From The Morgue

With lockdown up for review on Monday, might this be the final Friday linky? Possibly! But you know what happened after the last Final Friday: Jason went to space. So we can’t be confident about anything.

1. The Atlantic covers the Insane Clown Posse’s pandemic leadership (v. good) and looks across the whole juggalo phenom, including the way dozens of journos embedded themselves at The Gathering… https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/04/insane-clown-posse-models-pandemic-era-leadership/610651/

2. This discussion of how coronavirus is affecting our imaginative limits, by SF legend Kim Stanley Robinson, is just as good as everyone else who shared it said it was. Essential reading. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/the-coronavirus-and-our-future

3. Highly-regarded essay series on the myth of the “warrior race”, with a specific focus on Spartans in the real world and Dune’s Fremen in fiction. I’m linking a blog post that summarises, because it is looong. https://zompist.wordpress.com/2020/05/03/the-fremen-mirage/

4. Lovely story about a kid who loved writing letters, and the US postal service. https://twitter.com/hughweber/status/1256731692611571712?s=21

5. The Guggenheim has hundreds of exhibition catalogs available for free download, going back to 1936! https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/you-can-now-download-over-200-art-books-from-the-guggenheim-for-free-042920

6. Globetrotting investigator of oddities David Farrier (Tickled, Dark Tourist) has an email newsletter! It is great! Sign up! https://webworm.substack.com/about

7. Another collection of people recreating famous artwork in their homes. These are genius and i hope humanity never stops doing this now we have started. https://www.boredpanda.com/art-painting-recreations-quearteencasa/

8. My amazing friend Helen reads a very relevant poem from her Ockham-nominated collection: https://youtu.be/Sii5dokSagE

9. Some lovely behind-the-scenes from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, with Matthew Broderick interviewing his cast mates. https://youtu.be/tNzRSVmz0To

10. Tim & Guy lived in a NYC sewer for a week and watched the Michael Bay Ninja Turtles film three times a day and somehow this didn’t become a YouTube Red TV show but you can watch it: https://youtu.be/ebs0C1Wk0gE

11. In case you missed it – Daniel Radcliffe leads off a series of celebs reading Harry Potter book 1 to you, chapter by chapter: https://nerdist.com/article/daniel-radcliffe-reads-harry-potter-recording/

12. The books of Anno Mitsumasa were mainstays of my childhood. Japan House in London has just launched a virtual exhibition of his works. https://www.japanhouselondon.uk/

13. And finally, via Katherine H (who also provided the Free Masks image from a few weeks back!) – the Twin Peaks theme delivered by cats https://youtu.be/8MnOtMP41k4

The first Friday linky of level 3! Let’s go…

1. This NYT essay by a restaurant owner who closes her restaurant in lockdown is gripping. Beautifully written and intensely personal. Worth creating a free NYT account to read. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/magazine/closing-prune-restaurant-covid.html

2. Mad Chapman’s listicles of NZ food items are hilarious and controversial classics of the genre, and this one is no different. https://thespinoff.co.nz/food/26-04-2020/all-142-biscuit-flavours-in-new-zealand-ranked-from-worst-to-best/

3. Brett Goldstein (the lovely Films to be Buried With podcast) is making a lockdown webseries like Love Island, only the love interest is a pot plant? Brilliant. https://youtu.be/nP793bQSHPY

4. More lockdown fun with this beautifully-produced interactive murder mystery on twitter: https://twitter.com/misterabk/status/1253625098256465920?s=21

5. Film costume nerds judge historical films by the standard of one that really got it right. They speak, of course, of Bill & Ted https://slate.com/culture/2020/04/regency-movie-costumes-bill-and-ted-test.html

6. This supercalifragilistic parody will bring you joy https://youtu.be/ykieEE1j9eA

7. Everyone knows the quickest way to sort problems with your broadband is to call out the company in public, on twitter. But this call goes weird places. https://twitter.com/adrianrmg/status/1254742269686624257?s=21

8. “I personally don’t believe solutions are the answer to our problems” https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-personally-dont-believe-solutions-are-the-answer-to-our-problems – probably the best thing McSweeneys has ever published.

