Welcome back to Wednesday Links! How have you been?!
As the holiday season and end of the year are approaching, how do you plan on celebrating? I’ve decided to bake a bunch of cookies from Dorie Greenspan’s big, beautiful cookie book. I’m trying all new recipes, so wish me luck.
I also think I may rope my partner into a Christmas movie marathon. Movies that have made the list: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf, Scrooged, A Muppet Christmas Carol…and Die Hard.
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The 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography Award winners have been announced. I personally felt like the raccoon eating shrimp on a Florida beach should have won.
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On Tara’s co-hosted podcast Queerly Recommended, they had chefs Catie Randazzo and J Chong from the hit cooking competition reality show, The Big Brunch! You can catch their hour-long episode here!
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Given the loss of the USA Today bestseller list, this Esquire article about mysterious New York Times list feels very timely. Note that this one could be behind a paywall if you’ve hit your article limit.
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This Spanish whisky ad is giving the SBTB Patreon discord all sorts of feelings. I definitely cried watching it and reading about its warm reception.
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Last month, Crystal the polar bear gave birth to two adorable cubs. You can catch the live feed here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBLzb1MCJRs
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Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting 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!
That commercial had me sobbing at 6 AM this morning.
And now, for something completely different.
The Bulwer-Lytton contest (worst opening sentence) winners are up and they are delightfully awful!
https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/
Tor/Forge Blog has a book rec quiz.
https://www.torforgeblog.com/2022/12/02/tor-books-severely-unmoored-winter-holiday-quiz/
I took it several times and consistently got “You received this recommendation for choosing the wildest/most upsetting answers, congratulations!” after changing all my responses except the one with only one correct answer: taking Lady D as my plus-one to the rave. Clearly, the quiz maker is intimidated by mature, confident, powerful women!
Literary Hub lists the 103 best book covers of 2022. On the negative side: not much romance represented. On the positive side: bonus appearance of a Chuck Tingle cover:
https://lithub.com/the-103-best-book-covers-of-2022/
A Muppet Christmas Carol is my favorite! I also enjoyed the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas special, on Disney plus. It has my new favorite holiday song, “I Don’t Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime Is Here).”
I don’t know if this will be relevant to anyone’s interests here but it sure hit all my aesthetic buttons. The BTS members have all been promoting their individual photobooks, and V’s promo was finally released. He looks like he belongs on the cover of a succession of historical romance novels. The cravats, the blue gloves…I just absolutely love it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1jvlxyMRyE
And then over the weekend Suga had the audacity to post this photoshoot to Instagram and I almost passed out. The coat! The ruffles! The hair!!! Again with the historical romance cover vibe. I can’t get enough.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl_Q4XOJ3-0/
I also have an “only one correct answer!” on the tor quiz, because the one you need on your side when the other are coming for you is Lucy! She can help you take on anyone! I kept getting two books over and over, had to read the links underneath to make sure i found all 4 😛
Dorrie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies are very good – highly recommended by everyone in my family.
The Christmas advertisement this year that made me cry was this one from John Lewis. It’s not quite as daring as the Spanish whiskey ad, but it is still quite heartwarming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi9-EIVB36k
As for Christmas movies, I like LITTLE WOMEN (almost any version, but especially the Winona Ryder and Saoirse Ronan ones). It takes place over several years and several seasons, but the opening line of the book is “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents”, so I always think of it as a Christmas book.
@Kris Bock—highly recommend Brett Goldstein (aka Roy Kent from Ted Lasso) interviewing the Muppets for the 30th anniversary of The Muppet Christmas Carol.
https://ew.com/movies/brett-goldstein-making-muppet-christmas-carol-30th-anniversary-interview/
Air Canada releases a tearjerking long-form ad every year – my favourite is last year’s “Tis the Season to Believe”, which should appeal to every romance reader out there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N709PTtZz2Q
This year’s ad is a family ad featuring a family of loons (yes!) and is very sweet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7APZ0hIN80
@Susan/DC, oh yes. I saw the John Lewis ad last week and it grabbed my heart and squeezed.
The HOGFATHER is the only movie that I *must* watch at Christmas. Death trying to figure out the spirit of the Hogfather is priceless.