but . . . I don't get it. "This sounds a lot like this other thing I like, so I don't watch it. Wouldn't want to encourage people to make things I'd like!" is not a coherent position to me. It's not like someone's asking you to pick one. You can watch both! I've seen people outright stating that their loyalty to Sherlock (aside: It's a TV show! It wants your eyeballs! It doesn't care about your loyalty!) means that they hope Elementary fails. What would that achieve, exactly? If Elementary failed, the takeaway would be "Guess audiences don't want that show" and maybe "Audiences don't want mysteries/British detectives/whatever." It would not be . . . well, I don't even know what the goal is here! What do you want CBS to say if you achieve your boycott, "Let's just acknowledge that the BBC is better and give up"? I love mystery shows, so I am in favor of mystery shows succeeding so that we get more mystery shows! It's as simple as that.

All this outrage would make more sense if Sherlock were the first Holmes adaptation ever, but it really really isn't. (It's not even my favorite adaptation, when it comes down to it.) And the complaints that Sherlock is pure and good while Elementary is just trying to make money are nonsensical - all TV shows exist to make money. Holmes purists, of course, shouldn't like any update. So that brings us to the possibility that Elementary is getting so much hate so early because Watson will be a woman. But frankly? I'm thrilled about that. It's not like there are no bromances on TV. More awesome roles for women! More women of color! More potential for interracial romance! (Note: If you're whining that a potential Sherlock/Joan romance is just so uncanonical but your Tumblr is full of Sherlock/John gifs . . . really? Saying any Holmes/Watson romance is uncanonical is a perfectly reasonable position. But Sherlock/John is not canonical.) Sarah Rees Brennan explains a lot of my reasons for being excited about a female Watson here.

And really, I don't know if I will like Elementary. Maybe it will be awful. But I'm not willing to count it out because it's similar to something else I like, because that makes no sense. (Possibly more than one something: Parts of CBS's official description sounded an awful lot like Castle.) So for now, I will be hopeful. Lucy Liu is awesome! Jonny Lee Miller is hot, and keeping his accent! I am in favor of attractive people in awesome coats being angsty while solving mysteries! So you've got me for now, Elementary. Now please be good.

What I Watched: Castle Finale, Sherlock, & More

Live-ish: OH MY GOSH, THE CASTLE FINALE. That was . . . that was pretty close to a perfect hour of TV. I think "Always (EP423)" was the most satisfying finale I've seen since maybe the first season of The Vampire Diaries. I'll have my full recap up tomorrow, and I want to think about it more (and watch it again) before making any pronouncements, but I generally thought Marlowe and company did a really impressive job of giving fans exactly what they wanted while keeping the whole thing organic and in character. And I'm really excited to see where they go next season, on several fronts.

"The Suit on the Set (EP712)" was a fun episode of Bones, though I'm not sure I have that much to say about it. The movie trailer was hilarious and made me want to see a Heat Wave trailer. I enjoyed the continuing negotiations involved in Booth and Brennan becoming a family, though I missed seeing Christine. And the actual case was . . . fine, I think? Obviously it didn't make a big impact. I don't tend to be a fan of "field trip" episodes, but this one was pretty well done and not too disruptive.

Live+7: So yeah, speaking of field trip episodes, I wasn't wild about "Revelation (EP110)," the season finale of GCB. The show usually has a strong sense of place, so I wasn't thrilled with that being abandoned in favor of wacky desert hijinks. There were some good character moments, though, and I kind of like the idea of Amanda and John together, though I REALLY wish ABC hadn't outright spoiled that last moment in the promos.

I also finally watched Sherlock's "A Scandal in Belgravia (EP201)," which aired in the U.S. on Sunday. I'm not quite as gaga over this series as a lot of people are, but I do enjoy it quite a lot, and I thought this episode was especially strong. I liked what they did with The Woman - I'd been wondering how they would play that character - and the tension between her, Sherlock, and John was fascinating on every side. Talk about chemistry. And the holiday scenes, and scenes with Mycroft in general, did a good job of illustrating what Sherlock is like on a day-to-day functional basis.

Catching up: I got way behind on Grimm, so I've been catching up over breakfast, and yesterday's episode was "The Three Bad Wolves (EP106)." I'm really enjoying the development of the bromance, of course, and I like the way alliances between the supernatural characters shift, rather than everything being neatly two-sided.

On the list: Gossip Girl, Lost Girl

Morning Coffee (2/29/12)

Happy Leap Day! And snow is coming. Finally.

Hey, fans of The Good Guys and Roswell and good TV - Colin Hanks will be guest starring on Happy Endings tonight on ABC at 9:30/8:30c.

In case you missed it last night, here's my White Collar finale review. Spoilers!

Does your morning need some cute? Check out this kitten and baby deer snuggling.

You should really read Todd VanDerWerff on why fans of quality TV should stop pirating stuff and try to be slightly less entitled, spoiled brats. (Er, that last bit was my phrasing, not his.)

Ooh! New Charlotte Bronte story!

Sarah Rees Brennan says important things about adaptations in general and the casting of Lucy Liu in Elementary in particular.

How The Good Wife became the first great series about technology

It's never too early to start worrying about the TV Death Watch.

Things I Am Liking Today

Guys, this whole "don't beat myself up for not getting ridiculous amounts of stuff done" thing is hard. This is going to be a process, I can tell. One of the things I do actually want to be doing is blogging more, but I'm going to let myself be more random and chatty if necessarily. So . . . here are some things I am liking right now!

• Suri's Burn Book. I know I am very late to this bandwagon, but I read the whole archives while pretending to watch Transformers the other night, and it is HILARIOUS. I'm completely addicted and want more, now, always.
• Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes. I like him! I like the character! Whee! (No, I will brook none of this nonsense about this being an abomination because the BBC version is out there. There are many, many Holmes adaptations out there. I will like as many of them as I please, thank you very much.)
• Nina Dobrev's dress from the Monique Lhuillier show Saturday. I don't even like bandage dresses, but I'm utterly charmed by this one.
• Zach Levi's continued employment. I still haven't caught up on Chuck, but I enjoy looking at his face and would like it to be on my TV on a show I'm not already behind on.
• Taylor Swift's Hunger Games song/video. I realize I am EXACTLY the target audience for this, but boy, do I love it.
  
  
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