Tag: links (Page 1 of 25)

I’ve started following Denny Carter in recent weeks and enjoy his perspective on politics and the general state of the world. The sub-head of this piece is perfect: Being an asshole is a choice.

Free speech was meant to empower the powerless against the powerful, not to provide protection for society’s privileged members to hurl invective at the unprivileged and marginalized. The American right – and parts of the left – have twisted the idea of actual free speech into an unrecognizable mess that tells Americans they should have the right to say any insulting thing any time they want to anyone online or in real life. “It’s a free country, I can do what I want,” they say, just as I said as a young, stupid child.

Self Censorship Is Actually Good

Despite loving the Beatles, I found this list very funny. I guess there are tons of young people who think the Beatles are overrated, likely because they grew up on music that was influenced by or ripped off what the Beatles did first – or even music that ripped off those rip offs – and can’t appreciate the OGs.

1. “The Fool On The Hill”
   What happens when a heartthrob boy band does a shitload of drugs and become hippies and start really trying to get creative? Poop on tape. I’m pretty sure this song has a kazoo solo in it. I’m also pretty sure this is what horses hear when they are killed.

The Top 10 Worst Beatles Songs

It was cool that America got to find out what a great coach Jenny Boucek is and what an interesting personal story she has during the NBA Finals.

Parenting and game plans: Inside Jenny Boucek’s extraordinary basketball journey to the Pacers

The Ringer is THE best place for NBA content these days. I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Simply put, The Ringer’s coverage came across as if it was created by people who have been following players like Haliburton since he was a draft prospect, whereas ESPN’s coverage did its best to force both the Thunder and the Pacers into predetermined morning debate show narratives.

Bill Simmons and The Ringer’s NBA Finals coverage was everything ESPN’s wasn’t

I haven’t watched any of these yet, but I 100% will be watching the Phineas and Ferb revival soon. Best kids show ever!

‘PHINEAS AND FERB’ STICKS TO WHAT WORKS IN A WELCOME RETURN

Another useful harnessing of the Internet’s power.

If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel – A tediously accurate map of the solar system

John Siracusa is one of the most respected members of the Apple blogosphere. In these two pieces he lays the smack down on Tim Cook.

Apple Turnover
Apple Turnaround

Another bonkers and amazing addition to the legacy of the Voyager project: thrusters that had been assumed unusable for over 20 years have been revived. I keep waiting to hear that the minuscule budget line that keeps this project has been X-ed out by you -know-who.

NASA’s Voyager 1 Revives Backup Thrusters Before Command Pause

As lazy as it is to keep rolling out remakes of old stuff, I will give a re-booted Scrubs a shot. Also an excuse to go watch some of the old ones again. Standard def ain’t going to be pretty.

Zach Braff Boards ‘Scrubs’ Reboot at ABC

A moving piece about how music can affect us, and how that changes when the people that make the music are revealed to be (possibly) terrible humans.

I can’t hear those words in the warm, paternal way I once did, knowing that someone else’s daughter claims he damaged her. It’s as simple as that when it comes to these matters of art vs. artist: Can you listen to the music without hearing ghosts in it?

The Arcade Fire Problem

It was inevitable but there seems to be a growing movement to “re-discover” CDs and CD players amongst some music geeks. Which is cool; I don’t judge anyone for diving into the history of physical music formats. A sub-set of that group is interested in Sony MiniDisc players. I never had one, but always thought they were super cool. This article looks back on how they worked and what made them unique.

How MiniDisc Worked

The entire site is a cool reminder of when Sony made the greatest shit.

Finally, a modern review of Fletch.

The Cult Movie Club: Fletch @ 40

A few more links to pieces some of you may be interested in.

I love thinking about how this will delight some Star Wars geeks, and make others super angry.

The Phony Physics of Star Wars Are a Blast

Sadly I didn’t find this recent interview with Bob Mould until after I saw him last week.

What are your feelings right now about the state of the country?
It’s the end of an era, this great experiment we put together. I don’t know how we get out of this. I’m 64. I’ve seen a lot. Nothing like this. I don’t even know where to start. Every single person, whether you stand up against the MAGA movement or whether you’re part of it, you’re going to feel it, unless you’re in the very tippity, tippity top of the one percent or maybe the top two percent of income earners in America.

