Here’s why the VFX world of the movies is so extremely broken.

Color-blind casting is supposed to create a fantasy world for a broader set of audiences. But it comes with its own problems. See also: “Does colonialism exist in Bridgerton’s world?”

The wonderful Gabrielle Bellot considers Netflix’s Sandman.

Conspiracy theories about celebrity pregnancies are unalloyed misogyny.

The CEO who (allegedly) raised everyone’s salary to $70,000 is an abuser, and he has been known to be one for quite some time. Please stop RTing his content!

What makes a dumpling a dumpling? (Challenge: Read this story without achieving semantic satiation on the word “dumpling.”)

“[She] sometimes converses like she has a tiny Bachelor producer in her brain” is the funniest description I can imagine. Anyway, here is a compassionate and smart profile of Meghan Markle!

I am obsessed with this London Underground-style map of the human body.

Why have US universities let themselves become pipelines to Lockheed Martin and similar defense contractors?

JK Rowling has uh. has written a new book. of sorts.

How Normal Gossip (a newish favorite podcast of mine!) gets made.

Masiyaleti Mbewe considers the state of African millennial fiction — though tragically without mentioning the very millennial (in my opinion) The Eternal Audience of One.

Charlie Warzel reflects on the mistake that led to him being Twitter’s main character for a day, and considers what we can learn from it.

Add this to the list of Scientology’s abuses: It relies on a steady stream of immigrant labor that it acquires by cheating the R1 visa system and abusing immigrant workers.

One of my favorite genres of article is “THIS SYSTEM IS TOTALLY UNREGULATED.” For your consideration today: dog training.

“Hollow moral leadership upheld by a spectacle of extravagant, ill-gotten wealth has enabled Britons to remain proud of rather than reflective about empire and its destructive impact today.”

“The Queen is not entitled to your grief.” Ayan Artan, a Somali-British writer, considers the marketing effort on behalf of the monarchy to conceal and erase the damage of British imperialism.

“People like Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder who has gone all in on The Rings of Power, have more wealth than they could possibly use in a single lifetime, and in many respects more power than any king could ever have dreamed of; the rest of us face rising rents, inflation, and a gig economy that affords few protections when we get sick or injured.” On the new crop of fantasy TV shows.

Chinelo Okparanto considers the ethics and aesthetics of writing across racial identities.

Sarah Weinman reflects on Serial and all that it did and didn’t do.

Tips and tricks to run a good book club.

It’s always a cause for celebration when Lamar Giles has a new book out! He has a new book out AND he’s writing about social horror, yay!

Scaachi Coul is terrific as ever on the downfall of the Wife Guy. Linda Holmes on audience entitlement re: same.

This is superb TikTok journalism and I think Kady Ruth Ashcraft for doing it.

“The Very Online never leave: they hate it here but they’re never anywhere else.” On the digital afterlife of my beloved Constantine Cavafy.

So-called “secret menus” that go viral on TikTok are making the lives of fast food workers hell.

Hell of a kicker on this piece about how India’s movie industry has been affected by the rise of Hindu nationalism.

Maori polar explorers!

Happy weekend, friends!

The post It’s Scary How Many Links There Are: A Links Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

I have never heard of this alt-lit writer from a time before I was quite as online as I am now, but this profile of her was still fascinating. (link)

By contrast, I was around for the full four hours of the recent YA authors / NFT kerfuffle, and since it was very brief and ended up harming nobody, I pronounce it a very enjoyable Twitter kerfuffle. Here is the recap of this scheme that multiple people apparently thought was a good idea. (link)

Don’t feel guilty for your guilty pleasures! (Or, yet another piece of proof that what I have come to mean when I say “guilty pleasures” is not the same as what other people mean when they say “guilty pleasures.”) (link)

I swear this will be the last of my links about the bad art friend. (link) And this one too. (link) And that’s it. Sorry.

The plumber is not trying to kill you, and other thoughts on where white-lady true crime has left us. (link)

When people leave Q-Anon, they need support, and that support has been very hard to find. (link)

“Being complicit pays.” Kayleigh Donaldson pans the new documentary series about Brittany Murphy’s life. (link)

Social media work and audio producing are their own forms of ghostwriting. (link)

Another excellent Fan Service column from Stitch! This one’s about ways of thinking about the morality of darkfic. (link)

What online stories have you been reading, friends? Also, I don’t really think your hands are unlovable! That was only a figure of speech.

Also, today is Oscar Wilde’s terrible ex-boyfriend Bosie’s birthday. Celebrate accordingly, I hope by cleansing your house and mind of any traces of your own terrible exes.

The post A Few Kerfuffles: A Links Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

Barry Jenkins worked hard to avoid sensationalizing and exploiting Black trauma in his adaptation of The Underground Railroad, but the material was difficult nonetheless. A therapist was on set at all times to protect and help the cast and crew. (link)

Always read an Alex Brown review! They’re at Tor this week reviewing Barry Jenkins’s new TV adaptation of The Underground Railroad, which handles Black trauma with care and thoughtfulness. (link)

And (last The Underground Railroad thing!) Angelica Jade Bastién reviewed the show with her customary eloquence. (link)

I was completely unaware of the slander websites economy, but the New York Times did a deep dive to find out who runs these sites, and who runs the sites you can pay to clean up your online presence. (link)

“Ideas don’t disappear when they’re banned.” Carmen Maria Machado responds to attempts to ban students from reading her book In the Dream House. (link)

“A woman once stopped my mother in a supermarket and told her that she had abilities to speak to the dead. “It’s a power I can develop if I want to,” my mother bragged. But she didn’t want to.” On Korean history, trauma, and ghosts. (link)

Access to affirming, culturally competent mental health care is a community and social justice issue. (link)

David Treuer makes the (excellent) case for giving national parks back to Native nations. (link)

Without any of us noticing, online shopping has undergone a sea change. We are buffeted by the uncaring waves of social media marketing. (link)

How Netflix frames the stories of people like Joe Exotic and Colton Underwood, at the expense of the people they’ve harmed. (link)

Interracial relationships have begun to appear far more frequently in movies, TV, and commercials. But do these depictions grapple with the realities of interracial dating? (link)

“Just write the parts that are exciting to you, and figure out later how you’re going to connect it.” Brit Bennett on discovering joy in her writing. (link)

What does a guilty pleasure mean? (link)

A deep dive into how Martin Bashir used dishonest tactics to get That Interview. (link)

The authors of two new books I’m very excited for discuss their inspirations: Dawnie Walton on The Final Revival of Opal and Nev (link) and Zakiya Dalila Harris on The Other Black Girl (link).

Here’s a question for the group, before we go: If you could talk to ghosts, would you?

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