Morning Coffee (3/16/18)

Time for Friday happy links!

ICYMI, yesterday I wrote about why I liked A Wrinkle in Time so much!

Aaaah, great news from my friend Steph! Netflix is making a movie of her YA horror novel There's Someone Inside Your House. (I generally avoid horror but I really loved this one.)

Hahaha: National Trust apologises to Cornish after appearing to endorse putting cream on scones first

7 Books to Read After Seeing Black Panther

Aw, look at today's George Peabody Google doodle!

Ooh, pretty: These L’Occitane Easter Eggs Are Even Better Than Chocolate Eggs

The Amy Poehler/Nick Offerman crafting show is premiering ON MY BIRTHDAY. That's very thoughtful of them.

Perfect: If Jane Austen Got Feedback From Some Guy In A Writing Workshop

I'm not particularly into animated series but this is quite the voice cast.

The Solo movie is doing some kind of promotion with Solo cups and that's HILARIOUS.

Mae Whitman Is Ready for Taylor Kitsch to Play Her Boyfriend Now I mean, who isn't?

Afternoon Tea (6/12/17)

The Rise of the Global Novelist

This is fascinating: 'It was quasi-religious': the great self-esteem con

Whoa: Tracking Bumblebees Based on Their Buzzes

From Penelope to Pussyhats, The Ancient Origins of Feminist Craftivism

As usual, Todd VanDerWerff writes pieces I love even about things I don't care about: The Mummy says more about its stars and its franchise than anything mummy-related

Morning Coffee (5/14/17)

(I'm traveling, so this was written in advance and may not reflect current events. Back on Tuesday!)

A Hidden Hand in the Trump-Russia Drama Owns a Ramen Shop. No, Seriously.

Good for her: Australian politician becomes first to breastfeed in parliament

Coronation Street is now on BritBox!!!

These are some straight-up Charlotte's Web shenanigans: The horse that saved his own life by painting

This piece about visiting Andrew Jackson's Hermitage is HILARIOUS and I immediately texted my friend in Nashville to inform her that I was going to visit so we could go there.

I had never thought about this: The Shipping and Handling of a Gigantic Space Telescope

The last male northern white rhino on Earth has joined Tinder

Oh, NBCU bought Craftsy. Interesting.

Sex and art by the Grand Canal: how Peggy Guggenheim took Venice

Heh: Is There Anywhere in the World Hemingway Didn't Drink?

Morning Coffee (4/21/17)

As usual, Friday morning links are skewed toward giving you some distractions and a break from current events.

We're getting more X-Files!!

The Audacity of Starbucks' Unicorn Frappuccino Is Astounding

Penguin's #ProjectReadathon is neat - read excerpts from their books and they donate books to Save the Children!

This Luxury Hotel in London Was Once a Secret Spy Base

22 Things We Learned From That Juicy New Prince Charles Biography

How the Henley Went From Workman’s Undershirt to CW Staple

What Bill Nye Can't Travel Without

I'm not as into rosé as are some people in my life, but I'm willing to be convinced by rosé cocktails.

Ooh, I need to try this hair doohickey.

Whoa: Queen Mother’s old fridge still working after incredible 63 years of service at Scots castle

!! This Genius Coffee Table Keeps Drinks Cold and Charges Your Phone

15 Bookish Cross Stitch Patterns for All Stitchers

Morning Coffee (10/16/15)

Happy Friday!

Me elsewhere: I recapped the Haven premiere.

This week's New Yorker arrived in my mailbox yesterday with a piece about Thoreau LITERALLY ENTITLED "POND SCUM" and few things have ever made me so happy.

Except, actually, GQ's Taylor Swift cover story (by Chuck Klosterman!), which pulls off the pretty amazing feat of being genuinely interesting while making her seem even more exactly the person I've always wanted her to be. (Reading profiles of celebrities you like is always such a RISK.) There are many, MANY great things in that piece, and I really urge you to read it, but probably the BEST is the way Swift realizes that if her parents hadn't moved her to Nashville to focus on her music as a teen, she'd now be working in some kind of marketing like the rest of us.

