I’ve been meaning to do this links round-up for approximately ten thousand years, so some of these links are a little older. You know what? Who cares! They’re still terrific!

Resy won the reservation wars. Here’s how.

“Despite the Black-film streaming guides that proliferated on the internet during last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, the streamers themselves have been ill-equipped to fully articulate the wealth of important Black titles that are available.” The Black Film Archive is here to help.

While we’re on the subject of Black cinema, Slate and NPR have teamed up for a very cool project called The New Black Film Canon.

“Sudden, dramatic hair changes, she says, ‘are a big part of who I am.'” A profile of the lady who invented at-home rape kits, and how, uh, that’s all going.

Eurgh, the world is a hellscape, including TikTok.

This is a fascinating story about Black journalists who were hired to train Nigerian reporters in the 1980s.

A really stellar breakdown on SFF world-building, by TV writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach.

“Vitriol is a precious resource. Spend it wisely.” Steven Hyden contemplates the decline of the negative review. (He’s talking about music but I suspect it applies to other spheres too.)

“The hardest stunt I ever pulled off.” Stunt people are so cool.

This is a fascinating article about transnational corporate espionage.

Oscars-related things I am mad about: Jamie Lee Curtis winning over Angela Bassett or Stephanie Hsu. The Whale.

On the trope (ongoing!) of the disabled villain.

It has made me SO happy to witness Abbott Elementary come for the throat of charter schools.

A woman from Leicestershire devoted her energy to trolling Madeleine McCann’s parents on Twitter. When her involvement in the online harassment came out, she killed herself. Now her son is trying to find meaning (for himself and others) in her life and death.

Swarm dehumanizes Black women.

FINALLY, a deep dive on whump fic!!

The always-wonderful Linda Codega takes us inside the dysfunctional, sexist, unsafe offices of Wyrmwood Gaming.

Dara Horn asks if the focus on Holocaust education is, paradoxically, making anti-Semitism worse.

“There was a woman who was Irish, which was not her job, but, my God, she was good at it; she owns a pug who apparently is a successful working actor, which was also not her job.” Caity Weaver went on a package tour for millennials trying to make friends.

And Lauren Oyler went on a GOOP cruise. My cup runneth over.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends! Or if you do not have a wonderful weekend because the world is dumb and bad, at least know that you have not lost thirteen billion dollars in a single day. Yay!

The post I finally remembered to do this: A links round-up appeared first on Reading the End.

Emma Southon is so great, and she has a new book out about murder in ancient Rome! Here is an excerpt! (link)

Social-emotional learning can help kids relate to each other better, without taking away from their academic competencies. (link)

What went wrong at Gimlet? (link)

Story karma! A lovely, useful concept from Emily VanDerWerff. (link)

Brandon Taylor considers whether we will ever, ever feel comfortable going to the movies again. (We will, I think.) (link)

“There is something backhanded about using authors’ personal statements as a Captcha tool for verifying the emotional resonance of their work.” Not all fiction is autofiction! It is rude to assume! (link)

In case you missed the Amanda Gorman translation controversy, here’s a round-up of responses and reactions to it! (link)

Philip Roth sounds like a real treat to be around. I am consumed with regret that I long ago decided never ever to read one of his books. (link)

Ignoring anti-Asian racism for the last 150 years has brought us to this place. (link)

All Arthuriana is fanfic. (link)

“The psychologist and tech commentator Sherry Turkle has observed that technological solutions often start out being regarded as ‘better than nothing’ only to supplant the alternatives and come to be treated as better than anything.'” On all those therapy apps. (link)

Was Naomi Wolf always terrible? Kinda! (link)

Lyz Lenz and Talia Levin discuss sustained internet harassment and how they have each learned to deal with it. (link)

Generational stereotypes are whitewashed and do not assist us in breaking down unjust systems. So let’s just not. (link)

Here’s how to make small talk, for those of us who have been quarantined so long we don’t remember how to interact with others. (link)

“What I know is that being Bich, and growing up as Bich in a mostly white town in the eighties, has felt like a test that I was constantly failing.” A heartbreaking, complicated essay about Beth Nguyen’s choice to change her name. (link)

Nobody’s doing well; everyone’s doing badly. (link)

Reading in the morning is Good. I can personally attest to this. I used to read every day on my commute, and if I missed it I became very cranky indeed. (link)

Disney keeps making movies where the Black characters spend most of the movie not being Black characters. W h y. (tw for a really heartbreaking set of anecdotes about the author’s son trying to find TV that represents him) (link)

Two of my favorite critics, Alex Brown and Angelica Jade Bastien, discuss why Them‘s overuse on brutality makes the show, overall, an artistic failure.

GOOD TALK, NOW HAVE A WEEKEND.

The post Everyone’s Doing Badly: A Links Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.