Morning Coffee (4/30/13)

If you were cut off from the world yesterday: NBA player Jason Collins came out, via this essay in Sports Illustrated. I really recommend reading it. Also worth a read: His twin brother's response.

Tumblr of the day, for those of a certain sensibility: Fuck It and Move to Britain (Note: Their background/layout is eye-stabbingly awful, but the pictures are great, so I recommend following via Tumblr or RSS.)

Read Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan on writers being paid to write and some of the gender issues around that.

For those, like me, playing along at home, here's the schedule for May's TV upfronts.

The young royals went to a Warner Bros. thing and basically had a lot of Harry Potter wand fights and it's the best thing ever.

Awesome Pulp Paperback Redesigns of Classic Novels

Want to read about a sensational murder in 1959 L.A.? Sure you do.

25 Vintage Photos of Librarians Being Awesome

Morning Coffee (4/29/13)

Hey soap fans, the first new online episodes are available for All My Children and One Life to Live.

Ugh: On Wikipedia, Men Who Write Books Are Just Novelists, While Women Who Do Are “Women Novelists”

Ooooh, first trailer for The Killing! So excited!

Hollywood’s Kickstarter Craze Needs To Be Fair To Fans As Well As Filmmakers

76 Guest Stars Of “The Good Wife” Ranked In Order Of Excellence

The Revolutionary Effect of the Paperback Book

Ancient Maya discovery sheds new light on the origins of civilization

Heh: The 27 Stages Of Getting Addicted To A Television Show

Morning Coffee (4/26/13)

Happy Friday! I keep thinking of things I want to write about, so maybe I should try actually blogging semi-regularly in addition to posting links? Thoughts?

Oh hey, they're putting Churchill on money!

DELIGHTFUL Twitter account: HuffPo Spoilers

14 Reasons Why Life Should Be More Like Singin' in the Rain

I just heard about Laurie King's new standalone (coming out this fall) set in 1929 Paris, and ooooh.

Speaking of books, have you seen the gorgeous new covers for Sarah Rees Brennan's Lynburn Legacy series?

I do not like the thing that you like, and that is okay.

I've been wanting a new Guys & Dolls movie for a while, so . . . I am cautiously optimistic.

This is great: Mini Maine

Morning Coffee (4/25/13)

West Fertilizer Co.’s environmental compliance problems go back decades

If Jill Abramson were a man...

Here's the best profile I've seen so far of Elizabeth Colbert Busch.

Here's an interesting read about the evolution of Sundance and the Sundance Channel. I loved Top of the Lake and am liking Rectify so far.

"Indeed, for customer-support calls, people with a criminal background actually perform a bit better."

Football's Worst Nightmare

In praise, sort of, of Billy Joel.

How The Silver Age Of Television arrived without anyone realizing it

Morning Coffee (4/24/13)

The Following fans, make sure you don't miss this amazing season finale trailer.

NBC now seems to be racing the CW to see who can make a real-life Hunger Games first. (Note: This is not a compliment.)

Yesterday, the Associated Press's Twitter account was hacked and tweeted out a false report of explosions at the White House. This is what the stock market did.

Today in NH state reps being idiotic and insane: NH State Rep. Suggests Boston Bombing Was ‘False Flag’ Conspiracy

This devolution has been so sad to watch: American Girls Aren't Radical Anymore

Leading Men Age, But Their Love Interests Don't

I don't necessarily agree with everything in this piece about romance novels and feminism, but it makes some good points. And one of the books mentioned, A Lady Awakened, is incredible. I tend to recommend it by saying "It's amazing! It's all about bad sex and land management theories!" Maybe I need to work on that. (But really!) I'm disappointed there was no mention of Nora Roberts, who keeps up a shockingly huge output of novels that are both feminist and reliably high-quality.

I don't watch Duck Dynasty, but Alan Sepinwall is considering some interesting ideas about the blurring boundaries between scripted and "reality" TV.

Morning Coffee (4/23/13)

Josh Charles was apparently cooking Italian food on The Chew yesterday. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but I thought it might be just what your Tuesday morning needs.

In praise of the long celebrity profile

Aaah, trailer for season two of Copper! Season one is now streaming on Netflix if you need to catch up.

The 14 Best Hodor Quotes From "Game Of Thrones"

Speaking of, check out Matt Yglesias's new series Economics of Ice and Fire.

Oh my gosh. It's an old Nintendo-style Great Gatsby game. This is amazing.

This web series about real teen mothers (to counter Teen Mom et al.) in nearby Holyoke, MA looks interesting.

These Friends-style Battlestar Galactica credits just made my morning.

Morning Coffee (4/22/13)

Jesus, this week.

Apparently Google is actually trying to build the Star Trek computer.

Absolutely fascinating: When Dickens met Dostoevsky (or, you know, didn't)

Eden Foods doesn't want to pay for employees' contraception as required by law, so you might want to buy different soy milk.

Rock albums as book covers

Interesting read: Meet the Gaybros

Ooh, read about the new Mary Rose museum.

Mary Robinette Kowal sneaks the Doctor into all her historical fantasy novels.

Morning Coffee (4/18/13)

It's Thursday. Everything is terrible. Can we just declare this week over now?

Boston:

Why Boston's Hospitals Were Ready

This is an interesting read on how Breaking News decided NOT to report the "arrest."

FYI, Castle fans, ABC is swapping next week's episode with the following one because the one originally scheduled deals with a bomb situation.

Other:

Gabrielle Giffords: A Senate in the Gun Lobby's Grip

Hey look, it's a giant profile of John Le Carre!

And Le Carre in his own words: "I was a secret even to myself."

I haven't seen confirmation yet, but according to Krysten Ritter, unaired episodes of Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23 are going online. Yay.

These creepy abandoned theme parks are fascinating.

Morning Coffee (4/17/13)

Boston bombing related:

The man who bought BostonMarathonConspiracy.com is a hero.

Because yes, there are already tons of "truthers."

This got me teary: Basically All of Boston Is Offering Stranded Runners a Warm Bed and a Fuzzy Dog

NPR's Peter Segal crossed the finish line right before the explosions. Here's his story.

TV critic Ryan McGee, whose office in Boston was put on lockdown, reflects. It's good. Read it.

Non-Boston related:

Well, this is terrible: A state rep from a few towns over referred to women as "vagina's" in an email to the official legislative listserv. I'm so outraged that I can barely find the energy to point out his bad grammar.

Income Inequality by Subway Stop

Read Todd VanDerWerff on how to save network TV.

Though I also agree with Alan Sepinwall that there's just too much good TV to keep up with it all.

This Definitive Ranking of Noodles from Worst to Best is mostly just VERY INCORRECT, but tortellini is totally "ravioli's fun older brother who will always buy you beer."

Morning Coffee (4/16/13)

Like everyone else in the Boston area (and many around the world), I've been glued to the news since the marathon bombings yesterday. I have nothing original or insightful to say about this tragedy, so I'll just urge patience and caution with repeating unsourced information or conjecture, and recommend a few trustworthy local news sources: Boston.com (affiliated with the Boston Globe), WBZ (Boston CBS affiliate; they had exclusive rights to broadcast the race so they already had lots of reporters and cameras on scene), and WBUR (Boston NPR news station). In addition, there's been good coverage at my favorite British paper, The Guardian.

A few unrelated things:

Here are the Pulitzer Prize winners.

And the Women's prize for fiction (formerly the Orange prize) short list.

Jackie Robinson on Sesame Street

Here's the first NASA job posting for astronauts.