Just the usual spin around ye olde internets for interesting links:
- Ethan Coen’s “Drive-Away Dolls”, Reviewed by Joel Coen – Obviously a parody, but it does seem like the sort of thing they would do, completely straightfaced and never breaking the bit. (Also of note, Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, Reviewed by Ethan Coen.)
Mr. Coen’s chronic deceitfulness likely hurt his lead actresses’ performances. Co-leads Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan seemed distracted and confused — what faulty direction did Mr. Coen give them? Did he tell them something perplexing? Did he give them information that didn’t quite compute? More to the point: Did he tell them that I got diarrhea on the monkey bars in fifth grade? He tells everyone that even though it’s not true! I was on the monkey bars and then got off and ran inside to use the bathroom! That is not getting diarrhea “on” the monkey bars! And I was only sick in the first place because I got the flu that Ethan brought home from Mike Fegel’s birthday party! DID ETHAN TELL MARGARET QUALLEY THAT I GOT DIARRHEA ON THE MONKEY BARS?!?!?! I AM GOING TO ABSOLUTELY DIE IF HE DID THAT!!! HE IS SUCH A MEAN JERK!!
- Pom Klementieff Fantasy Football Trash Talk – So apparently a bunch of the Avengers were in a fantasy football league and made short trash talk videos for each other and then Pom Klemetieff did this in response. Apparently this happened a few years ago and Klemetieff roped in Simon Pegg and Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson into helping her out. It’s great.
- Stop Motion Godzilla Treats – This is so stupid I love it.
- Cookie Monster Godzilla – Not quite as stupid, but still stupid.
- Etymology of the word “Dog” – The origin of the word “dog” is unknown and apparently “remains one of the great mysteries of English etymology.”
- German Chocolate Cake does not come from Germany. It’s American and it was invented by Samuel German.
- the best picture nominees as it’s always sunny in philadelphia quotes – Perfect, no notes.
- Today is Egg Day – This guy ate 30 eggs in one waking day “solely to prove a woman in a viral tiktok wrong.”
- The Stunt Awards Are Back – Critics got sick of the Oscars not adding a category for Best Stunts, so they did their own, more comprehensive Stunt Awards, and it’s great. I watched a bunch of stuff I might not have if not for these awards.
- Someone Used AI to Rewrite My Book. It’s So Much Worse Than I Could Have Imagined. – AI is going to bring bake gatekeepers, isn’t it?
- Invisible Ink: At the CIA’s Creative Writing Group – Guy gets invited to speak at the CIA headquarters to what appears to be a relatively informal group of writers. No speaking fee, but there was free lunch and he got to take his picture in front of the CIA seal (which I can only imagine that he’ll be using as his author photo/headshot for the rest of his life).
While we waited for our food, the writer of dystopian sci-fi confirmed that if you work for the CIA, lawyers have to vet anything you publish. But they were more lenient than I would’ve guessed. She said that one of her novels had helped change how the agency viewed fiction versus nonfiction. While reading her novel, the lawyers decided that just because a character in a novel says something doesn’t mean that the author necessarily agrees, so there should be more leeway for CIA fiction writers. (Which suggests CIA lawyers are more nuanced literary critics than half of Goodreads.)
That’s all for now. Next week: The Oscars!