Afternoon Tea (6/28/19)

The way he talks about both Linda and John just kills me: Paul McCartney on Linda’s best photos: ‘Seeing the joy between me and John really helped me’

Ooh there are some GREAT choices in this list: 21 YA eBooks on Sale for Under $3 for Pride Month!

How to Cut Cheese Like a Pro

The Best Ice Cream Shop in Every State

Fancy a Mystery-Inspired Board Game?

Morning Coffee (7/20/18)

Phew, time for some Friday happy links.

Michelle Obama's funny, star-studded video reminding you to vote is downright delightful.

The Colette trailer looks so great!!!

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jonny Sun have a book coming out!

Black Panther's Sister Shuri Is Getting Her Own Comic Book Series & It's Happening So, So Soon

'Lost in space' Bakewell pudding found in Lincolnshire

Your Friday may need Prince Louis' christening photos. They're REALLY CUTE. (Shocker.)

Ooh, first images of the new cast of The Crown: Olivia Colman as the Queen and Helena Bonham Carter and Ben Daniels as Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden.

!!!! Trogdor!! The Board Game

Hot Topic's new Disney princess collection is actually really cute.

10 Fun Ways To Wear Pigtails As An Adult

Morning Coffee (7/13/18)

PHEW, Friday. Time for some happy links.

Here are the Emmy nominations!

And Jodie Whittaker's Doctor Who EW cover!!

This is so cool: Austin siblings create gerrymandering board game

Mary Queen of Scots trailer! I am very excited to watch/get mad at that movie!

Interesting: To All The Forgotten Princesses: Tor Books Acquires English Translation of Elżbieta Cherezińska’s The Widow Queen

Phew: Planters Is Selling Cheez Balls for the First Time in Over a Decade

Ooh, I'm bad at cutting melon, so this is useful: How to Cut Watermelon

I forgot they were making a Weetzie Bat movie.

Friday needs a quiz: Answer 7 Questions And We'll Tell You Which Fictional Bookworm You Are

14 Super Easy Polka Dot Manicures That Require No Effort

Morning Coffee (11/20/17)

I'm traveling and compiled and scheduled this post in advance, so WHO KNOWS what's actually going on in the world by now. Back on Tuesday!

Eric Holder's Battle Against Gerrymandering

Canada Moves Closer to Gender Equity for Indigenous Women

Why Is Allergan Partnering with the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe?

This is very good advice heading into the holidays: Don't Win Arguments, Win Elections

Also useful going into the holidays: 8 Weekender Bags to Make You Look More Put Together

SCANDAL: Spelling Trouble: Did a Scrabble Champion Cheat?

From Owls IPA to Huddersfield’s Hat Trick: football clubs join the craft beer revolution

Ha: The “phantom reference:” How a made-up article got almost 400 citations

Conservationists Give New Life to 350-Year-Old Map of Australia

YEP: From 'Will & Grace' to 'NCIS,' Comfort TV Reigns Supreme

Afternoon Tea (10/16/17)

For Women Seeking Pop Hits in 2017, It's a Climb

To Win This Board Game, Keep Away From The Matchmaker

How ancient lentils reveal the origins of social inequality

Can You Download Your Way to a Better Life?

Jane Squire and the Longitude Wars

Morning Coffee (9/15/17)

As usual, we're going to put current events mostly on hold and find some happy links to celebrate Friday!

Me elsewhere: Holly and I recorded an episode of The Fourth Wall about Fall TV and the Emmys. Come listen to us have opinions on TV we haven't seen!

Oooh, here's the National Book Award Nonfiction longlist. Some interesting stuff on there I want to read!

This was a complete delight and I don't even particularly care about Harrison Ford: Harrison Ford on Star Wars, Blade Runner, and Punching Ryan Gosling in the Face

LOOK AT PBTEEN'S NEW HARRY POTTER COLLECTION. I guess I don't ACTUALLY want a themed bedroom, but it's tempting.

Oh, I love this list every year! Top 5 Baby Names By State For Births In 2016

Amazing: Danielle Steel’s Desk Is Unlike Anything You’ve Ever Seen

Cool! Uno is finally getting a colorblind-friendly edition

Here’s the World’s Best Honey Cake, According to Science

Beauty and the Beast Le Creuset is totally the kind of thing I would buy if I had lots of extra money lying around.

!! 16 Gifts Every Cheese Lover Will Obsess Over

Morning Coffee (9/10/17)

The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election

The far-right’s favorite social network is facing its own censorship controversy

'We are an example to the Arab world': Tunisia's radical marriage proposals

!!! VEGETARIAN FAST FOOD Frozen Food Company Amy's Kitchen Is Growing Into a Fast-Food Chain

End of an era: Graydon Carter Stepping Down as Vanity Fair Editor

Aw! U.S. Postal Service unveils series of stamps honoring children's book 'The Snowy Day'

Interesting: Secret Hitler, a Game That Simulates Fascism’s Rise, Becomes a Hit

Found: 1,600-Year-Old Mosaic, By Amateur Archaeologists

This is actually useful advice: Stop Being Boring When People Ask "So What Do You Do?"

