Hello and welcome to Wednesday Links! This is where we share some pretty neat stuff we’ve seen recently on the internet. As always, we hope you’re having a great week and if not, that’s okay! We hope it gets better.
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Every Wednesday, I ask Sarah if there’s something she wants me to include in the Links post. Most of the time, she doesn’t have anything. When I asked for this week, she cryptically replied, “Google Feud.” It’s like Family Feud, but using Google autocorrect answers. She also warns it’s very addicting and I can confirm that it is.
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Missing Agent Carter and her lovely choice of lipsticks? Besame has taken their three Agent Carter lip colors and put them in some lovely packaging. Elyse loves this brand, but be warned none of these colors are “new.” They’re just repackaged together. However, the set looks like it’d make a great gift!
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Exciting romantic comedy alert! The creator of Fresh Off the Boat is going to direct a rom com with Ali Wong and Randall Park:
As of now, the film is untitled but the script has been written by Michael Golamco. The story follows two childhood sweethearts who have a falling-out and lose touch for 15 years. Now as adults, they cross paths again. Sasha (Wong) has become a celebrity chef who is opening up a restaurant in San Francisco, while Marcus (Park) is a struggling but happy musician who lives at home with his dad. And when they reconnect, they find that some old sparks still linger.
I’m very excited for this as I’m a fan of both Park and Wong!
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If you’re like me and have some major catnip for “unlikeable” heroine, you might enjoy this older Bitch Media essay:
I see this double standard pop up all the time in novels, too. We forgive our heroes even when they’re drunken, aimless brutes or flawed noir figures who smoke too much and can’t hold down a steady relationship. In truth, we both sympathize with and celebrate these heroes; Conan is loved for his raw emotions, his gut instincts, his tendency to solve problems through sheer force of will. But the traits we love in many male heroes—their complexity, their confidence, their occasional bouts of selfish whim—become, in female heroes, marks of the dreaded “unlikable character.”
What do you think?
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And if you’ve been coveting Nakia’s scarf from Black Panther, Ruth E. Carter (the movie’s amazing costume designer) has released the pattern!
Pattern for Nakia Scarf! pic.twitter.com/YDMww6xIia
— Ruth E Carter (@iamRuthECarter) March 3, 2018
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Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
Everyone talks about the need to see themselves represented in romance, so I say:. ALL HAIL THE UNLIKEABLE HEROINES. She is me, and I adore her.
YA author Maggie Stiefvater has a tweet thread of finch domestic drama.
https://twitter.com/mstiefvater/status/979790147716898816
It’s like Real Housewives of Office Bush.
Also, some villain hooked me on a mobile game called I Love Hue, at which I am either fantastically gifted or in which the “world average” number of moves is ridiculously inflated for the sole purpose of making me feel like a visually discerning genius. The reward for finishing a level is being called things like “shimmering unicorn” and “iridescent moonbeam,” so obviously it’s my new boyfriend.
I spotted the scarf pattern and passed it on to a co-worker (who is MAD for Black Panther) and she sent it to her mother … who looked at the materials and pointed out that those alone would run a couple hundred dollars (silk and other fine fibers), so be warned.
Loved the Bitch Media essay – so true, too. And also became aware that I tend to avoid books where one or more of the characters are described as “unlikeable.” Think I need to push my boundaries.
When I read Res Benton’s post about I Love Hue and thought my daughter might like it because Hue is one of her favorite cities. Alas, I read it with the wrong accent. And it still looks interesting.
@Ren Benton I either love you or hate you for the I Love Hue rec. I’ll let you know later!
I have been missing Agent Carter recently – and now I really want that lipstick kit (even though I rarely wear lipstick)!
@ Ren Benton – thanks for sharing the finch domestic drama. Maggie Stiefvater is a local in these parts. Nest building season is hot and heavy. Our Billionaire Architect Winter Wren loudly proclaims every morning that Today Is The Day He Will Find His Mate. Mr. L and I find his wren mansions all over the place except in the wren house I put up for him. I’m hoping Perky Secretary Winter Wren comes along soon and we can sleep in a morning or two.
@Ren Benton — I love “I Love Hue” so much! I haven’t played in ages because I lost all my progress when I switched phones, and I was pretty far along so that was disappointing. I guess I could start over though.
There are a lot of heroines I find unlikeable, but they never seem to be the ones who get that label.
Just wanted to throw some Besame love out there- one of the very nicest lipstick formulas around. All of their colors are duplicates from ACTUAL vintage colors that the owner analyzes & matches, and I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better red bullet lipstick. A very special indulgence if higher end makeup is in your budget 🙂
@Mara I agree! I wore the 1935 colour for my wedding. I’m a huge fan of Besame. The samples like matchbooks are fantastic.
Remember that “describe yourself like a male author would” thing making the rounds on Twitter recently? If you’re not sure how to do it, here is a handy chart to help you!
https://electricliterature.com/if-youre-not-sure-how-a-male-author-would-describe-you-use-our-handy-chart-6a44afe0e586
Just plug in the first five letters in your first name. My description is: “She had a rump like a silken waterfall and I trembled to ravish her.”
“She had lips like a tempestuous pony and I deigned to admire her.” My daughter: “She had lips like a juicy kitten and I refused to hire her.”
ICYMI – a couple of great Twitter threads making the rounds:
Alexis Hall’s delightful recap of that time George Villiers and Charles I went on a Super Secret Mission to Spain:
https://twitter.com/quicunquevult/status/980518324739231744
Florence Schechter’s accounting of how a typo helped end WW2:
https://twitter.com/floschechter/status/983371581039763456
@MrsObedMarsh: I got as far as “juicy bedsheet” and had to run away screaming.
There was a DIY epithet maker built upon “[Your Name], the [gender role] who [complete with predictive text].” Mine was “Ren, the Woman Who Writes About Dough and the Other Dough,” which is entirely accurate.
The Besame colors aren’t “new” but they are repackaged with cute spy names and when I priced them out I think the kit is a bit cheaper than buying all three shades individually, especially considering you get a few more goodies with it. I’m hoping they make some more products in the line!
Thank you (or curse you) for Google Feud! Sometimes I fill in the blank fast just to see the answers that I never would have thought of.
Ok, damn the hide of whoever thought to mention Besame because not only did I click the link, I bought entirely too much. But still want more. And yes I’m blaming someone else for my weakness. (>_<)
The other links, including those listed in the comments, were great. Even the I Love Hue despite the fact it's a rabbit hole.
Yay for the new rom-com! My husband and I LOVE Fresh Off the Boat (my mom loves it too – she recommended it to us). It might be cancelled after this season and we have all voted in the USA Today Save our Shows poll in support. If you haven’t seen it, please give it a try – set around a Taiwanese grandmother, mom, and dad and their American born children – it tackles cultural and racial topics as well as everyday family stuff. Plus it is set in the early to mid-nineties and if you grew up then (like I did) you will love the references – a Saturn car with seat belts that would “buckle” themselves, Boyz II Men, the East coast/West coast rap feud, and one character who collects all things Princess Diana. I highly recommend it!
Thanks for the lipstick link. I *love* all things Agent Carter, so I bought one of the kits. I had never heard of Besame before, but their products looks really cool.
@Ren Benton, I Love Hue is evil.
The world average makes sense – most of the time I’m way under, but when I’m over I’m ridiculously over.
And need to play the next level
Right now.
@KatieC-I love Fresh Off The Boat-I can’t believe it is in danger of being cancelled!!
I bought the Agent Carter lipstick kit-and I don’t even wear lipstick!! I will have to start…
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