Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

Let's take a look at what's happening around the web!

In the world of Politics...

Henry Kaiser Family Foundation: For those of you who want to see if you will actually be paying more with the Affordable Care Act, this is a great little calculator to peruse.

Sean and Chris, the loving couple...except on the campaign trail?

Buzzfeed crucifies Sean Eldridge for his straight-as-an-arrow rollout of his congressional campaign.  His website and his first video both don't mention his work on behalf of marriage equality or his gazillionaire husband Chris Hughes.  Eldridge is a great on-paper candidate, but between that nasty New York Times article from a few months back and his quick "bury-the-gay" campaign rollout (don't give me that look-NO straight politician wouldn't put his wife and/or children into a biographical campaign commercial) makes me think this is an all-flash, no-substance campaign.

Washington Post: Former Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) got into a dish-tastic conversation about her losing Senate campaign in 2012, throwing her consultants and staff underneath the bus.  Aside from being gossipy fun (you rarely get a politician this prominent speaking this candidly), I don't think she has a good point.  Berkley's ethical issues were intense, and they certainly wouldn't have gone away just by her "being herself."  She still came within a hair's breadth of winning a Senate seat (the only big miss for the upper house Democrats in 2012), but I think that she made it that far by riding Obama's coattails in spite of her issues; the consultants helped, not hindered.

Huffington Post: And in our last slightly shallow political story of the week, Wyoming politics got a whole lot saucier when Lynne Cheney told Alan Simpson to "shut his mouth."  I'm 100% behind believing Simpson here (why would he lie?), and I really do question what Liz Cheney was thinking running at this juncture.  I get why she didn't make a go in Virginia (no one's going to beat Mark Warner), but couldn't she wait for an open Wyoming seat?  The governor's mansion will be open in five years-she could have taken it then, and it's not like Enzi is a spring chicken.  Trying to go against the affable incumbent is political suicide, and no amount of her father's goodwill will make up for her completely screwing up her political future by losing a GOP primary in the state.

In the world of Entertainment...

Michael B. Jordan

Playbill: Chicago became only the third show in Broadway history to hit 7000 performances.  One of the zillion things that I miss about living in New York is access to Broadway-now whenever I go to Manhattan I want to see all of the new shows and never hit the long-runners.  If I ever become sporadically rich, I'm going to go and hit Mamma Mia, Chicago, Phantom, and Wicked, so I can see them near Shubert Alley rather than on tour.

The Wrap: My future husband Michael B. Jordan has been cast in an Independence Day sequel.  While I'm all for Michael taking the movie star route, does it really have to be in a sequel?  He has such great movie star potential-why can't someone see that and give him his own franchise and not someone else's?

Film Experience: Michael C. starts into an interesting discussion on audience reaction and what responsibility a director has in shaping said reaction.  It's an interesting topic, though I can't chime in too much as I haven't seen Captain Phillips yet (but I will be going in a couple of weeks!)

And Just One More...

It's not often that a political ad goes viral, but this incredibly clever ad featuring openly gay state legislator Carl Sciortino (he's running for Ed Markey's seat) and his Tea Party-supporting father is definitely worth a view: