Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

It's the weekend, and you know what that means-it's time for another roundup of the links of the week!


In Entertainment...

Billy Magnussen

Boston Globe: Ryan Murphy has confirmed that Glee will end after the next season (making it six in total).  This seems about right, though it'll be interesting to see where they go with the series since clearly the ending was going to focus on the principle couple on the show: Rachel and Finn.

Playbill: Recent Tony nominee Billy Magnussen is rumored to be a frontrunner to replace Charlie Hunnam as Christian Grey in the 50 Shades of Grey big-screen adaption.  Billy is certainly attractive enough to be the enigmatic Mr. Grey, though he seems a bit ripped for the role-I think they have waited too long and they should have just cast Matthew Bomer.

In Contention: In Contention takes a look at the Best Visual Effects race.  While everyone has (rightly) assumed that Gravity has this thing locked up, an Oscar nomination is still a major reward for a film, and I think the other four slots are relatively open right now, considering that, aside from The Hobbit (which hasn't been released yet), all of the blockbusters look fine, but none scream slam dunk.  I still feel that Oz: The Great and Powerful could be this year's Snow White and the Huntsman and score a nomination no one is predicting.

The Savannah Tribune: This is the time of year where film festivals start handing out their lifetime achievement awards like Tic-Tacs, and the Savannah fIlm Festival is no exception, honoring Academy Award Winner Jeremy Irons with their Life Achievement Award.  The odd thing about Irons winning is that Irons doesn't really have any major films in theaters right now-usually these awards go out to people campaigning for an Oscar.  Meanwhile, Irons's son Max has been one of the highlights (link is NSFW) of The White Queen and apparently has been trying out for the Christian Grey role with some nude scenes (don't you feel like he looks better for the role than most being considered?).

In politics...

Roll Call: While we've heard throughout the week about the good of fundraising (Alison Lundergan Grimes out-earned Mitch McConnell in Kentucky) and the bad (Reps. Collin Peterson and Mike McIntyre both put in less than stellar fundraising numbers, inevitably setting off retirement rumors), the weirdest and funniest story of the week was Rep. Mel Watt's $10 fundraising number.  Watt, who is President Obama's nominee to be chief regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, only earned $10 this past quarter; many assume that Watt will retire if he isn't successful in his Senate appointment process-this likely confirms it.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT)

Politico: Former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer has started to float the balloon for a presidential run, regardless of whether Hillary makes the race, and has made a comment suggesting that we need to have someone who isn't a Clinton or a Bush to run for the presidency.  I have multiple problems with this, not least of which is that we currently have a president who is neither a Clinton or a Bush, proving his point incorrect.  Brian Schweitzer is probably at the bottom of my presidential nominee wish list (give or take Andrew Cuomo).  He loses mad points with me for his treatment of next year's Montana Senate race.  While I have high hopes for John Walsh, who is running for the seat for the Dems, Schweitzer spent months fueling speculation that he would be primarying Max Baucus, and when Baucus announced his retirement, Schweitzer didn't run.  Baucus or Schweitzer would both have made the race far more competitive, and I don't like candidates who only worry about themselves and not about downballot races.  I want to win the White House, but that doesn't mean the Senate and House aren't important too (a fact that Joe Biden, the Clintons, and Kirsten Gillibrand have all made clear is a priority considering their campaigning for downballot races across the country).

Washington Post: This is another generic article about the Democrats potentially getting a lift from the recent shutdown/debt ceiling crisis, but the interesting aspect is the Steve Israel quote about 3-5 candidates that are going to be announcing soon for the House.  Israel seems to impress that these are truly strong candidates who are intent on running in seats we don't have tier one candidates in, so I'm very excited.  My gut tells me that one of them will be Alex Sink, Florida's former CFO (an elected position in the state), who has been itching to run for Bill Young's now open seat.

Sacramento Bee: One of the candidates that Israel won't be touting is former Rep. Gene Taylor.  Despite representing Mississippi as a Democrat for two decades, Taylor will be running for his old seat as a Republican if he makes the jump (he lost the seat in 2010).  My gut tells me this will be an exercise in futility-part of the reason Taylor stayed alive for years was his incumbency and the fact that he didn't have to make it through an ultra-conservative Republican primary (the Democrats were never going to win with anyone else, and so they weren't going to go against him to get a more progressive candidate).  In 2014, he'd have neither, and would be a lost cause.

NPR: Former Speaker of the House Tom Foley (D-WA) died yesterday at the age of 84.  At one time one of the most powerful men in the country, he served as Speaker during the administrations of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Just One More...

The Independent: Seriously, I'm sad to end on an angry note, but this is just terrible.  Three men are facing felony charges for pushing over large rock boulders in the iconic Goblin Valley in Utah.  The men are claiming they pushed it over because it wasn't safe, but that's just idiotic (who are they to decide to take down a stone structure that has been standing for 200 million years-just tell the kids not to go down there if they're worried about safety and report it to park officials if it's of true concern).  These sorts of things upset me deeply (people who have no respect for nature or history or the environment), and I truly hope the men are convicted of the felony charges.

Those were the stories that caught me this week-what are your thoughts?