Morning Coffee (1/31/13)

How is it the last day of January already?

Whoa: Hackers in China Attacked The Times for Last 4 Months

Look look look! The cover for Robin Wasserman's The Waking Dark has been revealed.

You must listen to Jewel and Kelly Clarkson duetting on "Foolish Games."

Prince Charles and Camilla rode the Tube for the first time.

Never forget that Ryan Seacrest is really darn good at his job.

How Smash Became TV's Biggest Train Wreck

Robert Frost: Darkness or Light?

Artist Uses Kittens to Recreate Classic Album Covers

Morning Coffee (1/30/13)

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands has abdicated in favor of her son.

I desperately want these Perfumes Inspired by Dead Writers to exist.

Amy Poehler is writing a book!

Ben & Jerry's is making a 30 Rock flavor.

Ripper Street was renewed! I am always in favor of more Matthew Macfadyen.

Morning Coffee (1/29/13)

Exciting day in the book world yesterday: The ALA Youth Media Award winners were announced. (That's the Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, and more.) I have read... not enough of them.

Also: The 2013 Rainbow List.

Hey, romance readers: Harlequin has a new line called KISS and you can download a free book to try it out.

I don't agree with all of this, but it's an interesting read: ‘Zero Dark Thirty,’ Lena Dunham, ‘Django’: Stop Politicizing Everything!

Fascinating: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II

Behind the Screens: Getting to Know The Fug Girls

Morning Coffee (1/28/13)

Why We Should Memorize Poetry

If you're trying to keep track of TV pilot orders, this guide from The Hollywood Reporter should help.

The Art of Penguin Science Fiction

Awesome: Australian Library Moves Lance Armstrong’s Books to the Fiction Section

Looking at American Girls With Their American Girls

Morning Coffee (1/25/13)

Well, this is horrific: GOP Lawmaker Wants to Charge Rape Victims Who Have Abortions with ‘Evidence Tampering’

. . . huh. Is this really a 300 million-year-old machine gear?

Hillary Clinton Finally Has Permission to Be a Bitch

Fascinating: The Accidental Activist

If Downton Abbey were on Facebook...

This story about an NYPL branch circulating an American Girl doll is awesome.

Morning Coffee (1/23/12)

I'm home sick so not up for a whole lot today, but here are a few things for you . . .

Amazing picture: An East German Mother Passes Her Baby to Freedom Across the Berlin Wall

A Literary Tour of Historical Y.A.

The Impending Death of Pro Football

Robyn Is the Ultimate Bad Day Cure

Quick Take on The Following

After much hubbub and critical hand-wringing, FOX's new serial killer/FBI drama, The Following, finally premiered last night. I'll admit I was inclined to like it: I like other things (like The Vampire Diaries) from creator Kevin Williamson, and I was immediately pulled in by the literature connection. (The serial killer is a literature professor obsessed with Poe and other romantics.) And, of course, the cast is great - James Purefoy, Kevin Bacon, Natalie Zea. But a large percentage of the critics and journalists who saw the show in advance and were talking and writing about it were focusing on how violent and disturbing it was, so I wasn't sure if I'd a) like it and b) be able to handle it.

But the premiere made me entirely buy into the show. Sign me up. First of all, it didn't actually strike me as particularly violent or disturbing - though that is surely in part because all the hysteria made me expect it to be worse than it was. Don't get me wrong: there's violence and disturbing imagery and the show certainly will not be for everyone. And that's fine. The best shows are not for everyone. (No, I'm not claiming that this is among "the best" shows, whatever that means. More than one episode is necessary for that sort of evaluation.) I tend to be more bothered by creepiness than violence, and there were a few moments that scared me, but the rest of it was so compelling that I can get past that.

The reasons why I liked the pilot had little to do with the violence or the serial killing or any of the other things people are mostly talking about. I liked the amazing cast. I liked the literary references. I liked the damaged, tortured hero. I liked the villain who managed to be both charismatic and terrifying. I especially liked their scene together at the end. Sure, the violence was part of it all, but to me, it felt organic, not like random violence for the sake of it.

And really, the most promising sign for any pilot: I want more now.

Morning Coffee (1/21/13)

Happy Inauguration Day! Sorry this is late; I took the day off to watch the festivities and so I let myself sleep a little late.

Hell is my own book tour

Reading Writers I Can't Stand

A little after the fact now, but this is great: MPBN sets up support line to help ‘Downton Abbey,’ Patriots fans deal with scheduling conflict

Rafael Yglesias imagines the future of novelists, post-Armstrong.

Alan Rickman directing Kate Winslet in a movie about Louis XIV's gardeners? Amazing.

Maggie Stiefvater has a very important post on literary rape.

Morning Coffee (1/18/13)

Fringe is ending tonight. I am not ready. But if you need to kill time until the finale starts, my friend Marisa has been posting lots of great interviews with the cast and J.H. Wyman this year. I've already linked to a few, but not all, so check them all out here.

Also worth a read today: TV Guide's four-part Fringe oral history. Start here.

Pauline Phillips, a.k.a. Dear Abby, passed away on Wednesday. The New York Times obituary is a work of art. Also: 10 Weird And Wonderful Dear Abby Columns

Read this if you've been following the story: Manti Te'o in his own words

Whoa: FX is splitting into comedy and drama channels.

Matt Bomer Designs 'White Collar' Inspired Line

Take A Minute To Watch The New Way We Make Web Headlines Now

Yeahhh.... Author of novel attacking lack of academic integrity runs essay-writing service.

Morning Coffee (1/17/13)

I liked The Carrie Diaries! Here's my take at TheTelevixen.

If you missed the crazy college football fictional dead girlfriend story everyone was talking about yesterday, you should really read it.

My boss is smart: Auntie MJ's Vegetarian Tips

Ugh: Lena Dunham, Adele, Lady Gaga, Amy Adams All Very Ugly, Says "Esquire"

12 Truths About Writing and Guilt

Gilmore Girls and/or Bunheads fans should read this fascinating interview with Amy Sherman-Palladino.

The National Book Awards is adding a longlist.

How Twitter Has Become Controversial at the TV Critics Press Tour