9. The White Man Behind A Desk has graduated to a well-produced RNZ series about New Zealand’s history and present. A local civics education, plus funny! https://youtu.be/m1VrqxohA-A

10. Fraggle Rock is back – as a series of shorts *filmed in the homes of the performers during lockdown*. Wow. https://news.avclub.com/apple-revives-fraggle-rock-for-a-series-of-short-weekly-1842982769

11. Generate your own neural-network-generated memes! Mysteriously addictive. https://imgflip.com/ai-meme

12. Shut Up and Sit Down reveal some amazing board games you can print on your own printer at home and play by yourself. Genuinely inspirational! These look really fun! https://youtu.be/sNghPlwbYe8

13. And finally, watch this guy rap Dr Seuss’ tongue-twister Fox in Socks to the beats of Dr Dre: https://youtu.be/hqIbEHNqbPs

1. The most legendary episode of oddball late-nighter The Chris Gethard Show is free to view on YouTube and it is a WILD ride. Feat. Paul Scheer and Jason Mantzoukas, who are tasked with guessing what is in a dumpster. If you know, don’t spoil it! https://youtu.be/Nwi_kE0gy94

2. Museum curators dug through their cupboards for the creepiest things they could find. The Grauniad has an overview, or check #CreepiestObject on Twitter https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/apr/20/museums-hold-twitter-showdown-to-find-worlds-creepiest-object

3. Is the lockdown doing too much damage to the economy? It’s unpleasant to put a price on human life, but you have to answer this somehow. This fascinating piece talks about using acceptable risk instead. (Via Trond) http://timharford.com/2020/04/how-do-we-value-a-statistical-life/

4. A close reading of a British children’s book to explore all the WWII-era material culture in the illustrations. Lovely. (Via @knhannah) https://twitter.com/GabeMoshenska/status/1252241207377494018?s=20

5. The Michael Jordan documentary series on Netflix is amazing (I am just the right age for it too) but also FIBA, sensing a moment, has dropped an hourlong doc on the history of the Basketball World Cup https://youtu.be/I0hJ4QC5Fpc

6. There’s a lot of lockdown podcasts out there, but this one is special: Ken Jeong and Joel McHale talking Community, coronavirus, & moar! (Also on youtube!) https://linktr.ee/kenjeong

7. And if you’ve been binging Community, don’t forget the mini-episodes! The three eps that take place inside 90-second study breaks are absolutely masterful and very funny. Find ‘em all here: https://community-sitcom.fandom.com/wiki/Community_webisodes

8. Neil, Liam and Elroy Finn are playing together in lockdown. Here’s Better Be Home Soon. Sweet on the ear. https://youtu.be/0FS9vBf6i5g

9. If you miss gone-too-soon cruelly-taken more-than-just-a-sports-website Deadspin, you should definitely check out https://unnamedtemporarysportsblog.com featuring some very familiar writers. It’s funny.

10. Dylan Horrocks has been interviewing NZ cartoonists by video call, starting with Toby Morris, whose coronavirus guidance cartoons have gone global: https://youtu.be/vTlFHdtsK40 (Sarah Laing is next, so watch that too)

11. Learn wildly more than you ever needed to know about the origins of 420. https://www.theringer.com/2017/4/20/16039178/battle-over-420-san-rafael-waldos-bebes-4b755faa94a1

12. And finally, if you, like me, found Leah McFall’s columns were always a delicious treat, then you, like me, will be delighted to learn about her new saga imagining Harry & Meghan on lockdown in, er, Karori. https://karoriconfidential.com

1. Lovely friendo David Cormack has spent the last few years as a columnist for the Herald, representing “the entire left side of politics”. He, with many others, was shed by the paper as it tries to cope with events. Now Cormack has jumped on Patreon, and you can get his funny & smart reckons for spare change: https://www.patreon.com/davidcormack

2. MAD magazine’s film parodies were essential culture for decades, and Mort Drucker’s instantly recognisable art was a huge part of their success. The WaPo gave him a great obit: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/mort-drucker-artist-who-drew-humor-from-life-in-mad-magazine-dies-at-91/2020/04/09/e1a1dda0-7a6a-11ea-a130-df573469f094_story.html

3. The Comics Journal goes deep into Drucker’s art style, using his Invasion of the Body Snatchers parody as a starting point. I loved this. He was a huge part of my childhood. (Before home video, you’d relive films by reading the MAD parodies…) http://www.tcj.com/carnival-knowledge-on-mort-drucker/

4. Curt Smith of Tears for Fears plays Mad World with his daughter Diva. Gave me chills.
https://youtu.be/NEpfvTdR5-U

5. The last paragraphs of this Ray Bradbury interview are getting shared around for good reason – they are majestic. But the whole thing, an interview from the late 70s and the early 10s, is excellent. https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6012/the-art-of-fiction-no-203-ray-bradbury

