Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

It's Saturday, the sun is, well, not out shining out here in Minnesota (we've had a spattering of unseasonably warm weather, though, so I'm good with that), and it's time for some of the week's best links, wouldn't you say?  Let's get started!:

In Entertainment...

-My favorite series on the web had another installment this past week.  For those who are clueless of such things, click on over to the Supporting Actress Smackdown at the Film Experience to discuss the 1954 Best Supporting Actress race.  I was genuinely curious how this would go since only Eva Marie Saint's Oscar-winning (and theoretically lead) turn in On the Waterfront is remotely discussed today, while the other nominees included Oscar-winner Claire Trevor and three only-timers for AMPAS are largely forgotten.

-In one of the best chuckles I've had in a while, BloodBlitz Comedy, who is famous for creating videos reframing movies and television, decided to give Game of Thrones a go and actually made a video of Joffrey being the good guy.  For those of you who thought this wasn't possible, clearly it's time to take a look.

-A great article about my most beloved of channels, Turner Classic Movies, is fascinating as the continued fears that the channel will start airing a smaller amount of obscure classics in favor of more modern films and "classics" such as Grease is fascinating, since it does appear that there are some shifts happening on the channel (though it's still a beacon of classic film in a world where Netflix continues to have no appreciation for the medium).  I am 110% behind the channel having a streaming service (I would sign up immediately), but only if it finds a way to sustain itself off of such a thing (how much of an appetite is there for a streaming service-I am genuinely curious?) as I don't want to hurt TCM's business model considering my love of the channel.

In Politics...

Vice President Walter Mondale (D-MN)

-In one of the more underwritten about aspects of the presidential race this past week, Hillary Clinton caught my eye with comments in Minneapolis about her push to help improve Democratic performances in Midterms and build a stronger bench of younger elected officials.  If there's one thing that Barack Obama has done a terrible job of in office it is helping to move his coalition beyond just his own votes, and actually finding a way to get these new voters to the polls for Democratic governors, senators, mayor, and legislators.  Clinton recognizes this not only because she needs them to enact parts of her agenda, but also because the long-term growth of the party is at stake if they can only win the White House but keep losing out in the House and in governor's races (Democrats have historically low numbers of governors right now, and in 2015/16 that number could quite easily get even smaller).  Speaking of Hillary, in a story that you probably didn't miss, the former Secretary of State had a bit of an interesting time with her email this week, potentially most embarrassingly with mentions of members of Congress (though Barbara Mikulski clearly should feel good about an endorsement).

-Former Vice President and presidential candidate Walter Mondale is unimpressed with the current batch of candidates for president, calling them "asses," and says that none of them really compare to Jimmy Carter.  With maybe 2-3 exceptions, I'm totally with him on that (he's endorsed one of those exceptions, for the record, though he wasn't willing to comment on the Clinton email scandal).

-Larry Sabato wrote a scathing reaction to this year's presidential contest, which has of course resulted in a massive surge of support for Donald Trump and Ben Carson, two non-politicians that are playing by their own set of political rules.  He has a point-in years past this would have been a walk-in-the-park for the likes of Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, but anathema to hereditary politics (how many times in the past few years have we seen the offspring of politicians make a play for former seats or up-and-coming launchpads?), and the fact that politics has basically just become a series of robotic answers rather than an intelligent discussion of how to address actual issues.  These two factors combined has turned what would be the first presidential rematch in about fifty years (at least if you just look at the last names) into a contest that could pit the likes of a Vermont socialist against a blowhard Republican businessman.

Shameless Self-Promotion...

-My thoughts about how Kentucky voters who are groaning about Kim Davis can actually make a difference.


YouTube Video of the Week...

-I have been spouting off all-week about the trivia item about a famous poem (you'll have to watch to see which one) in this video from the Vlog Brothers.  If you want to sound smart at the next party you go to, check it out:

Just One More...

-Climate change is affecting not only the earth, but now it's affecting our ability to get off of it.  NASA has hitched up the warning flag that with rising sea levels, it's likely that some of their launchpads will have to be moved inland, perhaps costing the United States billions of dollars.  Of course, this is just one of many, MANY things that are going to cost tens of billions of dollars in the wake of climate change, though of course we just keep hearing about how cutting down on coal production will cost a few jobs.  Sigh, I wish that long-term planning was still in style.