Heh: Excerpts from the All-Girl Remake of “Lord of the Flies”

Afternoon Tea (5/18/17)

Ooh! Return of the Campbell, an Ornate Grand Central Bar

Heh: People Are Mad ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Doesn’t Respect Scrabble Rules

Ancient Astronaut Aryans: On the Far Right Obsession with Indo-Europeans

The Mystery of the 2,000-Year-Old Iron Beads

American Trees Are Moving West, and No One Knows Why

Morning Coffee (2/19/17)

See No Evil: The GOP’s terrible excuses for refusing to investigate the Flynn affair.

This North Korean Airport Poison-Spray Assassination “LOL” T-Shirt Story Is Starting to Get Weird

Emoluments in China

The House Voted to Make It Easier for States to Defund Planned Parenthood

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Is Working Remotely From a German Sanitarium (I feel like we should ALL be working remotely from German sanitariums at this point.)

You must read this plea from the ghost of William Henry Harrison.

Uh... Dozens of Sheep Mysteriously Appeared and Disappeared on the Isle of Wight

I am very interested in reading original work by Agatha Christie's Icelandic translator.

Aww, Monopoly's getting rid of the thimble.

A Surreal Trip to a Domain-Names Conference

Norman Mailer's Fatal Friendship

The Mistaken Case of the Killer Cornbread

Morning Coffee (2/12/17)

The Swedish Kings of Cyberwar

Donald Trump’s Dangerous End Game

Trump is creating a new form of Christian nationalism centered on himself

For Germany, Trump Poses a Problem With No Clear Solution

How Trump’s White House Could Mess With Government Data

From Headline to Photograph, a Fake News Masterpiece

14,000 Women Scientists Are Advocating for Equality

Ooh, feminist chess protests! Hou Yifan resigns after five moves in protest over her Gibraltar pairings

Don't we have enough going on in the world without THIS nonsense? MLB’s Potential Extra-Innings Rule Change Is a Monstrous Idea

This is so interesting, and Portman did such a good job in the movie: Jackie Kennedy’s strange, elegant accent, explained by linguists

Book Recommendations From Countries Targeted by Trump’s Travel Ban

India versus the East India Company

Morning Coffee (1/18/17)

This is TERRIBLE, New Hampshire: State Considers Requiring Corroboration in Sex Assault Cases

Betsy DeVos's confirmation hearing yesterday was terrible and confirmed that she knows nothing about education or federal law but is very concerned about grizzly bears in classrooms.

Tom Price Is the Walking Definition of an Appearance of Corruption

I'm going to miss him so much: Joe Biden: ‘I Wish to Hell I’d Just Kept Saying the Exact Same Thing’

John Lewis, Donald Trump, and the Meaning of Legitimacy

TV writer Sarah Treem wrote a great essay about abortion and women's rights.

Here are the National Book Critics Circle Award finalists.

The Libertarian Utopia That’s Just a Bunch of White Guys on a Tiny Island (What... else would it be?)

How Stable Are Democracies? ‘Warning Signs Are Flashing Red’

I would like a novel based on this scientist, please: The Woman Who Might Find Us Another Earth

There is no way this doesn't end stupidly: Monopoly Will Let the Internet Vote to Replace All of the Board Game's Classic Tokens

Queen Elizabeth I’s Vast Spy Network Was The First Surveillance State

Morning Coffee (4/1/16)

Happy Friday! I am writing this on Wednesday; hopefully by the time you read it I will no longer be traveling but WILL be sleeping, because my flight is supposed to land at 12:37am Friday.

So: Friday happy links. None of these are April Fool's jokes so far as I am aware!

I am SO excited for Star Trek makeup.

!! Found: Two Secret Rooms in King Tut's Tomb

Unicorn fossils!

Ooh fun: The History of Cocktail Menu Design Let's go have cocktails.

Ten Knitting Patterns for Crafty Feminists

Perhaps your Friday could use this Leslie Knope compliment generator.

These stave churches are GORGEOUS.

St. George's Day in Bavaria has everything: Fancy horses! Sword dancing! Armor!

Hubble Photo Shows Galaxies Colliding in the Nightclub of Space

Fascinating: Wealth of Yorkshire: Historic probate records go online

The Strategic Penpals Who Play Chess by Mail

Perfect: Every Time The Narrator Very Nearly Has Tea In Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca

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 (6/25/15)

Amazing story: Denied by Nazis, world's oldest doctoral student awarded her PhD – aged 102

Amazing headline: Chinese actor sued for staring too intensely from TV at viewer

$10 seems like a lot for Solitaire, but Regency Solitaire looks AWESOME, so...

