If your sequestered cat is in need of some video, let me recommend the Bird Library livestream.
Books and Writing:
The Hugo finalist list is out.
James Davis Nicholl laments books that are not easily acquired in the USA.
Bertelsmann completed its purchase of Penguin Random House and now owns the whole thing.
I looked in on this controversy via Twitter while it was happening. The Internet Archive announced they’d created a free “online library” to give homebound folks access to books. They implied that they were presenting many old books that were out of copyright and hard to find, but publishers and writers both noted that many of the book were recent and still in copyright, which made appropriating them piracy.
N.K. Jemisin was interviewed by the PBS Newshour a few years ago, when The Fifth Season was chosen for the show’s bookclub.
Publishers Weekly has some best-seller lists.
This app lets you find independent bookstores that you can support while you are sheltering in place.
Myke Cole reads an excerpt from Sixteenth Watch on Worldbuilders.
Games:
Here are the British Academy Games award winners.
TV and Movies:
For those of you who are having big-screen movie withdrawal, Entertainment Weekly provides this horror short feature by Mike Mendez. It’s got foul language and every possible in-joke. It’s fun.
The Mary Sue discusses why Wonder Woman, though admirable, ultimately didn’t satisfy.
The Magicians series ended last week with “Fillory and Further.” Den of Geek gave the show a very positive review. WARNING: Spoilers. Here, EW interviewed the showrunners about the final episode, and the series itself.
Cult horror movies: Amazon’s got them. Here are ten.
Internet:
The Washington Post gave Bill Gates space on its op-ed page. Through his foundation, Gates has become familiar with infectious diseases and how they spread, and has thought on how the USA could move forward. There isn’t anything new here but it’s all in one place, laid out in a logical manner.
Tech:
TracFone defrauded USA taxpayers by creating fictitious clients who qualified for a tax-subsidized low-income phone program. They’ve been fined by the FCC.
Some Videos:
For tots: Betty White reads Harry the Dirty Dog.
Kid-Friendly: In Scotland, an inquisitive seal horns on in a couple’s kayak date. I vote for “kelpie.”
Family-friendly. Kids! Build your own trebuchet (with the help of adults). This is not the best trebuchet video (Mythbusters has a nice one) but it explains the structure simply.
Just really pretty. The Choral Scholars of Dublin University College Perform “Black is the Color of my True Love’s Hair.”
Honest Trailers does Witcher. Probably for grownups.
Been increasingly out of step with all these awards over the years, and never very in step with the Hugos, but Gideon the Ninth is the best in that group of novels, a fun and exciting read. Haven’t read the McGuire. The Light Brigade was good but convoluted, like an old Charles Harness novel mutated into 21st century military SF. A Memory Called Empire was a little too talky but pretty good. I kept getting jarred out of the story in City in the Middle of the Night by the (to me) pointless alternation of first person present tense and third person past tense narrative, making the whole thing a chore. Am in the tiny minority that bounced off the Alix Harrow book, had to DNF at about the halfway point after my suspension of disbelief got too shredded and I found myself skimming pages.
Thank you for the trebuchet video and the Mythbusters pointer. I shared it with one of our Scout groups as a STEM activity. There may be a few parents who will want to have a word with me later…😁
An excellent collection of links! I loved the Dublin Choral Scholars.