interesting things
Elders React To… is an adorable new web series by The Fine Brothers that shows senior citizens commenting and reacting to viral videos.
This is one hip trip to the old folks home, and these seniors don’t hold back when asked how they feel about Nyan Cat, or how much grass people must have to smoke in order to watch that repetitive little pop tart shaped kitty in the sky.
It’s a laugh riot, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next episode!
–via Laughing Squid
Fine Brothers LINK
A year after Lars von Trier was publicly castigated for making a Hitler joke at Cannes, the festival has banned a controversial comedy by French comedian/provocateur Dieudonné. Entitled The Anti-Semite, the film was scheduled to play not in the official festival but in the Cannes Film Market, but outrage over its content — including mockery of Auschwitz and Dieudonné in Nazi dress — led the organization to scrap screenings.
According to Agence France-Presse, the film includes “images deriding Auschwitz,” “Dieudonne’s violent and alcoholic character dressed as a Nazi officer for a fancy dress party,” and “Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson [appearing] as himself.”
Produced by the Iranian Documentary and Experimental Film Center, The Anti-Semite stars Dieudonné, who has been charged numerous times for violating European laws with his controversial statements and performances, including one recent show in France that was halted mid-performance by authorities “for breaking local defamation laws.”
As for the Cannes screening, the Cannes Film Market’s Jerome Paillard explained the move thusly: “Our general conditions ban the presence of all films threatening public order or religious convictions, as well as pornographic films or those inciting violence.”
via Movieline http://movieline.com/2012/05/25/cannes-bans-anti-semite-dieudonne/
Literary critic Stanley Fish stirred up the publishing world this week, dismissing the need for spoiler alerts when writing about fiction or film. He used a specific example: “If The Hunger Games is so shallow that it can be spoiled by a plot revelation, the alert doesn’t save much. If The Hunger Games is a serious accomplishment, no plot revelation can spoil it.â€
Over Mulholland Books, great writers like Lawrence Block and Joe R. Lansdale have pondered the essay all day–we’ve collected some of their commentary below. Follow this link to read more essays from Megan Abbott, Nick Santora, Mischa Hiller and Marcia Clark as they are released.
Lansdale wrote: This is the silliest defense for spoiling stories for those of us who don’t want them spoiled that I have ever heard. I have spoiled, accidently, a film and I was almost lynched. They were right. If it’s done to me, I feel the same … There may be those who read the last page of a book, or like the previews for films to be so precise it lets them know how it’s going to turn out, but surprise has a great place, and most of us prefer it, and if we prefer not to have things spoiled for us, a spoiler alert is a nice warning to us who would prefer not to know. Bad journalist. Bad, dog.â€
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
via GalleyCat http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/do-spoilers-matter_b52107
@mathewi: Why I’m Leaving Facebook http://t.co/jjMQ5eDm via @prismatic
This weekly feature tells the backstory of how one e-book became a bestseller, and highlights bestselling titles that are selling more copies in digital than in print.
This week’s featured title: â€Bared to You†by Sylvia Day. It’s #20 on the New York Times e-book bestsellers list this week and
What it’s about: The first in a trilogy, this erotic novel tells the story of a recent college grad, Eva, who meets billionaire businessman Gideon.
How it became a bestseller: Day self-published “Bared to You†on April 3, 2012. The book immediately invited comparisons to “50 Shades of Grey,†the mega-bestselling, originally self-published erotic trilogy that Random House’s Vintage acquired for seven figures in March. Jane Litte, who runs the romance blog “Dear Author,†writes that “if I were to recommend any book today to readers who enjoyed 50 Shades and was looking for another book like it, this would be the first one I would offer. However, Bared to You is far better written with much hotter sex scenes.â€
Like “Fifty Shades of Grey,†“Bared to You†has now found a traditional publisher: Penguin’s Berkley imprint snapped it up this month and has already released the e-book with a new, “50 Shades of Greyâ€-esque cover. (That’s Day’s original cover on the left and Penguin’s cover on the right.) Penguin will release a paperback edition on June 7. (Day writes a bit more about the Penguin acquisition here, and notes that Penguin’s ability to get the paperback into bricks-and-mortar bookstores was one of the main reasons she signed up with them.)
“Bared to You†is $5.99 on … Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
Here are the titles in the top-35 that appear on the e-book bestseller list, but not on the print bestseller list (click the link to expand the chart).
