Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

I'm going to be a little bit sketchy potentially about posting over the next couple of days (I have company in town), though I'll try to get something out.  If nothing else, I'll try and tweet more to stay in touch (we'll be having a massive influx of posts the week before the 4th, though, since I have the week off and am going to be watching SOOOO many movies).  In the meantime, let's link it up!

In Entertainment...

-Finn Wittrock is returning to American Horror Story next season, and Jason over at MNPP chronicles his hope for Wittrock's story line (as always with Jason, it's slightly NSFW, but his blog is always so funny, and just turned ten so celebrate!).  I have to say, I'm really uneasy about the next season of American Horror Story, mostly because I think I might be done with it.  I was glued the first two seasons, got incredibly bored with the highly-convoluted third season, and was really underwhelmed in Season Four with the HUGE exception of Dandy Mott, Wittrock's Emmy-worthy creation.  As a result, with Jessica Lange gone I was really ready to give up, and Lady Gaga's entry as a leading actor was all the more reason, in my opinion, to get out (I get it, she can "actually sing," but so can Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, Kelli O'Hara, and Jessie Mueller, and yet none of them ever get this sort of break despite also being able to "actually act"...and being better singers).  Until Gaga has her Silkwood moment, I'm out, but will probably still try and find the clips of what Finn does next on the series.

-(Spoilers Ahead if you haven't caught up with Game of Thrones) After this past week, when we saw the Walk of Shame from Cersei on Game of Thrones, more and more people are talking about quitting watching Game of Thrones.  This, combined with Sansa's rape scene, Princess Shireen's heinous death, and the wildly discussed death of Jon Snow, arguably the series most popular character give or take Tyrion, has made people wonder if perhaps the show has jumped the shark.  While I will not be amongst those who quits and think that some of these decisions were interesting (the Cersei Walk of Shame was painful to watch, but it does give her a different sort of motive for the next season if you look at this from a purely character-based angle, since she is the de facto monarch), I have to agree that this wasn't the greatest season of the show from a completely story-structure angle (though it exhibited some of the best acting), and I wonder if occasionally these moments were utilized more as water-cooler than in ways that will actually aid the storyline (I refuse to believe there's a better resolution to this series than Jon Snow ending up either taking the Iron Throne, or at the very least becoming the Lord of Winterfell).  I think the principle problem is that the show bit off more than it could handle this season-the Tyrells' imprisonment felt completely forgotten, and the Jamie/Marcella bit seemed too rushed.  All-in-all, while it may still be my favorite show on TV (it has competition from a couple of other series, including the soon-to-arrive Leftovers), I do wish they would have paced it a bit more-we don't want this to become a polarizing Lost-style situation in the final two years, and if they needed it to be eight, HBO is hardly going to quibble considering the continued ratings.

-IndieWire chronicles why television is far more diverse when it comes to celebrated TV movies than film is.  While IndieWire is always a site with a ridiculously short memory (seriously-Frances McDormand's career-best performance in Olive Kitteridge and not Fargo?), they have a point about the elasticity of television and the way that its business model allows for more risk since so much original content is needed.

In Politics...

Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC)

-The Washington Post has a great article chronicling the history of the Confederate flag flying over the South Carolina Capitol, which was notably not at half-mast after the racially-charged shootings in Charleston early last week.  The article provides a good explanation on its history, but it doesn't answer the obvious question everyone in the country that doesn't participate in Civil War reenactments is asking: "why the hell didn't this flag get taken down over a century ago?"  Seriously, no one in their right mind could look at the Confederate Flag and not see the clear racist implications behind it.  It'd be as if Germans wanted to keep flying the Swastika because of its link to history.  I think it is a damn shame that despite the fact that other modernized countries don't have these sorts of mass shootings and the only major difference is their gun laws, we have politicians like Gov. Haley who refuse to endorse the need for gun legislation.  But I think it's truly beyond reprehensible that that flag is still flying in the wake of this tragedy, and that it gets to fly at all on government property.

-If there's an under-the-radar story of the week, it has to have been the continued unease between organized labor and House Democrats after the past few weeks of the fast-track votes.  Yes, the AFL-CIO scored a coup by getting Nancy Pelosi and the majority of the caucus to buck the president, but it was at a price.  Democrats have done a really good job of backing incumbents and their own regardless of tough votes, but targeted attacks on people like Reps. Ami Bera, Scott Peters, and Kathleen Rice not only make Democrats uneasy, but they also potentially alienate allies on almost every other labor issue.  More than one Democrat has noted that labor has been attacking only Democrats, not Republicans in marginal districts on this vote, and that strategy didn't work at all for the Tea Party in the long run...

-If you don't have the time to read through the pope's entire encyclical, but you do want to stay informed, here's your perfect article.  It details the Pope's stances on coal specifically (he views it more unfavorably than even oil or gas), he's against carbon trading, and has some sharp things to say about iPhones.  Overall I'm pumped about this, I have to say-while I don't 100% agree with every point he makes, this is a huge step in the right direction on a critical issue.

Shameless Self-Promotion of the Week...

-With all due respect to all of the women who got dressed up for the Swedish royal wedding, this is the only picture you're going to care about seeing.

YouTube Video of the Week...

-Caspar Lee has arguably his funniest video of all time with Jurassic World star Chris Pratt.  Somewhere my brother is wishing he had started making YouTube videos five years ago so he could have done this interview:

Just One More...

-You might know this about me, but I have a mild obsession with Pippa Middleton.  I have lurved her since the Royal Wedding, and am constantly looking in the Wimbledon stands to see if she is there (Middleton sister watching is basically as important to Wimbledon now as Pimm's and strawberries-and-cream and Andy Murray's white underwear).  It seems that Tommy Hilfiger is also interested in Pippa, as she may soon be the face of his brand.  I say go for it-if you aren't going to date Harry, you might as well jump into fully-fledged celebrity stardom.