Weekend Reading

STOP! If you haven’t seen Oprah Winfrey’s acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, go and watch it right now, don’t worry. I’ll wait.

  • Watch Prince Play Jazz Piano & Coach His Band Through George Gershwin’s “Summertime”
    A rock enigma wrapped around an R&B quandary, wearing platform shoes and purple velour. The cheekbones of an angel, dances moves and lyrics from an infernally sexy place, and more musical talent than it seems possible for a single person to possess in one lifetime….
    Two things from this: 1. Good GOD the man was talented. 2. I really wanna buy a piano.

  • David Letterman’s Netflix Talk Show Sets Obama as First Guest
    David Letterman has amassed an all-star roster of guests for his Netflix talk show series, titled My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman.
    Starts this evening, and as far as first guests go it seems like it might be ‘quite good’?

  • People have spent centuries trying to prove caffeine is dangerous, but the science suggests otherwise
    When Davis Cripe died in his South Carolina classroom last May, it was a shock to everyone who knew him. He just 16, and healthy. His death made no sense, especially when the coroner said that he’d been killed by a substance most of us consume daily: caffeine.
    SCREW YOU CAFFEINE DENIERS!! (Denyers? Denyerists??)

  • This British Gardener Doesn’t Build Furniture
    Remember the end of “The Giving Tree,” when the tree has nothing left to give her favorite boy except her stump to sit on? Some people think that’s a heartwarming end to a story of selfless love, while others read it and think, “I could make a tree into a way better seat than that.”
    Well this is rather lovely (in an endearingly British kinda way)

  • The Need To Be Alone
    “By retreating into ourselves, it looks as if we are the enemies of others, but our solitary moments are in reality a homage to the richness of social existence. Unless we’ve had time alone, we can’t be who we would like to be around our fellow humans. We won’t have original opinions.
    I’m reading more articles this and they all ring true. They also seem to go hand in hand with more articles railing against socila media/always on lifestyles. Not a coincidence I don’t think.

  • How to Take a Picture of a Stealth Bomber Over the Rose Bowl
    An aerial photographer explains precisely how he took this amazing photograph. The first thought that comes to mind staring at the photograph above is: This has got to be fake. The B-2 stealth bomber looks practically pasted onto the field. The flag is unfurled just so.
    Impressive. Definitely couldn’t have done that with an iPhone (or could you??)

  • You’re Most Likely to Do Something Extreme Right Before You Turn 30
    Each year, cities, regions, and other organizers around the world host around 3,000 marathons. In large races like the Los Angeles Marathon and the London Marathon, more than half the participants are running a marathon for the very first time.
    Ahhhh our fragile egos, the realisation we won’t live forever, do all the things. How programmed we are!

  • Are Gummy Bear Flavors Just Fooling Our Brains?
    Fun fact about the newsroom at WFPL, the NPR member station in Louisville, Ky., where I work: It is fully stocked with lots of candy. Mini-chocolate bars, peanut butter cups, Jolly Ranchers — the list goes on and the candy bowl is constantly being refilled.
    This is why I don’t like those purple carrots.

  • Why Does Exercise Start Hurting Two Days After a Workout?
    If you’ve decided, this year, to start working out, you might have noticed a strange phenomenon: You’ll leave the gym feeling fine, and then two days later wake up sore.
    I write this comment after doing some ‘core’ exercises two days ago, sneezing, and then cursing my aching abs. The DOMS are real people!

  • Japanese Waiter Exhibits 8,000 Chopstick Sleeves Left as Restaurant “Tips”
    In a culture without tipping, one Japanese waiter began to realize that customers were expressing their gratitude in a subtle (and in some cases even unintentional way) by folding the sleeves in which their chopsticks came wrapped.
    A few moments of thoughtfulness is all it takes.

  • Scientists developed an electronic pill to analyze the gas in your gut
    Digestion is something of a black box. We know food gets put through a physical and chemical pulverization to make it easier to extract nutrients before we get rid of the waste. But there are all sorts of variances in each of our own unique digestive tracts.
    Dear Scientists, just pop to my place first thing in the morning, I got ALL THE FARTS YOU NEED!!

  • Tua Tagovailoa’s Rise Seemed Unlikely, but It Was Part of Nick Saban’s Championship Plan
    Like everything else for Alabama, the schedule scrawled on the Crimson Tide’s locker-room wall in Mercedes-Benz Stadium showed signs of precise, meticulous planning. 6:59 p.m., kickers. 7:09, specialists. 7:19, team. 8:17, Kick UGA ASS. But things don’t always go according to plan.
    I love this kind of thing. Go against the grain, do the unpredictable, triumph.

  • I Started the Media Men List
    In October, I created a Google spreadsheet called “Shitty Media Men” that collected a range of rumors and allegations of sexual misconduct, much of it violent, by men in magazines and publishing.
    I remember reading about this spreadsheet last year, the impact is has had (and is having) still reverberates.

  • Inside the Amish town that builds U2, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift’s live shows
    In December 2016, designer Ric Lipson was in New York on a conference call with Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.
    Who knew!

  • The Encylopedia of the Missing
    From the outside, it’s just another mobile home in a neighborhood of mobile homes on the northwest side of Fort Wayne, Indiana. There’s the same carport, the same wedge of grass out front, the same dreamy suburban soundtrack of wind chimes and air conditioners.
    Nowt stranger than folk. Although these days Nowt stranger than folk on the internet, is way more accurate.

  • Emma Watson’s willingness to face the truth about race is refreshing
    I hope that the actor’s acknowledgment that she has benefited from being white will lead others to ask themselves hard questions too Feminism, to quote bell hooks, is for everybody. It’s a simple enough statement.
    With every voice speaking out, a few more minds change. The fact that Emma has a large platform makes this all the more powerful.

  • Improving Ourselves to Death
    Happy New Year, you! Now that the champagne has gone flat and the Christmas tree is off to be mulched, it’s time to turn your thoughts to the months ahead.
    So true. I refer you to my complete lack of resolutions. Live life as best you can and be happy people! (note: I am about a year or so OUT of this kind of mindset… goals, measures etc. and I’m much happier for it).

  • The world’s first major city to run out of water may have just over three months left
    It’s the height of summer in Cape Town, and the southwesternmost region of South Africa is gripped by a catastrophic water shortage.
    Good grief, this is awful.