Dazed: Taylor Swift’s new video branded a ‘knock off’ of Kenzo’s Spike Jonze ad.

Look on the bright side? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

Remember, it's likely not Swift herself producing/designing these. She's probably presented with like three design 'directions', and she chooses the one she wants to go with. So careful with the critiques.

Fubiz: Warm Oscars 2018 Photoshoot by Mark Seliger.

The idea of doing posed photos against backgrounds (adding random pieces of furniture, too) at awards shows became a 'thing' a couple of years ago. Now it looks like they're (badly) constructing whole sets? Cool, but really? Check the floor in the photos. Maybe it's my imagination, but something's not quite right in some of these.

c|net: Call of Duty, Fallout make Trump's video game violence reel.

I don't play video games. Don't own a gaming system. This is straight-up violence porn.

11,000 lives lost to firearms in 2016. Most research going back decades shows increases in aggression, if no clear direct link to violence (which I beg to differ with - ever had a friend who watched The Three Stooges?). If losing or restricting these games might save 1% of those lives - 110 people - I say do it. Certainly kids under 6 should never see any of this (all research shows these ages believe what they see, believe TV is reality). I know some children who can't be allowed near the television when the Sunday 'talk' shows are on. All the shouting gets them stressed out.

This crap isn't worth defending.

Later: New Scientist, Young babies disapprove when they see adults acting immorally. Yeah, nope. So many of the video game arguments fly in the face of actual human nature.

NY Times Review: ‘Jessica Jones’ Returns, Well Timed for the Time’s Up Moment.

I love JJ, don't get me wrong. I don't love the no-character-growth persistent-hormonal-teen-angst persona. Snark, snark, snark. Entertaining as her snark is, she has to change after life circumstances, at least just a smidge. Keeping her static just bores the hell out of me. I never finished Season One for this reason. I'll get there, but it's painful. [Just FYI, Tony Stark annoys me, too, for glacial personality change.]

The American Scholar: Zombies and Plagues and Bombs, Oh My!

Really? See if you get as tired of this as fast as I did. There's a 'know-it-all' quality to some of the convo here, and it annoyed me. Young journos need to exit their echo chambers. Have you seen gun manufacturers marketing for 'zombie' assault rifles, shotguns, etc.? You can even buy a pink 'zombie' AR-15 for your daughters (or sons, if they like pink).

We have one serious pandemic, or even another fuel crisis, I do worry we'll have nuts shooting people all over this nation. "Zombie" as alternative text for "not of my tribe."

I see 'zombie' marketing as a nefarious method of lowering the bar on shooting your fellow citizens through using 'self-defense' as an excuse for murder. Zombie films promote, more than any other form of film or entertainment, pre-emptive violence. There are people who are on the edge of actually believing this stuff, and are preparing for "zombie apocalypse". Marketers are encouraging it. And I oppose it in every way possible. It is of no benefit to our culture. NONE. I correlate this with conspiracy theorism - bored people expending a lot of energy over nothingness, self-generating paranoia, churning their brains into malleable muck that can be easily led by others.

What disturbs me even more is how calm these ladies are about the news media and their profit model, how news latches onto sensationalism for $ ... and they seem to just accept it without outrage.

[Caveat: I watch no zombie films, know none of the tropes ... except for one. I once camped at Blairstown, NJ (filming site of the original "Friday the 13th") before it got famous. A less-frightening, more boring camp spot, you cannot imagine.]

Later: Good god, even the CDC?!!!!!

CBS: Jennifer Lawrence says she dropped out of middle school.

I dropped out of middle school. I don't technically have a GED or a diploma. I am self-educated.

I find that very sad, that she felt she had to make the choice. Others have had tutors. Think of the literature she missed, that could inform her performances (not that they haven't been great). I would have followed up with a question about reading.

Hollywood Reporter: 'M*A*S*H' Oral History: Untold Stories From One of TV's Most Important Shows.

What strikes me is, how much slower we all talked back then. There was time to think before speaking. I notice the increase in speed required today, and am somewhat stunned. I am going to practice slowing down, purposefully, for a while. See how I'm received.

More than this, however - I recall how MASH went over right after 9/11. Noone wanted to see it. America had balled itself into a fist, and did not want to even contemplate the idea that all wars are a waste. To a certain degree, we all walked away from Hawkeye. At least for a while. The fact he's shown up here in my feed, is a good thing. Gives me hope.

Guardian.UK: Billy Graham was on the wrong side of history.

... when his influence really would have counted, when he could have effected real change, real social transformation, he was too locked into last-days fearmongering to recognize the potential of the state to do good. We are all paying the price.

Thanks to certain beloved Southern Baptist relations, I've sat through more than one of his television epics when I was in my 20's. My take: his broadcasts were always riveting, but when it came to using his prescriptions out in the real world, his own followers wouldn't practice what he preached. 

This was the '80's, of course, when Tipper Gore was in full anti-rock-music shred; Graham sat back and loved to relate (I paraphrase): "I'm not concerned. Teens have been doing this for hundreds of years. Eventually they'll all get haircuts." Grunge was just around the corner; shorter haircuts in general, even darker messages. But no makeup.

Later: Interestingly, he did a TED talk. In the late '90's, right as weblogging was starting up. Scoop in at 10:00, and think about today's social media, esp. in political commentary. And what 'evangelicalism' stands for today.