6. Which is a good excuse to link to Rachel Bloom’s extremely horny and not works-safe song about lusting after Ray Bradbury. This 2010 clip was instrumental in getting Crazy Ex-Girlfriend made. Bradbury, then 90, liked it. https://youtu.be/ZG38VcjE770

7. Adam Schlesinger, taken much too young by COVID, was best known for cheeseball (& horny) chart-topper Stacy’s Mom, but he was also the secret songwriting weapon behind Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Rolling Stone gives the whole picture. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/adam-schlesinger-life-death-obituary-981333/amp/

8. This has been shared all over the place because sax man is just that iconic: The True Story of The Lost Boys’ Sax Man https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/04/the-true-story-of-the-lost-boys-sax-man/

9. In the last few years there has been a surge in Pākehā learning te reo Māori, signalling a deep transformation in how New Zealanders see the language. But this interest brings with it many new concerns, writes Dr Rawiri Taonui: https://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_news/MjQxMzY/Opinion/Dr-Rawiri-Taonui-%7C-Pakeha-Re-colonisation-of-Te-Reo-Maori

10. Another notable death this week was mathematician John Horton. This Guardian longread about him (dating from a few years back) is absolutely fascinating. (Via Trond) https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jul/23/john-horton-conway-the-most-charismatic-mathematician-in-the-world

11. Lea Thompson sharing this stay-home message makes it 1.21 gigawatts more compelling https://twitter.com/LeaKThompson/status/1248399737927024641

12. This did the rounds just pre-pandemic, but if you missed it, this episode of podcast Reply All about a man who tries to reconstruct a song he remembers from his youth – a song no-one else can recall – is surely one of the best podcast episodes of all time. (Via Kirsty @eliterate) https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/o2h8bx

13. Bloopers from old Hollywood are, it turns out, tremendous fun https://twitter.com/lumi_1984/status/1249451641457324032?s=20

14. And finally, the opening credits to Twin Peaks, but made entirely out of paper https://youtu.be/lTkDlfuhlVA

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1. Despite what you’ve read in Cosmpolitan, the g-spot isn’t real, says… Cosmopolitan. (This yarn is a bit funny and very thoughtful.) https://www.cosmopolitan.com/interactive/a32037401/g-spot-not-real/

2. Steve Braunias reviews iconic now-wave journo Mad Chapman’s book about Jacinda Ardern. You’ll walk away knowing more about Ardern, and Chapman, and Braunias, and be entertained to boot. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/04/09/1121751/book-of-the-week-madeleine-chapman-on-jacinda-ardern

3. Auckland’s Academy Cinema now has a streaming offer. Parasite! Portrait of a Lady on Fire! More! This is the STUFF, enzed https://ondemand.academycinemas.co.nz

4. Freebie: D&D is dropping a bunch of free stuff this week, including the entirety of the D&D Starter Set. Nice one, Wizards! https://dnd.wizards.com/remote/freematerial

5. Vox has a “games beyond Dungeons & Dragons” piece up that is really great. For The Queen is just the start of it. https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/4/3/21191762/tabletop-rpgs-guide-how-to-role-playing-games-dnd-dungeons-and-dragons-online

6. This NYT article on tiny living robots made from frog cells and programmed to self-destruct is kind of mind-blowing https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/science/xenobots-robots-frogs-xenopus.html

7. Freebie: Big Finish is releasing a free Doctor Who audio adventure every Monday, and the first one (available now) features the amazing John Hurt returning to the role of the Doctor: https://www.radiotimes.com/news/radio/2020-04-06/doctor-who-big-finish-free/

8. At the Spinoff, Sam Brooks provides a very convincing guide to the Studio Ghibli movies now on Netflix, and when to introduce them to your kids https://thespinoff.co.nz/tv/05-04-2020/the-films-of-studio-ghibli-and-when-to-show-them-to-your-kids/

9. Dalek relaxation tape: https://youtu.be/e59guruVL4o

10. A directory of (mostly food/drink-related) NZ businesses delivering during lockdown https://delivereat.co.nz

11. The stupendous meta-sitcom Community is now on Netflix, and the Independent has an oral history of its wildly unlikely behind-the-scenes sagas: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/community-netflix-six-seasons-cast-interviews-dan-harmon-joel-mchale-alison-brie-a9437721.html

12. Elaine Paige challenged musical improvisers Showstoppers to create a quarantine-themed song in the style of West Side Story in just 24 hours. See how they did: https://youtu.be/F-Iv93Aem_M

13. And finally, via Andrew M: Libertarian Wins Debate With Imaginary Girlfriend https://thehardtimes.net/culture/libertarian-wins-debate-imaginary-girlfriend/