Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

It's Saturday-huzzah!!!  And with that, we get back into our old "Everybody's Linking for the Weekend" write-ups, where I link to some of the articles and stories that I've been following all week.

On Entertainment...

-Lena Dunham continued to stir up controversy with her article about "Dog or Jewish Boyfriend?" for The New Yorker.  I know that Lena may do things like this on occasion just to see where the uproar flies (I love her, but she occasionally trolls the public a bit), but in this case it was just a cute article playing on the ridiculousness of stereotypes that isn't dissimilar to the humor of Sarah Silverman or Larry David.  Plus, the reaction to it seems wholly predictable and no piece I've read seemed particularly genuine other than knee-jerk.  As a result I'm not going to link to the outrage articles, but occasionally provocative speech is just that and while I get where people are coming from, I don't quite agree with them.

-Tim Brayton over at the Film Experience finished up his fascinating take on the Rise and Fall of Dreamworks animation, whose Home premieres this weekend amidst a tumultuous time for the studio.  Honestly-this is one of the coolest articles I've read in a while with an in-depth look at a Hollywood studio (recalling Entertainment Weekly before the magazine just became a series of photos with pun-inflected captions to them).  Do yourself a favor and check it out.

-Loved this article from Buzzfeed recounting one person's look at the One Direction break-up, and particularly the part about the double standards employed on girls (who are silly for loving a band so much) and boys (who can mourn and weep over LeBron leaving Cleveland without any public mocking).

On Politics...

-The big story out of Washington yesterday had to be the retirement of Harry Reid.  The chips fell quickly and Politico has an account of how Chuck Schumer swiftly assumed the mantle of next Senate leader, while The Hill looks through the contentious Democratic Primary that could emerge with Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto seeming the frontrunner but Rep. Dina Titus and former Secretary of State Ross Miller both also appearing interested.  I'd like to remind both Titus and Miller that the Republicans have an open governor's race in 2018 and Sen. Dean Heller running for reelection, so if we all learn to share we might have a clear primary and everyone gets a prize.  Meanwhile every Republican in the country is salivating over the prospect of Gov. Brian Sandoval taking a shot at the open seat, as seen in the LA Times, but he seems more intent to wait and see if Jeb Bush picks him over Rob Portman for the veep slot.  In a presidential year, a Republican field without Sandoval would probably start as the underdog considering the uptick in Hispanic voters and recent trends in Nevada regarding presidential elections.

-National Journal included an article about potential fractures for the Democrats headed into the 2016 cycle.  Indeed, with Nevada, Illinois, Florida, Ohio, Maryland, and Pennsylvania all seemingly poised to have contested (and theoretically bitter) primaries, the weird streak of Democrats clearing the field for their preferred candidate appears to be over.  Speaking of Illinois, Rep. Tammy Duckworth, the preferred candidate by many for that state, appears likely to enter the race against Mark Kirk (see this article from HuffPo for more details).  Between Duckworth (or her congressional colleague Robin Kelly) in Ilinois, Kamala Harris in California, Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada, and Donna Edwards in Maryland, a record number of women of color could be entering the Senate in 2017.

-One other story yesterday came out from the EPA.  Bloomberg reports that at least one unidentified chemical was used by most companies while fracking, which comes amidst an all-out war against the practice by environmental groups, including a ban on the practice in New York.  This occurs at a time when we seem to have too much oil in reserves and nowhere to put it.

Shameless Self-Promotion of the Week...

Ansel Elgort is the prettiest of all of the pretty people.

My Favorite YouTube Video of the Week:

My beloved Grace Helbig has her own show that premieres next week, and in preparation for that jump to the mainstream, she was on Jimmy Fallon.  Here she is discussing her mom:

Just One More...

-I cannot believe that this is happening, but my beloved Suze Orman Show will be signing off tonight after 14 years on the air.  The Washington Post did a beautiful piece on Suze, her show, and her legacy (the good and the bad), but I will say that the way those teenage girls felt up-top about One Direction, I feel about Suze leaving.  I met her once at a book-signing (she was bound-and-determined to talk with every last person), and she referred to me as adorable when I came up for an autograph.  I told her that her book Young, Fabulous, and Broke had changed my entire perspective on money and had become my "financial bible."  She smiled, said she "loved that" and indicated that The Money Book was "my new financial bible" (which it has become).  I will miss our Saturdays together, and while I always follow her on Twitter and am excited to see where her new talk-style show takes her, I'm going to miss our Saturday nights together.