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Excellent piece on the state of the USWNT. Currently watching the Women's World Cup when I can and it's been fun. There are expectations that make the US a favorite, and maybe I'm caught up in the moment, but Germany looked like they were existing on another level against Sweden.
Piece questioning Netflix's later comedy announcement. I, too, paused at the Kutcher/Masterson announcement but as long as Netflix is making shows like OITNB, Daredevil, and Sense8 and bringing over stuff like Scrotal Recall and Peaky Blinders, I'll just ignore the stuff I don't care for. I do wonder if a subscription hike is coming my way.
Mark Harris discussing the prominence of trans narratives in American pop culture with reference to a moment earlier in history that shows how much has changed in some decades.
In American sports, as in American life, winning changes your character without changing your character. It can’t alter who you are, but it can upgrade all of your adjectives. A flamboyant showman hits the shot that a selfish ballhog misses. A relentlessly competitive leader is a bully plus a touchdown drive. Some of this is the nature of sports, which is a business of what works; some of it is human nature, which always wants to see success as a vindication of inner qualities.1 The real link between character and accomplishment is often dim and hard to articulate, but we find little parables everywhere. To inspire, all you have to do is score.
Piece questioning Netflix's later comedy announcement. I, too, paused at the Kutcher/Masterson announcement but as long as Netflix is making shows like OITNB, Daredevil, and Sense8 and bringing over stuff like Scrotal Recall and Peaky Blinders, I'll just ignore the stuff I don't care for. I do wonder if a subscription hike is coming my way.
Mark Harris discussing the prominence of trans narratives in American pop culture with reference to a moment earlier in history that shows how much has changed in some decades.
A sports figure comes out as transgender, and the general public is riveted by her story, which is met with everything from bigotry to curiosity to empathy. All at once, the subject seems to be everywhere from op-ed pages to dinner-table conversations. Transgender stories – this time fictional – start to gain a toehold in popular culture. The highest-rated sitcom on network TV takes some tentative steps toward exploring the fluidity of gender identity by having a gay cross-dressing performer as a recurring character. A popular medical drama wins an Emmy nomination for a two-part episode about a doctor who undergoes gender-reassignment surgery.
The year is 1976.