I tend to put The Toast at the bottom of the link list, I guess because I'm a creature of habit and like ending with something funny, but Mallory's North and South is just too good:
"MARGARET: can you at least give me a general outline of your problems with the Church?
MR. HALE: sorry no
MARGARET: are you an atheist? a Methodist? a Tractarian? a schismatic? a Baptist?
MR. HALE: don’t worry about it
just know that I cannot renew my vows, so we must move North and be unemployed
MARGARET: Can you…specify which doctrine?
MR. HALE: No
and in fact I will never be discussing my new beliefs again
MARGARET: Will you at least be following your conscience and preaching whatever doctrine you think soundest up North?
MR. HALE: I will not."

The Zombies have a new album! Did you know the Zombies were still a thing? I most certainly did not!

"Being Santa Claus gives a person a political edge, he said. On more than one occasion he has called a legislator, lobbying for support on a child welfare issue. When he’s been brushed off, he has called local media and introduced himself. Then the local media, seeing a story, called the legislator. And then, magically, someone from the politician’s office called to discuss his concerns. It seems no politician wants to come out publicly against Santa Claus, he said."

!!!!!! Students Create 3D-Printed Wheelchair For Disabled Kitten

It's Friday. Let's look at Tom Hiddleston in glasses.

Go Inside the World Of June Kenton, H.M. Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Bra Fitter

Whoa: Beautiful Harry Potter stop-motion short film builds Hogwarts from the pages of the books themselves

In a Small Village High in the Peruvian Andes, Life Stories Are Written in Textiles

Morning Coffee (3/17/15)

Happy St. Patrick's Day! The Google doodle is cute, of course.

'Tis the Season to Celebrate Irish Women Warriors and Feminists

And on a lighter note, I love these DIY shamrock headbands.

Very interesting: The ideas that define Benjamin Netanyahu

I realized I knew very little about the political situation in Haiti, and this was helpful.

24 Thoughts on Sexism, Feminism, YA, Reading, and The Publishing Industry

Related: On kindness

Men Sleeping Quietly And Not Talking Or Bothering Anyone In Western Art History

Morning Coffee (1/23/15)

Happy Friday! Won't you go help Classic Alice? If they get funded, I'll stop asking!

15 Gorgeous Little Free Libraries

Tolstoy’s Macaroni and Cheese and Other Recipes from Classic Authors

Whoa: 365 Days of YA: A 2015 Reading Calendar!

LOOK at these royalty cross stitch patterns. WANT.

This new kids' book series about Ada Lovelace and Mary Shelley forming a detective agency is everything I never knew I wanted.

All of my Issues With the “Goodnight Moon” Bedroom

The Onion: Man Too Deep Into Sentence To Avoid Saying Word He Can’t Pronounce

Here are some more great history links from my friend Christine.

Morning Coffee (12/16/14)

Check out today's Kandinsky Google doodle.

17 Cosy Reading Nooks To Get You Through The Winter I WANT ONE.

The New Cosmopolitan & the Slow Climb Out of Lipstick-and-Lasagna Land

Go Fug Yourself's Holiday Gift Guide is always a delight.

There's another great book-related gift guide at Novel Novice.

This is mesmerizing: What Colour Is It?

I kind of want to make these Anna and Elsa stockings just for MYSELF.

Doctors Performing Surgery For The First Time In Western Art History

Morning Coffee (11/1/13)

Happy November! Because I was busy giving out candy last night, I don't quite have your normal Friday Happy links, but let's see what I can scare (hah) up.

Delightful news: Cougar Town will be back on January 7th.

Ooh, yay, PBS is going to air Vicious, a British sitcom starring Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi as a long-time couple.

In case you didn't see it yesterday, here is Patrick Stewart, dressed as a lobster, in a bathtub.

This is at least theoretically a positive step, though it could go very poorly: DC Comics to Reveal Native American Teenage Superheroine

15 Things You Should Never Say to a Crafter

Ooh, and this Craft in America holiday special looks interesting.

'Secret' WWI diary paints 'vivid and visceral' picture

These are not actually the least popular American baby names, since they're in the top 1000, but it's still a fun list.

Morning Coffee (10/3/13)

Elsewhere: I wrote about Ironside, which I liked, at TheTelevixen.com.

I don't really care if tourists can't see monuments. I care that the shutdown means millions of babies are at risk of going hungry.

Another reason to avoid Hobby Lobby: They don't stock merchandise for Jewish holidays, and apparently don't respond well when asked about it.

Rethinking the Weekend

Ooh, Ronan Farrow might be getting an MSNBC show.

Spencer Ackerman's Twitter eulogy for his mother was really amazing to watch unfold.