‘THIS IS WAR’: BOB MOULD ON AGING INDIE, HIS MUSIC’S LEGACY, AND WHERE THE U.S. GOES FROM HERE

The headline for this piece is hardly an original thought – I’ve had it many times over the past nine-ish years – but there’s never a bad time for giving Carl Hiaasen some attention and props. So many of his books are similar – if still enjoyable – that I haven’t read a new one in years. I’ve added his most recent to my list.

Yet even the most detestable characters are more complicated than they appear at first glance: Hiaasen aims to create, as he once put it, villains whom “people don’t want to shoot right away.”

We’re All Living In A Carl Hiaasen Novel

Perhaps this should be a launching point for a longer piece by me, but I figured it’s better just to link to the article and share a couple thoughts about Myles Turner. It’s hard to believe he’s been in Indy so long. His career has been odd, as mentioned in the piece. But a funny thing happens when a player hangs around long enough: they become beloved. That he’s in the center of the success of the current edition of the Pacers is as satisfying as it is surprising.

Myles Turner made me cry: On his decade-long journey with the Indiana Pacers

Fantastic news! Although this begs the question as to why NBC even exists anymore if they are going to hide this on Peacock.

Amy Poehler, Mike Schur Reunite for Peacock Comedy ‘Dig’

I feel seen.

THIS FIVE-HUNDRED-WORD BUMPER STICKER ON MY TESLA EXPLAINS WHY I’M NOT A BAD PERSON

A bunch of good reads to share.

When I went to Washington D.C. with L’s class two years ago, one of the most impactful experiences was the several hours we spent in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It was emotional, made me angry and proud to be an American at the same time, and should be a required stop on any DC visit. Naturally it is under fire because telling the truth about our past offends too many old, white people.

This nation’s history exists inside this museum. Attempting to strip the institution of the stories that tell the truth about who we have been is an attempt to perpetuate a lie about who we are.

What It Means To Tell The Truth About America

This is an amazing piece in general, attempting to both quantify the Vietnam War and then put those numbers into context. This passage really struck me, though. It very much sums up Trump’s America, where you never admit you made a mistake so you never take responsibility for how your actions impact others (emphasis in pull quote is mine).

The US has given $750 million for the cleanup effort, which seems like a large sum until you realize that the country spent $352 billion ($2.2 trillion after inflation) on the war effort. Earlier this year, the Trump administration ~suspended funding~ for bomb removal in Vietnam. Given the size of the issue, and how much progress has been made in five decades, it’s difficult to imagine a bomb-free Vietnam in the next 500 years — unless the current pace is significantly accelerated.

For Scale

This is a good companion piece.

How Photography From the Vietnam War Changed America

Sammy Hagar loves talking about himself and Van Halen. It’s always entertaining. Here he theorizes on why Eddie Van Halen stopped making new music late in his life.

So, that’s why he stopped writing, I think, because he just ran out. Shit, how much do you need? How much can you squeeze out of the dude? He gave his blood, brother.

SAMMY HAGAR TO ALEX VAN HALEN: ‘JUST LEAVE ME ALONE. I’LL LEAVE YOU ALONE’

Steven Hyden with his latest list. I feel like there are some stretches, but as a member of the CD generation, there are also a lot of entries here that pretty much everyone my age owned at some point. I loved this line, too.

There have been 15 (!) Aerosmith greatest hits albums in all, an incredible statistic considering there are (I’m being generous because I actually like Aerosmith) about 15 genuinely good Aerosmith tunes.

The Most ‘CD Album’ Albums Ever, Ranked

I watched the latest Fletch movie over the weekend, a movie I either did not know or had forgotten existed until I scrolled past it looking for something else. So I did some digging, and here are two of the better pieces I came across about the decades-long efforts to make the next entry in the series.

The Lost Roles of the Unproduced Fletch Reboot
Forget the steak sandwich, the 30-year journey to the Confess, Fletch trailer is over

WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK?!?!?!

He felt the most dramatic way to raise awareness of the issue was to allow himself to be bit, repeatedly…To date, he estimates he’s willingly been bit some 200 times by all manner of venomous snakes — black mambas, taipans, cobras, kraits and many others.

He let snakes bite him some 200 times to create a better snakebite antivenom

Interesting Bluesky thread about the production cycle, and costs, for Nikes, and how tariffs might affect them.

derek guy (@dieworkwear.bsky.social)

Given that our government is run by a fool who should be on some serious ADHD meds, it is nearly impossible to follow what is going on in Washington as it wildly careens from one insane policy to another every 6–12 hours. Thus, a couple of the articles I’m linking to below were out-of-date almost as soon as they were published. That doesn’t mean they aren’t still worth reading, though.