USA Today includes all formats and genres in one list and notes which format of a book sold best. Here are the titles in the top-35 where e-books outsold print (click the link to expand the chart).
via paidContent http://paidcontent.org/2012/05/25/the-next-50-shades-of-grey/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pcorg+%28paidContent%29
Much has been made of Mitt Romney’s robotic demeanor, but in a phone interview with Peggy Noonan on Thursday there was a brief sign that Romney has been experimenting with his emotion chip. When asked if the “brainwashing” gaffe that crippled his father George Romney’s 1968 presidential campaign (which is discussed in New York‘s recent cover story) makes him more cautious about what he says on the campaign trail, Romney responded, “I don’t think my father’s comment figures into my thinking at all.” Per The Wall Street Journal:
It’s his own mistakes “that make me want to kick myself in the seat of my pants,” that “cause me to try and be a little more careful in what I say … I’ve had a couple of those during the campaign, which have haunted me a little bit, but I’m sure before this is over will haunt me a lot.”
Specifically, he regrets declaring, “I like to be able to fire people.” As Romney has explained before, he was talking about market competition, not gleefully firing underlings. But Romney says today’s media puts candidates in a Catch 22:
“I have to think not only about what I say in a full sentence but what I say in a phrase.” In the current media environment, “you will be taken out of context, you’ll be clipped, and you’ll be battered with things you said.” He says it is interesting that “the media always says, ‘Gosh, we just want you to be spontaneous,’ but at the same time if you say anything in the wrong order, you’re gonna be sorry!”
It’s an unusually candid moment from Romney. Few of us possess the rhetorical gifts of President Obama, and it’s hard not to feel sympathy for someone whose every slip of the tongue becomes a headline. Yet, Romney quickly switches back to sounding like an alien who learned about humans from watching Leave it to Beaver reruns. Here’s Romney on whether or not he enjoys the game of politics:
I like competition, and I think the game is like a sport for old guys. I mean, you know, I can’t compete in competitive sports very well, but I can compete in politics, and there’s the — what was the old ABC ‘Wide World of Sports’ slogan? ‘The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.’ The only difference is victory is still a thrill, but I don’t feel agony in loss.
Romney also reveals that he’s been keeping a campaign journal on his iPad:
He used to speak his entries, but now he types them on an attached keyboard. “I’ve kept up pretty well, actually.” He writes every two or three days, so that 10 years from now he can “remember what it was like,” but also to capture “the feelings—the ups the downs, the people I meet and the sense I have about what’s going to happen. It’s kind of fun to go back and read, as Ann and I do from time to time.”
He remarks, “Now this is going to make my iPad a subject of potential theft!” — which is not how most of the population would express concerns about someone swiping their iPad.
As he inches his way closer to dropping “presumptive” from the “Republican nominee” title, it doesn’t seem like Romney is making much progress in his effort to strike a balance between socially awkward and “maniac on ecstasy.” But, even if he doesn’t manage to connect with voters in November, you don’t have to worry about ol’ Mitt growing a beard and holing up at Columbia, Al Gore–style. Here, Noonan asks a hard-hitting question about the last time he woke up unhappy:
He says he doesn’t recall. Then: “Sometimes you’re disappointed, but it’s mostly disappointment with myself that causes me to be most concerned. This for me is not my life, meaning I don’t have to win an election to feel good about myself.” He’s achieved success in business “beyond my wildest dreams.” He’s “hoping to make a contribution and go to Washington and go home when it’s over … Who I am has long ago been determined by my relationship with the people I love, and with my success in my professional career.”
Read more posts by Margaret Hartmann
Filed Under:
stuck in the mittle
,mitt romney
,politics
,peggy noonan
,george romney
via Daily Intel http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/05/romney-haunted-a-little-by-gaffes.html
Former British ambassador Peter Jay managed to write a lengthy book review of Max Holland’s “Leak,†about what motivated “Deep Throat†to help Bob…
via NY Post: Page Six http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/gate_critic_carries_grudge_haiah02arkBhFfVrL4n2rO?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=%20%20%20%20%20%20Page%20Six
How a commercial director got the job of directing the big-budget summer movie “Snow White and the Huntsman.”
via WSJ.com: Weekend Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303610504577420692744547960.html?mod=rss_Weekend_Journal
20 Guys Trying to Bang a Total Psycho on OkCupid. Online dating is taking over, and it’s as bad as everyone says it is. The general population is morphing into lazy, fake, desperate, and creepy weirdoes on the internet. Here’s a little experiment to prove it. Make a fake profile on OkCupid based on a character named Marla. Please note that in the profile picture, you can’t see the face, boobs, butt, or anything that would indicate that she’s physically attractive whatsoever. Yes, absurdity happens.
via MetaFilter http://www.metafilter.com/116279/Drinks-Very-Often
The New York City police commissioner announced Thursday that a suspect had been arrested after confessing to killing Etan Patz in 1979, but the investigation has yet to determine many basic facts.
via NYT > Most Recent Headlines http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/nyregion/arrest-of-etan-patz-suspect-shows-haste-by-the-police.html