Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

We're bringing back to the blog an old series that we haven't done in a few months this week in my quest to create a more ideal version of my life (more on that at some point maybe-I'm making a lot of changes in my life, particularly in my attitude toward the word "can't," let's just leave it at that for now), and so I'm excited to announce that we're doing another link roundup, a series of posts from across the web that I found interesting but haven't had a chance to discuss quite yet.  Without further adieu...

In Entertainment...

-By far my favorite article of the week, and in part why I brought back this series, is Boy Culture's ode to Marilyn Monroe at ninety.  The site chronicles ninety things that would have happened had Marilyn Monroe lived through her drug overdose, and they are astonishingly realistic and accurate.  From marrying a gay fan (it would have happened) to randomly getting an Oscar nomination for playing a prostitute (probably losing to Jane Fonda or Glenda Jackson) to endorsing Hillary Clinton (Trump would have surely tweeted something vile about her as a result), it's a wonderful look at what might have been had the quintessential blonde lived to go grey.

-For film fans, there's probably no better news this week than that Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis will be reuniting for a film about 1950's fashion.  Honestly, I don't really care what it's about-both of these men have strong track records and ridiculously awful work ethics (if you're trying to think of what movies DDL has made since Lincoln-it's none!), so I will be there with bells on.  The fact that they are teaming up after last making Day-Lewis' iconic Daniel Plainview is just icing.  For the record, if you are interested in that year's Oscar race make sure to be following along with us as we chronicle the many nominations for There Will Be Blood over the next few weeks.

-This is relatively new news, but Michelle Collins has reportedly been axed by The View.  This might seem odd on this site (we don't focus a lot on television), but I actually used to be a HUGE fan of The View, watching it religiously every single day back in the post-Rosie, pre-Jenny McCarthy days (still my favorite quintet of hosts), but that show has become a hot mess, hasn't it?  Honestly, without Walters there to give it an instant boost of gravitas (she's occasionally ridiculous, but she's a pioneer in journalism no matter how many goofy stories she tells about stealing the president's towels or making every hot topic about her own life) the show needs to actually be entertaining, and hiring a bunch of comedians who talk over each other was not the answer (Nicolle Wallace was, especially considering the election season we're about to have, but unfortunately they didn't stick with her).  With Whoopi looking to exit in August, how long will this show even last?

In Politics...

-While I have deeply called into question the journalistic integrity of pretty much every person in the media in the face of their gleeful celebration of everything Donald Trump (can someone press him on a legitimately difficult question-please?-just one interviewer should try to get him to give specifics to one of his foreign policy plans), there are occasional exceptions and one of them is Bill Scher's terrific reminder that the 2000 election bares a lot of similarities to the one we're going through today, namely in the way that people want to run Bernie Sanders as a third party candidate or how moderates think there's "no difference" between Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.  I know it's hard to believe for younger readers, but they said that exact same thing about George W. Bush and Al Gore.  Yes, the man who started a trillion-dollar war and the man behind An Inconvenient Truth were called identical by many members of the American populace, and that allowed Ralph Nader to spoil the election (you want to disagree-fine, the comments are there, but know that it's an indisputable fact that if Nader hadn't run Al Gore would have been the president).  Keep that in mind the next time you say Hillary and Donald are "the same."


-New York Magazine has a deep, in-depth look at Hillary Clinton that I found fascinating.  Occasionally these types of articles get repetitive and quite frankly a little much for me (everyone's human-what a shocker!), but I think it's different with Clinton in part because she's someone that is so repeatedly attacked for not showing any humanity that to see a journalist go beyond the "her friends say she's great" and actually go a bit more in-depth, particularly from someone who doesn't seem wildly friendly or like a longtime admirer of Clinton's, is impressive.

-Longtime readers of this blog who remember this series will recall I have a penchant for Politico Magazine, and it wouldn't be the new season of this series without a quick look at the weirdly academic branch of the gossip-y Gawker of the political world.  This piece is oddly about one of our most forgettable presidents, Zachary Taylor.  The similarities between our current election and the one of 1848 are severe and intriguing: after all Taylor was a political outsider who ended up winning the nomination despite not really agreeing with a lot of the Whig Party's platform, and he bested an experienced former cabinet secretary and senator.  The fact that he won and that he ended up destroying the party should make Democrats and Republicans alike look up from their morning coffee.

YouTube Video of the Week...

-Okay, since I've slammed Republicans a couple of times this piece, I'll give them a reprieve here and highlight one of their more talented celebrities (in front of the camera-his politics are, well, insane).  Kelsey Grammar tells a wonderful story about how he came to be Sideshow Bob (there's a bizarre thrill watching him actually do the voice):

Shameless Self-Promotion of the Week...

-My thoughts on a Sanders/Stein style ticket (I'm not charitable, if you can only guess).

Just One More...

-Huffington Green has an article about the Coral Reef, and like most environmental news lately, it's not pretty.  Nearly one-third of the Great Barrier Reef, one of the most beautiful places on the planet, has been bleached, possibly permanently.  It's a horrible reminder that while National Security has become an important part of the national electorate, the world is in a bad place in terms of environmentalism and climate change, and voting (and not just for your presidents or prime ministers, but all up-and-down-the-board) with a green thumb is an important way to make yourself heard.  Also, volunteer for an environmental charity (I've started doing that, and it feels great to make a contribution in that way).