Huh: Daniel Barenboim designs 'radical' new piano

Well. "The Office for Intellectual Freedom refused to give me access to its database."

I have eaten at several of these restaurants but never outside, so... partial credit? Top 25 Most Gorgeous & Delicious Outdoor Dining Spots in Connecticut

The Bittersweet History of 'Candy Land'

News you need: 12 Ways To Spike Your Favorite Virgin Summer Drinks

Morning Coffee (2/17/15)

My dad, cousin, and aunt are going to be on Genealogy Roadshow tonight learning about our family! Tune in!

Classic Alice is tantalizingly close to 50% funded. Please chip in.

Sad news: Lesley Gore has died.

Jonathan Franzen Is a Parody of Jonathan Franzen

"I’ve heard about people who arrange their books by colour. These people are clearly ill and need help."

Ooh, Game of Thrones Monopoly!

And an Iron Throne MADE OF ICE.

I don't agree with 100% of this, but it makes some important points: We're Talking About Young Adult Fiction All Wrong

How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life

The Onion: Man Under Mistaken Impression He His Own Harshest Critic

Morning Coffee (8/22/14)

I think it's finally Friday. So. Let's have some non-depressing links.

This is awesome: Mother of Malala Yousafzai Learns to Read and Write

There are few things I want in the world right now as much as I want this Emma Approved version of Clue, dreamt up by the great Katie Campshure. (She also made Lizzie Bennet Diaries Monopoly. And she makes puppets of the characters and they play the board games. You guys.)

My friend Susan Adrian's first book Tunnel Vision is coming out in January - and I loved it, by the way - and look, it's the cover! (And a giveaway to enter!)

Because the Kitten Bowl is not enough: Hallmark Channel is starting an entire Feline Football League.

Here's Lev Grossman on How Magic Conquered Pop Culture.

The Fug Girls Look Back on Ten Years of Celebrity Snark

Hee: 25 Things Everyone Who Went To A Small Liberal Arts School Knows To Be True

The Most Satisfying People to Subtweet (in Ascending Order)

Morning Coffee (4/9/14)

Update: Kate Mulgrew is not a geocentrist after all. Phew.

A sheep/goat hybrid was born in Ireland and this whole story (and video) is adorable.

Is this the most expensive instrument in the world?

I feel pretty strongly that leggings aren't pants, and yet I applaud these girls.

Can you stop feeling too busy by telling yourself you're not too busy?

Nifty: The ISS Has an Instrument Specifically Designed to Study Lightning

I am not wild about the idea of Monopoly rules changing, mostly just because I hate change.

Modernist Game of Thrones

Morning Coffee (3/11/14)

My friends Holly and Carrie do a Veronica Mars podcast, and I (along with several other guests) went on to talk about our predictions for the movie. Here's the non-spoilery section and the spoilery section. In the spoilery section you get to hear me swear, sort of, which doesn't happen often.

Who Creates Drama At HBO? Very Few Women Or People Of Color

I am so excited for Suffragette, for several reasons, but also because it's the first film shot in the Houses of Parliament.

Eee, I want to go to the Star Trek theme park.

Do you want an explainer explainer? Of course you do.

Interesting: Newly identified dinosaur fauna sheds light on evolution

Is it wrong that I kind of want to play this?

Yes, there's a BuzzFeed quiz for everything. Which Biblical heroine are you?

Morning Coffee (9/27/13)

Happy Friday!

Elsewhere: I wrote about last night's new comedies The Crazy Ones and The Michael J. Fox Show over at TheTelevixen.

The rare good news in this area: That school district that banned The Invisible Man has reconsidered.

They found a lost Mary Pickford film in a barn in New Hampshire!

Sarah Rees Brennan fans, check out this new free short story set between Unspoken and Untold!

Tons of fun details: Key family brush up on etiquette for Balmoral visit

I love this: What the Monopoly Properties Look Like in Real Life

Writer/translator Tom Holland picks his five desert island books.

I adore these Grammar Grumble Mugs.

Oh my gosh, check out this Star Wars opening crawl dress.

Morning Coffee (1/9/13)

This ongoing local crime story is puzzling and horrifying.

Here are some good clarifications on that rape infographic that's been going around.

How board games sum up the meaning of life through colorful cards and painted pieces

Aladdin is coming to Broadway.

Amazing: 27 Surprised Cats Who Can't Believe What They Just Saw

Yes, I'd love to control my kitchen from my phone.

These shoes are awesome.

Lev Grossman: Shakespeare in Klingon: Literature in the Original and My Total Failure to Read It That Way