Daniel Radcliffe’s Next Trick Is to Make Harry Potter Disappear

A very good read: Are We Supposed to Root for Fitz and Olivia on Scandal?

Amazing: Your Endorsement On LinkedIn Means Nothing To Me

Morning Coffee (9/12/13)

This essay by Jasika Nicole involve so many things - blogging culture, growing up poor and biracial, navigating adult privilege, Girl Scouts - that I'm not going to try to summarize it, but you should really give it a read.

The new Knitty is out!

That amazing Reuters adoption article I mentioned earlier in the week is complete now, so you should check it out if you haven't already.

The latest in Give Me My Remote's series on TV writers talking about X-Files is with Sam Ernst of Haven.

A Lord Nelson biopic? Yes please.

Mollie Katzen's 5 Essentials for Becoming a Great Home Cook

Heh: Formula Fed Baby Enters Medical School (Satire)

Home-Cooked Boredom

Morning Coffee (5/3/13)

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day. Glen Weldon has a guide for you.

This British romance writer is 105 and still writing. Awesome.

Tumblr of the day: COSMARXPOLITAN. Yes, like Cosmo, except Marxist historical figures. Okay, the audience might be somewhat limited for that one, but I find it delightful.

I kind of desperately want to make an Oreo blanket.

Speaking of, Cookie Hound may be my new favorite site.

NPR Program or Rihanna Song Labeled "Explicit"?

Aw, Adam Yauch is getting a playground named after him.

And finally, to mark Iron Man 3 release day, let's enjoy the evolution of Gwyneth Paltrow's crazy clothes. Happy Friday!

If you read this rant about Michelle Obama & crafting, there are links to cute pictures of Bo, I promise.

Yesterday, First Lady Michelle Obama had some military families to the White House, unveiled the holiday decorations (Bo ornaments!), and did some crafts with the kids. Nice, right? Fun? Cheery? Probably something those kids will remember for a long, long time? Apparently not. Commentary immediately started circulating on social media decrying this crafting as anti-feminist, saying it was "depressing" to see these pictures because the First Lady went to Harvard.

So. Oh. This again. For the millionth time: Crafting - or cooking, or breastfeeding, or whatever - is only anti-feminist if you are accepting as an underlying premise that activities viewed as traditionally female-dominated* are intrinsically worth less (or worthless) to begin with. That is the only way that this "it's sad to see a Harvard-educated woman making ornaments" thing is coherent at all, and saying "smart women should only do things traditionally seen as male" is far less feminist than making some ornaments with some kids. And don't say that you'd protest any Harvard-educated person spending time on something outside of their field, because a) That's completely ridiculous. Everyone does something on their down time, and b) I have never, EVER heard ANYONE say it was sad to see Ivy League-educated men spending time watching sports. And you don't even have a fun ornament at the end of that.**

Now, if the complaint is that the First Lady is pressured into maintaining a traditionally feminine image for political reasons - THAT's something worth discussing. That may well be happening, in general, but this isn't even necessarily a good example, because all sorts of people do things outside of their wheelhouses for the benefit of children (and not just parents or women - think of Tom Hanks in that street fair scene in You've Got Mail, say), and any polite person who invites guests to his house will likely spend some time in non-ideal activities in order to ensure that those guests enjoy themselves. That's just basic courtesy.

Did the First Lady enjoy her crafting? I have no idea. Should it be a Big Thing that the First Lady does children's activities at an event for children? I don't think so. Is it anti-feminist to expect political wives to fit one specific, traditional mold? Absolutely. Is it anti-feminist for any well-educated woman to enjoy crafting or cooking or whatever hobby she wants? Absolutely not. Now look, here's Bo checking out the Christmas tree.

* Even if they really aren't - knitting, say, was an all-male thing in certain places at certain times - I think we can agree that they are commonly seen that way now.

** I kid! I have nothing against watching sports. I just don't like the way some people claim crafting isn't "productive," when you END UP PRODUCING A THING. But hobbies shouldn't HAVE to be productive. Obviously.

Book Giveaway: Mend It Better

My good friend Caitlin Andrews has a project in the awesome-looking new book Mend It Better, which will be of interest to all you crafty and DIY types out there. And even better: Caitlin's having a giveaway of the book at her blog, Stevens Handmade. Just comment on the post by Sunday night at 8 ET to be entered to win a free copy! Head right this way to enter.