New Names for Unwanted Girls & Other Gender Issues Links

Can you imagine being named "Unwanted"? These girls got to rename themselves, thank goodness.

Gender Equality in Quidditch (No, really.)

Good news: Judge says North Carolina can't force women to view ultrasound before abortion.

Women's rights in Saudi Arabia are taking a slight step forward - through literary clubs.

The Atlantic has a slideshow of Pakistani women living in a shelter to escape the risk of "honor killings."

What would Mary Sue do?

Music Break: "Ariel" by October Project

This Bones music video is just adorable.

Bones comes back tomorrow, and their promotional department has been going all out. It seems like the people who make these videos are really having fun embracing their inner 'shippers, now that they finally can. It's all pretty cute.



Are you looking forward to this season, or are you afraid of how the drastic changes will affect the show you've watched for years?

Why I Didn't Like Google Reader's Sharing Functions

Google Reader unveiled a redesign this week, and a lot of people are up in arms about the fact that they got rid of Reader's sharing features. I'm sorry that people have lost a tool they liked, of course, but I'm mostly shocked to discover that people liked it so much. When Google Reader first introduced the features, I tried them for a while, but quickly stopped using them regularly because I didn't like how narrow and randomly exclusive they were. I don't mean that they were designed to be exclusive, necessarily, but more that they wound up that way because so few people used them. There is virtually never a link that I want to share specifically with the tiny subset of my friends and contacts who use Google Reader. If I want to share a link in general, I'll tweet and/or blog it; if I want someone specific to see it, I'll email or IM. If I care enough about a link to share it publicly, I don't want it restricted to people who happen to use one specific site or tool. (This is the same reason why I find the Blogger "follow" button ridiculous.) I know not everyone will look at my blog or Twitter feed, but at least they're completely open to anyone who goes to a certain URL, with no login or friending required.

(As I was writing that, I remembered that I did, for a while, use the Reader Share widget to have links in the sidebar on my old blog, but I stopped that too, for a different issue of narrow exclusivity - I got annoyed that it was hard to put in links I found from other sources. My link posts are usually a mix of links I've come across on Reader, on Twitter, and in random other places, and I like being able to integrate them without having to think about the source.)

Starbucks Red Cups & Holiday Drinks Are Back!

Their site hasn't been updated yet, but yesterday Starbucks sent out an email confirming that it is in fact the most wonderful time of the year - red cups and holiday drinks have returned! Wheee! Once again, they have Peppermint Mochas, Gingerbread Lattes, and Eggnog Lattes, and this year they've added a Skinny Peppermint Mocha. The Skinny Vanilla Latte is my default, so I have high hopes for this new drink. I'll try one this afternoon and report back tomorrow.

Much Ado about Joss & Other Movie Links

What if Joss Whedon secretly got a bunch of your favorite actors to film a Shakespearean adaptation at his house? Yeah, that happened. (And now there's another movie, too> Does the man ever sleep?)

Finally! A darker-skinneed Heathcliff.

Get excited: Magic Mike, a.k.a. "the Matt Bomer stripper movie," is coming out June 29.

Moby Dick in space? I have no idea what to make of that.

A retrospective of film versions of Elizabeth I

Here's a new set of Hunger Games posters to excite/enrage you.

Music Break: "November" by The Wilderness of Manitoba

The Good Wife, "Affairs of State" - Recap at ThinkProgress

Head over to Alyssa Rosenberg's blog for my recap/review of Sunday's episode of The Good Wife.

By this point, I think Will is pretty aware of his own feelings, but does Alicia really know what she wants? If she honestly just wants a temporary rebound relationship, using someone who has loved her for years just seems cruel. But if she’s saying she wants to keep things casual because she thinks that’s what she should want or what Will wants, then there’s an even better chance of all of this exploding in someone’s face – probably Peter’s, once the next campaign gets going, and Alicia’s own, if she’s actually considering that political career Eli suggested.

Book Recommendation: The Cut by George Pelecanos

I'd somehow never read anything by George Pelecanos, though I'd always heard he was good, so when I read that he was starting a new series with The Cut, I figured I'd give it a try. And I'm hooked. Pelecanos's new hero is Spero Lucas, a military vet turned freelance investigator who specializes in finding lost things. He reads and kayaks and mourns his father and worries about his mother and casually kills people when necessary, and he's one of the most interesting and multi-dimensional characters I've come across in quite some time. The mystery plotting is tight and the language is descriptive but spare. It takes place in the DC area, and while I don't know enough to say whether it's realistic, it certainly has a strong sense of place. This is the sort of book that made me want to go back and read all of the author's previous work. Highly recommended for mystery fans who like their books to be hard-boiled but still character-driven.

Tonight's TV Premiere Reminders: 11/1/11

Whenever there's a TV premiere, I'll try to let you know. Remember, you can see my regularly-updated TV spreadsheet here. (All times Eastern.)

10 p.m.:
Covert Affairs season 2.5 premiere, USA
This isn't my favorite USA show, but it's fun.