Lancelot Links

Monday January 11, 2016

Lancelot Links

Remember the U VA gang-rape story that Rolling Stone magazine reportedly on sensationally and incorrectly last year? More details here from The Washington Post. If true, how sad and pathetic. And not helpful.�
Police artists sketch five literary characters based upon the author's description. Not the five I'd go with, but fun. Who I'd like to see? Holden Caulfield, Seymour Glass, T.S. Garp, Daniel Isaacson, Holly Golightly.
Garrison Keillor calls Donald Trump a “cartoon candidate” and compares him to former Minn. Gov. Jesse Ventura.�
More from Minnesota: It's the 25th anniversary of the major-label debut of the Geardaddies, whom I used to see all the time back in the day. One of the best Minnesota garage bands ever. Viddy well. (I'd forgotten how much I�love “Gonna Change.” Great song, bad title.)
Criterion asks four actors (Benecio del Toro, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Greta Gerwig and Paul Dano) for favorite sex scenes. The women deliver, the men go with romantic (if sexy) scenes. Dudes. That said, I like the choices, or the movies, of the men more. I might add the kiss in the elevator in “Drive.” You?�
Great take by David Thomson on “The Revenant,” one of the year's best movies.�
Joe Posnanski doesn't think Fred McGriff belongs in the Hall of Fame (most members of the BBWAA agree), Tom Verducci does, and wrote a column comparing McGriff's numbers with Hall of Famer Eddie Matthews. Posnanski, normally polite, pushes back.�
The death of David Bowie at the age of 69. Out of the blue. As my friend Jeff wrote, “So far 2016 can suck it.”
There's a new kid in Hollywood, STX Entertainment, and they're trying to create thoughtful, mid-range entertainment at a time of franchise blockbusters. Good luck. Also, thoughtful isn't necessarily “thoughtful.” Put another way: Even here, the marketing tail is this close to wagging the movie dog. It's actually a pretty depressing read.�
Charles Blow on guns and white terror. He glosses over heartbreaking assassinations in 1968 that led to gun control measures (it wasn't all about the Black Panthers), but the most telling stat is this: “77 percent of white gun deaths are suicides while 82 percent of black gun deaths are homicides.” So maybe eventually white gun owners will eliminate themselves?
There will be continued talk about the Seahwaks 10-9 victory over the Vikings in below-zero weather in Minneapolis, but few will write about it better�than Art Thiel.
Well, unless it's Joe Posnanski.�
The long read of the week: “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare,” by Nathaniel Rich, in�The New York Times Magazine.�Read it and realize why DuPont and other corporations are�our�worst nightmare: what they knew, when they knew it, what they did about it, how they were punished for it. Try not to be sick.