Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

This week was a really productive one for me personally, and that's only partially because I just spent a lot of money filling some gaps in my movie and book collections (The Simpsons article I did yesterday scared the crap out of me and I wanted to make sure I owned the same editions of all of the Gore Vidal' Narratives of History books).  However, now it's time to see what I wasn't productive enough to look into this week in the world of links.  Shall we?

On Entertainment...

Madonna

-The Cannes Film Festival lineup was announced this past week, and we saw a bevy of the world's finest filmmakers on the list to compete for the Palme d'Or (essentially the Nobel Prize of Film).  Todd Haynes' Carol, Gus van Sant's The Sea of Trees, Denis Villeneuve's Sicario, and Justin Kurzel's Macbeth were amongst the biggest films on the list, though it's Cannes so that doesn't mean that they're going to win, exactly (last year it went to Winter Sleep, a film most people weren't familiar with prior to attending).  Also screening there, though not as part of the competition, are George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road, Woody Allen's Irrational Man, and the latest Pixar film Inside Out.  Finally, it's worth noting that Marion Cotillard, who has famously competed for Best Actress (and lost) the past three years in a row, is back again with Macbeth, though she'll face competition from the likes of Cate Blanchett, Emily Blunt, and Italian superstar Margherita Buy.

-The Daily Beast had a marvelously articulate article about Madonna's re-emergence to promote her new album Rebel Heart.  The article is spot-on (and includes a FANTASTIC dig against Piers Morgan, so it's worth the click just for that), and really brings up some great comparisons to men like Richard Gere and Harrison Ford who "remained sexy" into their 50's but how only women like Helen Mirren, who simply wink at their sexuality, are allowed to remain sexually viable past fifty.  Madonna of course isn't going to acquiesce to critics, but it's really sad because there's likely great music by former female superstars that just lies dormant because of this sexist attitude (U2, Bruce Springsteen, and the Rolling Stones continued to put out great records well past their "sexual prime," after all).  And speaking of women that constantly are abused by the media for daring to defy beauty standards, Sarah Jessica Parker will be returning to HBO, which is a welcome sign for anyone who recognized the genius of Sex and the City and why Carrie Bradshaw deserves to stand alongside Tony Soprano, Walter White, and Don Draper in the anti-hero pantheon.

-Sofia Vergara is involved in one of the stranger celebrity stories of the week, with her ex-boyfriend Nick Loeb suing her to stop destruction of two embryos they created through in-vitro fertilization before they broke up.  The case itself is actually quite intriguing from a legal perspective (who owns the rights to the embryos in this case, and where does it stand in the abortion legal lexicon?).  Throw in Vergara's celebrity and you have what may end up being a front-page news story for a while.

On Politics...

Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)

-I will admit to not usually enjoying Chris Cillizza, who leans a bit too hard right in his columns for my taste, but he's got a fascinating look at Gov. Chris Christie's depleted role in the 2016 race and whether or not he missed his moment to be president in 2012.  History is so much more intriguing in hindsight, but I think even at the time it felt like Christie was giving up a prime opportunity to be president.  This is true of others-Hillary Clinton/Al Gore in 2004, Al Gore/Mario Cuomo in 1992, Ted Kennedy in 1976, where the candidate may have had their best shot and missed it (and with the exception potentially of Clinton, none of them got to be president).  Christie could well end up pulling something like John McCain did in 2008 (an article for a different day), but that seems unlikely-at this point only a guy who likes long odds would bet on him resurrecting his political career.

-President Obama will visit South Dakota in May, giving the Mount Rushmore State the honor of being his fiftieth state visit.  I love this both because I think that president's should make a point of reaching out to states that aren't necessarily large or favorable to their party (like it or not, Barack Obama is the president for all Americans), and also because I love presidential trivia.  Obama will become the fourth president to visit all fifty states while in office, with Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton being the other three (President George W. Bush missed only Vermont, which was probably because there was a movement in the state to impeach him at the time).

-Proving that he is definitely running a long game election, Gov. Jeb Bush came out in favor of a confirmation on Loretta Lynch.  I know that Sen. Mitch McConell is trying to play hard ball here, but it's not really working-Lynch is about as non-controversial as a federal appointment can get, and it feels like they are denying a position, rather than a person (they should have gone for a federal judge with some skeletons in the closet instead to make this point).  I also loved the joke Jeb made about trying to prove that his candidacy isn't just breaking a tie with the Adams' family (the only other father-son presidential pair), even if it might hint at the insularity of the White House.  In fact, my only qualm with Jeb this week was his jab at Hillary Clinton for going to Chipotle.  Republicans-stop talking about Hillary at Chipotle.  It's idiotic, makes you look idiotic, and, also, everyone loves Chipotle.  It's not a winnable fight.

-Sen. Heidi Heitkamp owns the internet...and is decidedly Team Stark.

Shameless Self-Promotion of the Week...

-Can someone go back in time and greenlight this movie?

YouTube Video of the Week...

-Human perfection Christina Bianco recreates the classic "Get Happy/Happy Days" performance made immortal by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand (Christina of course does both voices splendidly).

Just One More...

-If any of my readers live in Los Feliz, can you please go to this restaurant so that this trend starts to hit the rest of the country, because churro ice cream sandwiches are something I need in my person immediately.