Well, look. I cannot deny that this July has seemed one thousand miles long, nor can I claim that I have made the most of my circumstances or managed to be, seem, or feel particularly effective. What I can say is that the second-half-of-year Millions Book Preview has dropped, so at least we have that. I can also say that we have clawed our way past the halfway point of July, and there are a mere ten days remaining. Is that an insane number of days to have remaining in the month in this economy? Yes, for sure, and I am sorry about that. But at least the Millions Book Preview? I don’t know, y’all, I’m really tired. Have some links.
AT LAST it is Millions Book Preview O’Clock wooooo!
Brandon Taylor really really REALLY did not enjoy the new adaptation of Persuasion. I do not have a dog in this fight.
“One of [Elon Musk’s hobbies is that he sometimes likes to pretend that he will acquire public companies…. This is an expensive hobby!” Matt Levine explains what’s going on with Elon Musk and Twitter.
On Costco and the immigrant experience.
Ed Yong is, thank God, back once again to explain what we need to know about the BA.5 variant of horrible stupid COVID.
This article about the politics of English in India is fascinating and has definitely made me want to read the author’s whole book.
Thanks to Strange New Worlds, Star Trek feels like Star Trek again. This is not an argument I can personally weigh in on, as I am working my way through DS9 at the moment and have not yet gotten to the new shows. But it seems right.
“I don’t know how else to explain it, they just clean the way you clean in a kitchen.” The Bear gets Chicago wrong, but it gets restaurant kitchens so right.
This Vulture interview with the subtitlers for Stranger Things fails to capitalize d/Deaf appropriately, but it’s still a very interesting look behind the scenes at what goes into the art of subtitles.
Pop culture is reevaluating Tracy Flick. Not me, though, I was always horrified that people acted like she was the villain of that movie. Like, wtf.
Ravynn Stringfield was not nourished by academia, but by the presence of Black women in the world of comics.
In case you’ve missed the wild and wacky world of Funny Girl‘s recasting, here is an explainer of what is going on.
In this thread, Alexis Hall answers every question Carrie Bradshaw asks in the original Sex and the City.
“People don’t die for no reason; Aquarians just occasionally get reckless on the freeway. Simple.” A story about doing astrology.
Here are some extra-good books by indigenous authors this year.
The head of the New York Antiquities Theft Task Force has some surprisingly insightful things to say about how to be a good person. Also lots of good, juicy art theft details.
Speaking of Interesting Jobs, I’m obsessed with movie sound design, and this article on Foley artists FED MY SOUL.
David Treuer’s Austrian father viewed America as a land of rescue and safety; for his Ojibwe mother, it was a land of injustice.
Rolling Stone reported on bot activity in favor of the Snyder cut (and what Zack Snyder had to do with it). Gita Jackson responds, noting that despite higher-than-usual bot activity, fandom is QUITE capable of being terrible organically (and, in this case, they were).
When your coauthor is an AI.
Happy Friday, friends! In case you didn’t click that last link, I will leave you with a piece of AI-generated writing; may it blossom weirdly in your souls. “The moon was truly mother-of-pearl, the white of the sea, rubbed smooth by the groins of drowned brides.”