These are crazy times. Thus, it seems totally appropriate that one of the best breakdowns of our country’s ludicrous new trade policy comes from a writer whose primary focus is sports.

When I go to the store and buy something, I incur a trade deficit with the store, but most of the time I don’t feel like I got ripped off. The store got my money, I got something I wanted, everybody wins. But Trump—and this may be a window into how he himself does business—seems to see every buyer as a mark and every seller as a con artist. If we’re buying more from them than they are from us, we must be the suckers, and if we’re the suckers, we need to do whatever we can to reverse the imbalance and resume our rightful place as the alpha grifters of the world.

Four Totally Logical, Sensible, Legit Explanations for Trump’s Tariff Plan

This is a more serious look at why “Bringing Manufacturing Back to America!” is far more difficult than any politician will ever admit.

A ‘US-Made iPhone’ Is Pure Fantasy

There needs to be a Things Are Generally Fucked Up chart in here, too.

30 Charts That Show How Covid Changed Everything

Now for something completely different, it’s not every day I link to The Curling News. You know it’s going to be a doozy when I do.

This is, hands down, the worst thing I ever seen or heard of in my 42 years in this sport.

As a result, it’s the nightmare scenario: a player or players in the year 2025 who are deciding to blatantly cheat, and break the rules, because they think they can get away with it.

OK, maybe that’s not so different from what’s going on in the rest of the world after all.

China Caught Cheating in Curling

I’ve never been a huge Air Jordan guy, I haven’t owned a pair of true Jordans since the originals,[1] but for some reason I always read articles ranking the various editions. For the record, I would rank them 3, 4, 1, and don’t care after that.

Air Jordan power rankings: Which shoe is tops as the brand celebrates 40 years?

I know several of my friends are like me, and will have a kid traveling in Europe sometime over the next 12 months. This isn’t super useful for communicating, but is a fun tool to see how words change as you cross borders.

European word translator

Steven Hyden has a new megalist out, this one his favorite 100 indie rock albums of the last 25 years. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop, spending over an hour working through it while building a playlist based upon it to listen to over spring break.

The Best Indie Rock Albums Of The 21st Century, Ranked

I’m not a vinyl-head by any measure, but I try to stay up on music news and trends. Yet I was surprised to read about this business in Kansas that is helping to keep high-end vinyl records a viable product.

“What I’m all about,” he said, “is saving the world from bad sound.”

The Wizard of Vinyl is in Kansas

The Office turned 20 this week. Two pieces that honor that occasion.

‘The Office’ Turns 20: An Oral History of Season 1 From the Writers Who Shaped It
The Office’s 25 Best Cold Opens

Baseball starts for real tomorrow. I enjoyed this essay about keeping score.

…Sims does much of his own tracking, creating his primary reference materials as the events themselves occur. It’s a triangle of action: he watches it, he marks it down, and he talks about it. See, write, talk, see, write, talk. One corner of the triangle informs the other as the space between them gains texture. The past informs the present.

You Gotta Keep Score: Broadcaster Dave Sims on His Scoring Method

Another fantastic story about the legacy of Bob Uecker.

“He made everything better. Whether it was with his knowledge or his wit, his storytelling, just his voice, all of it. That was his gift, and he shared it with the world.

Bob Uecker’s Voice Lives On

I would be lying if I didn’t admit I wish this was a real thing and not a joke.

Steal My Tesla

Speaking of the current state of our country, this is a good site to check often to cut through the bullshit, half-truths, and straight up lies that dominate our news cycle. It calls out fools from all perspectives that spout nonsense. But one camp, for obvious reasons, gets called out far more often.

FactCheck.org

For a less neutral accounting of our descent into tyranny, bookmark this list.

LEST WE FORGET THE HORRORS: AN UNENDING CATALOG OF TRUMP’S CRUELTIES, COLLUSIONS, CORRUPTIONS, AND CRIMES

Heavy on James Bond content today, as there was some major news regarding the series’ future along with two other tidbits that haven’t received nearly as much attention.

First, Amazon threw another billion dollars at Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli to take over full control of the Bond series. Broccoli especially has not been thrilled with what she believes Amazon’s plans for the series are – she assumes they will milk it for content the way Disney has mined the Star Wars brand and dilute its quality and value – which has prevented any progress in either selecting Daniel Craig’s successor or even developing a script for the next 007 film.

