The Britney Spears truthers are out there, and they are CONVINCED.

“Is it tantamount to sexual harassment to fantasize about being a piece of ice so a Swedish hockey player will glide on you?” This story fascinates me because the only person who I feel clearly did something wrong is the Kraken social media team. AND YET everyone is very unhappy!

Evette Dionne and Tirhakah Love explore the allegations against Lizzo.

The publishing industry keeps consolidating. It’s terrible for books (yes, even now that S&S was not sold to PRH after all!).

Native communities shoulder the cost of reburying the ancestral remains that were taken from their nations. It’s a heavy burden to carry.

Free returns aren’t free (surprise!).

The history of cooking videos!

“Even if you could integrate Bama the brand, you cannot integrate Bama the social reproduction machine.”

“The production team created the conditions of our existence but when we were frustrated with these conditions, we simply turned on each other.” What it’s like to be cast as the villain of a reality show. And speaking of that…

“Quote me on this in capitals and bold letters. Don’t hire anybody to help you through the casting process.” How the cast of season 45 of Survivor got selected.

I’ve been saying for ages that prioritizing the fear of being taken advantage of is morally corrosive, so it’s nice to read an article that’s making that exact same argument from a place of more authority than I personally possess.

What’s it like to be named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists?

This piece on Michael Oher of The Blind Side is tremendously great, top to bottom. I read it three times in a row.

What are we to make of the social media tradwives?

“I’m just saying that he is the sort of guy who is a typical Burning Man attendee these days: the establishment in a goofy hat.” It has been a true pleasure to see the mess of Burning Man.

NUN MUTINY.

“If not blurbs, then what?” This is a terrific piece on the necessity and the injustice of book blurbs.

As someone who is presently watching (and loving) The X-Files for the first time, I endorse this explanation of why it is Good, Actually. (I actually think this writer is understating how good and important the chemistry between the two leads was, but whatever.)

The internet is written in pencil.

A lot of what gets written about AI-generated literature is … kind of garbagey, but this article is legitimately good, thoughtful, and interesting.

JUSTICE FOR NEANDERTHALS.

Happy Friday!

The post lol this is horribly overdue: A Links Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

“Participatory listenership (i.e., interrupting)” has killed me stone dead. Have some sociolinguistic analysis about why some people think New Yorkers are rude. (link)

ASTROLOGY BOOK CLUB. I really enjoy astrology book club. (link)

NPR has worked hard to bring together this list of the 100 best books for young readers. Yay! (link)

“Living in the now is a constant negotiation of how to put the things that I value—humane and safe working conditions, diversity in storytelling, anti-racism and justice—into active practice in an imperfect world.” On the revival of West Side Story. (link)

Lauren Markham appreciates the magic of the postal service even more in these quarantimes than she did before. (link) (This is true of me, Jenny, also — I am sending out one lovely note per day to friends!)

Slate dot com has done the important journalism of charting all the murmurs murmured by anyone in the Twilight saga. (link)

“Black people will defend your right to Blackness… That’s how these deceptions are born.” Evette Dionne on Jessica Krug. (link)

The country can change. It’s done it before. (link)

“Instead of solving social problems, the U.S. uses techno-fixes to bypass them, plastering the wounds instead of removing the source of injury—and that’s if people even accept the solution on offer.” On the American failure to address the pandemic. (link)

Eula Biss is so consistently good and smart. (link)

Here’s what’s going on with Storygraph, the burgeoning successor to Goodreads. (link)

This article on the Nancy Meyers kitchen is a few months old but it is very, very good. (link)

That’s all, folks! Have an absolutely stupendous weekend! I will be shut up in a dark room whispering “participatory listenership (i.e., interrupting)” over and over again until I have come to terms with it. Which will never happen. So that is just what I will be doing with my life from this point onward. Be blessed.

The post i.e., Interrupting: A Links Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

I miss Grantland all the time, but I’m so glad The Ringer exists. Here’s a terrific piece on how The Bachelor became a pipeline for social media influencers.

A wonderful profile of NK Jemisin, one of the most amazing SFF authors currently working.

Cancel culture is chaotic good (with some history and context).

“It’s like the Hunger Games, but dangerous.” How to not get murdered if you find yourself in an English murder village.

Here’s a guide to protecting your security online.

Myriam Gurba, on the death threats you’ll receive when you challenge white supremacy. And Patrice Caldwell on how publishing continues to shut out the voices of people of color, to the benefit of books like American Dirt. And David Bowles on the whiteness and brokenness of the publishing industry.

And yes, to answer your next question: The publishing industry remains very, very white.

The British royal family has a massive online fandom. It is now in turmoil.

Marginalized people can tell true authentic stories that in aggregate contribute to dominant cultural narratives that are harmful. This is because the culture chooses which marginalized voices and stories to uplift.

Men have talked us to death about the sex they’ve had with women, but they have said very little about the abortions they did or didn’t pay for.

Here’s Evette Dione on Kobe Bryant and his complicated legacy.

How did fingers get their names in all different languages? Today is a good day to find out! (Also, this is your semiannual reminder that if you are ever in a kidnapping situation and the bad guys are going to cut off one of your fingers to show your family that they mean business, and they let you choose which finger, you should choose the index finger on your nondominant hand. You need the other fingers for gripping stuff, but your middle finger makes a pretty good substitute index finger.)

Happy weekend, friends! I hope yours is calm and peaceful, or if not that then I hope it’s full of reading Gideon the Ninth and shrieking in giddy glee as you read.

The post Sacrifice Your Nondominant Hand’s Index Finger: A Links Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.