Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

Y'all know the drill here by now.  Here's a look at the articles I thought were fascinating this week:

In entertainment...

Jonas Brothers-Broken Up?

Vulture: Considering that Emmanuel Lubezki seems on the verge of another Oscar nomination, and perhaps finally a win, I figured I'd share this terrific look at Lubezki's finest films (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Children of Men, The Tree of Life, To the Wonder, and Gravity), where he discusses a sequence in each movie.

Indiewire: For those of you out there who have that terrific idea for a script that you're certain would land you some acclaim and maybe an Oscar nomination, here's some tips from four award-winning writers (two of whom have competed for shiny gold men).

TheWrap: I will likely be writing more about this in the coming week, but seriously-how great of a year has this been for documentaries?  Literally every time I head to the Landmark, I see three trailers for interesting documentaries that I want to see.  If you haven't seen one yet this year, it's time to head to your local art house or your Netflix queue and start adding some of the many, many, MANY movies on this list.

As for the new Oscar process, I am in love with the idea of an Oscar message board (if only they did this with all of the categories), though I am a teensy bit sad that they won't be able to discover some of the smaller films.  Then again, the narrative film voters rarely see all of the smaller films, so you know, maybe this was inevitable?

People: I'm not 100% certain why I'm putting this out there, but am I the only person who is a little bemused by A) the fact that the Jonas Brothers, a band of actual brothers, have "broken up" and B) how a band that was once the poster boys for purity rings would pose for the above picture?  Anyway, if you were once a fan, check out their thoughts on Miley Cyrus and twerking.

In politics...

Rep. Bill Young (R-FL)

Huffington Post: Could this article be more depressing?  For me, there's nothing quite as sad politically as an American than to watch us slowly lose our position as one of the leaders in scientific discovery (I think this is one of the most worthwhile aspects of government).  These ten things (along with about 10,000 other examples that you've been reading about all over the web) just prove that Republican leadership in the House has completely lost touch with the average American.

Washington Post: Rep. Bill Young (R-FL), who has been in the U.S. House for some over 40 years, announced his retirement this past week.  Young's departure is some of the best news that Democrats got this week-his district went for both Al Gore and Barack Obama (twice!) and it was largely Young's personal popularity that kept this seat in the GOP's column.  Though Charlie Crist will surely not run (who decided that was a good rumor to start?), both sides are currently recruiting for what will be one of 2014's premiere House races.

Gallup: In news that surely will be whispered in hushed tones at the RNC this week, the Republican Party hit the lowest score ever of either political party in Gallup's twenty-year polling history.  They now have an approval rating of just 28% (compared to the Democrats' admittedly low-but-not-by-comparison 43%)

In adventuring...

CNN: I'm positive you have all seen this photo, but I'm just stunned by it still.  What an incredible combination of raw nature and completely lucky camerawork by Baz Jenkins.  And though clearly "fish gotta eat," I'm glad that a clever seal pup like this managed to escape in the end.

CNN: Some sad news this week-Scott Carpenter, legendary astronaut and the second man to orbit the earth died yesterday.

Just one more...

New York Times: A few weeks ago, we discussed the Nobel Prize and what American would be able to win the top literary award.  While an American didn't, win a Canadian did (who is mentioned briefly in the article, so go check it out if you haven't!)-Alice Munro, only the 13th woman to win the award and the first Canadian.  Congrats to her-let's all go read "Dance of the Happy Shades" to celebrate.