James Bond’s long-serving producers give control to Amazon

I also think it’s strange that after initially making all the Bond films available on Prime Video following Amazon’s aquisition of MGM, almost all of them have disappeared. I’m not sure if that had something to do with this battle, but perhaps they begin to cycle through Prime again.

One internet author takes the obvious, hilarious swing at what an Amazon Bond script might look like.

Exclusive: Amazon’s new James Bond script

An Austrian developer is challenging the trademark of the James Bond name in Europe that could lead to businesses being able to slap it on just about any product.

James Bond in battle to keep hold of 007 super spy’s name

Finally, the UK and European copyrights on Ian Fleming’s original works are about to expire, which could lead to some very interesting possibilities.

Licence to kill: could a James Bond horror emerge when book copyrights expire?

Here’s an assessment of Jon Krakaeur’s battle with a YouTube troll I linked to a week or so back.

Also, as the internet demonstrates over and over again, we just love picking a villain, then doubling down on the choice until we’ve transformed them into an absurd caricature of wickedness. Whatever need this impulse serves, it’s never a desire to know the truth.

Climbing Mt. YouTube

Finally, a fun internet list. I’ve seen about 30% of these.

The 100 Greatest TV Performances of the 21st Century

A terrific feature about SNL’s Lorne Michaels as the show celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Many writers have sat beside him watching their sketches die, only to have him turn and say, with stony sarcasm, “You must be very proud.” If the host’s monologue is flat, he’ll moan, “Can we get any charm out of him?” If a piece is too erudite, he might tell its writer, “Can they take the Emmy away?” John Mulaney said, “May the cast members go to their graves never knowing the things I heard under the bleachers.”

Lorne Michaels Is The Real Star of Saturday Night Live

More good SNL stuff.

Who was the single funniest cast member in Saturday Night Live’s history?
Kevin Nealon, cast member, 1986–95: Besides me?

50 Saturday Night Live Cast Members Reveal Their Favorite Saturday Night Live Cast Members

There’s the old saying about not wrestling with a pig because you both get muddy and the pig likes it. Well, author Jon Krakauer decided to take on a YouTuber who, for some unknown reason, has been obsessed with ripping apart Krakauer’s best setting book Into Thin Air, apparently mostly by lying, misrepresenting actual events, and fabricating others. I’m only part way through this series. I recommend having some popcorn handy if you choose to read it.

The YouTuber on a Mission to Trash My Book: Chapter One

As the world gets more absurd each day, sites like McSweeney’s become more important.

Fluoride in the office water has been replaced with a compound of Red Bull and beef jerky.

Mark Zuckerberg Makes Meta More Masculine

I sent this next post to my buddy who works for Apple. He had no comment.

So, how did Siri do? With the absolute most charitable interpretation, Siri correctly provided the winner of just 20 of the 58 Super Bowls that have been played. That’s an absolutely abysmal 34% completion percentage. If Siri were a quarterback, it would be drummed out of the NFL.

Not So Super, Apple

DEPLOY THIS IN INDIANAPOLIS IMMEDIATELY!!!!!

When micro-cracks begin to appear inside the asphalt, it becomes deformed which leads to the oils being released from the spores to fill the cracks. This prevents the oxidation that would otherwise cause the bitumen to become brittle, which would allow larger cracks to form and ultimately result in a pothole.

Self-healing roads could end plague of potholes

What better time than a snowy Sunday to finally share the links I’ve been stacking up over the past month or so.

After reading a 007 novel recently, I wondered why we haven’t heard a timeline for when the movie franchise will launch its post-Daniel Craig era. Turns out there is a lot of drama between the long-time producer of the series and Amazon, who now own the rights to it.

According to WSJ, an Amazon Studios exec’s description of Bond as “content” in an early meeting was like a “death knell” to Broccoli. She has since referred to the folks at Amazon as “fucking idiots” to friends and expressed deep concerns about the e-commerce company being the right fit for Bond.

Looks like we’ll have to keep waiting.

Next James Bond Movie on Hold as Producer Clashes with Amazon

We don’t currently have Max, so I haven’t been able to watch the well-reviewed Yacht Rock series. Whether you’ve seen it or not, you can dive into some of the details of the genre here.

The (Slightly Abridged) Yacht Rock Dictionary

Since Shrinking wrapped up season two a couple weeks back, I was finally able to read this good piece about the man behind it, Bad Monkey, Ted Lasso, and other great TV shows.

Bill Lawrence Has Conquered Apple TV+

For decades I’ve said if I ever won the lottery – I’m talking hundreds of millions here, not small change – my dream would be to own a radio station. Even today, when radio is almost a niche format, I think it would be super cool to have my own station that played music currated independently by local DJs. So it makes me sad that Stephen King has decided to unload the three radio stations he owned for years. I doubt they played cutting-edge music, but it is cool that folks in Maine had locally-owned stations that didn’t rely on an algorithm cooked up in LA and played the same 15 songs on repeat endlessly (I assume his stations weren’t operated that way).

Stephen King Announces Closure of His Maine Radio Stations

Update Apparently at least one of his stations has found a new ownership group that promises not to alter its format.

I had no idea there was this comedic “mystery” behind one of the greatest SNL sketches ever.

Yang shared that “People tense up at the table when they see it’s just your piece, but we were like, ‘You know who did it incredibly well was Will.’ And then we read ‘More Cowbell.’”

Will Ferrell blows mystery of non-existent “More Cowbell” co-writer wide open

And I thought it was just because I was getting old and my eyes getting worse that oncoming headlights bother me so much.

“As usual, we’re trying to play catch-up and figure out how we’re going to address the problems that have been created by this thing that we thought was a solution.”

Asleep at the Wheel in the Headlight Brightness Wars

The great Rodger Sherman on one of the most unique and fun plays in NFL history.

It happened. IT HAPPENED. It really happened! It’s a slightly-before-Christmas football miracle!

Everything you need to know about the fair catch kick, football’s vestigial tailbone

Tom Whitwell’s annual, super enjoyable, list of things he learned.

52 things I learned in 2024

Many fun things in there, but my favorite this: Why Old Sports Photos Often Have a Blue Haze, which was a reminder that a Jayhawk is responsible for some of the greatest sports pictures ever taken. Photographer Rich Clarkson Has Covered the Final Four for 60 Straight Years

And a couple more similar lists:

Your body carries ~literal pieces of your mom~—and maybe your grandmother, siblings, aunts, and uncles.

77 Facts That Blew Our Minds In 2024

The producers of Mork and Mindy needed censors who spoke four languages to catch all the swear words Robin Williams tried to sneak in.

52 Things I Learned in 2024

Finally, surfer Alessandro Slebir may have shattered the record for biggest wave ever surfed. Crazy photo.

As noted a couple weeks ago in my Friday Playlist, the legendary Quincy Jones died recently. He had many epic interviews over the years. I had these two saved and re-read them over the past few days. What a storyteller!

Quincy Jones Has a Story About That
In Conversation: Quincy Jones

I had no real interest in reading Alex Van Halen’s new memoir, Brothers. He was always just the huge presence behind the drum kit in Van Halen, not nearly as interesting as either his brother or David Lee Roth in the band’s glory days. Then I read this piece in the New York Times. He seems far more complex and interesting than I ever knew him to be. And this passage, where he talks about why he wrote about he and his brother’s lives, and what he chose to share, made me put in a library hold immediately.

But “Brothers” is not a story of regret. It’s a tale of understanding, of acceptance, of love. Mostly, of humanness. “If you’re going to tell the story, you should give equal space to the good and the bad,” Alex said. “Because the good doesn’t make any sense without having the bad.”

Eddie Van Halen Changed Rock History. Now His Brother Is Telling Their Story.

It took me some time, but I finally got to Netflix’s Starting 5 earlier this month. So finally time to read/share this overview piece that has a similar perspective to mine on the series.

10 Takeaways From ‘Starting 5,’ Netflix’s Sweaty, Nosy New NBA Docuseries

I LOVED Richard Scarry books when I was a kid, and loved sharing them with my girls when they were young. So, of course, I loved this look at Scarry’s life and career.

Richard Scarry and the art of children’s literature

This line has more to do with the piece’s author than Scarry, but it screamed to be the pull quote.

I must have been a real pain in the ass as a kid. But Richard Scarry somehow made me feel safe and settled.

This piece by Chris Arnade was a suggestion from one long form newsletter or another that I’m subsribed to. I enjoyed learning about the fascinating little country of the Faroe Islands. It was also interesting to read about Arnade, who has carved out a controversial space among traveling photographers (despite being a self-described socialist who clearly is in favor of big government intervention in the economy and social safety nets, a couple prominent Republicans offered jacket blurbs for his book).

Walking Faroe Islands (part two)

Best of all was this photo he referenced, which is on the official Faroe Islands tourism site. That’s some public transit system!