Weekend Reading

  • An Honest Look at The Personal Finance Crisis
    Millions of baby boomers are moving into their senior years with empty pockets and declining choices to earn a living. And right behind them is a younger generation facing the same challenges.
    And the rich keep getting richer. Hello dystopian future.

  • 100 Best Movies to Stream on Netflix Right Now
    Some belters in here. Some I’ve never heard of, time to explore!

  • Leader comment: A denunciation of Donald Trump
    Donald Trump, due to arrive in the UK later today, is a racist, a serial liar, and either a sex abuser or someone who falsely brags about being one in the apparent belief that this will impress other men in a metaphorical “locker room”.
    I don’t do Trump stuff here often but this piece in the Scotsman is worth it. Water off a ducks back of course but 10/10 for effort.

  • Sacha Baron Cohen hits back at Sarah Palin as Roy Moore admits being duped
    The former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate called the comedian “evil, exploitative and sick” in a Facebook post on 10 July after he duped her into an interview for his new show Who Is America?
    Alas the reviews for the show are less than stellar. But it’s good that SOMEONE is doing something.

  • A Master’s Twist on Making Ice Cream in a Plastic Bag
    There is no easier way to prove that you’re a capable person than by making, from scratch and without special equipment, foods that seem inherently store-bought and expensive.
    Say whhaaaattt!

  • How to Tell the Bad Men From the Good Men
    When I moved down to London, on the morning of my 18th birthday, to become a young, idiotic, yet hopefully noble lady rock critic, I had a bin bag full of clothes, a laptop, a dog, and one terrible flaw — other than the tendency for my hair to assume an unflattering triangular shape…
    All those in favour of Mz Moran as PM?

  • Sisters in Arms
    Is the #MeToo “moment” the beginning of a new feminism? Coined by the civil rights activist Tarana Burke in 2006, the term took off in 2017 when celebrities like the actress Alyssa Milano began using it as a Twitter hashtag.
    Still a long long way to go.

  • ‘How we made Now That’s What I Call Music 100’
    The 100th edition of Now That’s What I Call Music will be released this Friday, featuring the biggest chart hits of the last four months. We went behind the scenes at Abbey Road as the Now team chose the tracks for the compilation’s centenary.
    I tapped out at release 67 I think, an institution?

  • The Power of Positive People
    Are you spending time with the right people for your health and happiness? While many of us focus primarily on diet and exercise to achieve better health, science suggests that our well-being also is influenced by the company we keep.
    As I get older I get much more selective, and give many fewer fucks if people don’t like it.

  • The French World Cup Win and the Glories of Immigration
    Those of us who have spent a surprising chunk of our lives rooting for—supporting, as they say in Britain—Les Bleus, the French national football team, have to feel a special exultation and delight in seeing them win the World Cup.
    How many of the English team came from immigrant families?

  • The Twitch streamers who spend years broadcasting to no one
    When John Hopstead first descended into the virtual world of Dark Souls in 2013, his mission was to save a decaying world.
    Awwww internet, never change. (except the shitty bits, hurry up and change already)

  • It’s Not Your Fault If You Can’t Get Anything Done in the Summer
    I can’t get anything done in the summer, which I’d long assumed was due to my body’s preference for the school-year calendar of September to May. Though I haven’t been in school for many years, I figured there was some lasting psychological impact which made my brain give up every June.
    Thank you science! (Now, about the rest of the year…)

  • Welcome to the Open Book
    35.3k Likes, 1,506 Comments – “Welcome to the Open Book. It’s a #bookstore in Wigtown, Scotland, that offers a literary experience…”
    People are wonderful.

  • Saoirse Ronan on Growing Up on Camera, the Changing Politics of Ireland, and Becoming a Queen
    Saoirse Ronan is describing the aftermath of her first acting job. “I went into this melancholic state for a few weeks,” she tells me. “I remember sitting on the bed with Mam next to me, and I was like: ‘I’m never going to have that experience again.”
    Massively talented and all round down to earth lovely person, how can you NOT admire her?

  • How the world’s last Blockbuster will keep the DVD dream alive
    Age: From the beforetimes. Or, 1985. Appearance: Dwindling.
    I, for one, do not miss the trips to the video store.

  • Biologists are bugged about the ant emoji
    Of the 2,666 emoji in the wild, there’s one symbol that really bugs a group of keen-eyed users. Tech companies can’t seem to draw the black ant emoji properly, as several ant enthusiasts have noted.
    “Several” enthusiasts? Is that the same as “all”? I mean, I like ants but still…

  • Telling Is Listening: Ursula K. Le Guin on the Magic of Real Human Conversation
    Every act of communication is an act of tremendous courage in which we give ourselves over to two parallel possibilities: the possibility of planting into another mind a seed sprouted in ours and watching it blossom into a breathtaking flower of mutual understanding; and the possibility of being misunderstood.
    Communication is so important and so very hard.

  • Look up at the moon every night—not just during the lunar eclipse
    On July 27, a blood moon will glow an eerie red ahead of the longest lunar eclipse that Earth will experience in the 21st century. For one hour and 43 minutes, the moon will disappear from the sky, entirely obscured by the shadow that our planet casts upon it.
    Amen. The sky (particularly at night) is a constant source of fascination.

  • 15 Podcasts That Will Make You Feel Smarter
    The French polymath René Descartes (1596-1650) lived after the Renaissance, but he personified that age’s interest in mathematics, philosophy, art, and the nature of humanity. He made numerous discoveries and argued for ideas that people continue to grapple with.
    Some new ones to explore. I can recommend Hidden Brain from this list, always great!

  • Is “Piano Man” The Greatest Song Ever Written?
    I realize this sounds absurd. “Piano Man” is not even my favorite Billy Joel song. Nor is it his. Joel appeared on Stephen Colbert’s late night show once and Colbert asked him for his top five Billy Joel songs. “Piano Man” was noticeably absent.
    No comment required. Move on.