Friends, with the wind chill, it is currently -40° where I live, as I type this. Notice I didn’t put F or C next to that temperature. It’s so cold that Fahrenheit and Celsius have met on a spot so low on the thermometer, it’s ridic that it even exists.
Oh, wait, I’m sorry — According to my local news station, we’ve now warmed up to a balmy “feels like” -32° F. Lucky us!
Let’s distract ourselves with some news from this week, shall we?
Of course if you follow any news outlet, including P-Mag, you’ll have heard that actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died from a drug overdose earlier this week. Here are a few of the interesting tributes that have come about since:
- At The New Yorker, Richard Brody talks about “Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Genius.”
- Aaron Sorkin talks about working with Hoffman on Charlie Wilson’s War, and how they related to each other as addicts.
- Marc Maron also talks about being an addict: “The hardest thing about it is once you get into that mind, once you are in demon mind, your decision-making capacity, or your will to say or know that you’re in trouble, becomes somewhat compromised.”
In other news:
Charlie Chaplin’s only novel, Footlights, is about to be published for the first time.
Annnd did you know that Subway bread, until very recently, contained one of the same ingredients as yoga mats? (Warning: Auto-playing video.)
In other “Things That Are Bad For You” Stories: CVS has decided to stop selling tobacco products, effective October 1st.
Huh: Clay Aiken is running for Congress in North Carolina. That’s somewhat unexpected.
Break out the confetti and champagne for The Land of Unicorns and David Tennant: Scotland has legalized same-sex marriage.
When I saw someone on Twitter post this link, I thought they were just re-posting the old news of “Cops shoot and kill naked Florida man after face-biting rampage” story from last year. Yeah, guess what just happened again?
The accommodations at the Sochi Olympics have been a bit of a shit-show, according to many of the journalists and athletes who have arrived, which has given birth to the Twitter hashtag #SochiProblems. It’s as hilarious as it is horrifying. Keep in mind, not all #SochiProblems are real.
Oh, and by the way, Russia may be watching you shower (and definitely your email) while you’re there.
And for the kicker: Russia has also killed more than 5,000 stray dogs in advance of the Olympics, but some Sochi residents are trying to rescue as many as they can.
All right, clearly the only thing to do right now is to watch this video from the Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion. It’s pretty great.
Until next time, friends.
6 replies on “Friday News Bites: Philip Seymour Hoffman Tributes, #SochiProblems + More”
Oh that is one mixed bag of news! It’s always good to see The Land Of Unicorns in the news for a good reason though.
Pretty much now that I know the unicorn is that country’s animal, it makes sense that I always refer to it in this way. Especially on a site who loves David Tennant. And Unicorns. ;)
I’ll take Clay Aiken over Renee Ellmers. He’s apparently been pretty politically active for several years, and is very much about equal rights and education and taking care of people in need, so I’d vote in his favor.
That’s cool. I’ve never really paid too much attention to him, but of course, an equal rights and education platform is excellent!
It is! And apparently he lives pretty local. Not as local (or as big of a deal for the youths) as Scotty McCreery, but pretty local.
As a potential future North Carolinaian (???) I like to hear this.