Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 148th installment of Saturday Hot Links!
Today: The After This Week, We Really Need Laughing Baby Videos Edition.
2014 Creative Arts Emmys: Complete list of winners.
Stop writing dystopian sci-fi — it’s making us all fear technology.
Related: 4 photos of the aftermath of a Nevada A-bomb test.
Related: 2014 Hugo Award winners announced.
Listen to songs on the soundtrack for Boyhood [video].
What does outer space smell like.
Film School Rejects now a fan of HBO’s “The Leftovers”. I am, too.
The Internet is now officially more popular than cable in the U.S..
Akira Kurosawa’s 100 favorite films of all time.
25 authors who wrote great books before they turned 25.
The 30 best non-English language horror films in the last 25 years.
Spike Jonze and Jonah Hill writing a one-act play for New York’s Fashion Week.
Are you anxious or stressed? If so, know this: Treat them differently.
Blood, Guts and Gory: The rise of gross TV.
Unplugging these six gadgets will cut your electricity bill.
16 great genre films in the last 5 years you might have missed.
26 college courses we wish our schools had offered.
The dollars-and-cents case against Hollywood’s exclusion of women.
What’s it like to work on a skyscraper’s antenna.
Classic movies changed not to be sexist.
Here’s what you need to know to sell films in 12 genres.
Everything book lovers need to know about Amazon vs. Hachette.
17 hilarious inappropriate movie marquees.
Using your cat to hack your neighbor’s Wi-Fi.
7 ways Guardians of the Galaxy reminds us of the Star Wars movies.
7 things writers wish you’d stop saying to them.
20 screenwriting tricks and tropes we never need to see again.
Why does the other line always seem to be moving faster.
35 incredible “Twin Peaks” tattoos.
See who the wealthiest individual is in every state [map].
Sex, Lies and Videotape is 25 years old this week… it changed indie film in a big way.
Man can (sort of) live on pizza alone.
Tom Hanks’ typewriter iPad app climbs to #1 on Apple app store.
Why all drugs should be legal.
Tina Fey comedy series “Cabot College” dead at Fox.
How the bicycle empowered women.
TLC orders more Kate Gosselin specials.
16 out-of-context IKEA instructions to help you live a better life.
If your child was born in 2013, that’s going to cost you $245,340.
John Lithgow says Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur has been “completely reimagined”.
Can a test measure your imagination?
Legendary SNL announce Don Pardo dies at 96.
Engineers want to use darts to determine if there is life on Mars.
Female filmmakers finding a voice in the Balkans.
What’s so continental about a continental breakfast.
Kevin Smith is making a comic book movie… without the comic book.
Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” and the cult of awkward white girls.
September 5 at the Toronto International Film Festival will be Bill Murray Day.
J.D. Salinger’s house is for sale.
The Internet kills Leonard Maltin’s paperback movie guide.
It’s the world’s first unstealable bicycle.
Here it is: The entire schedule for “The Simpsons” FXX marathon.
21 fancy medical terms for mundane problems.
We truly are very near the end of civilization… as in this is the worst idea ever.
No, wait. THIS is the worst idea ever!
No, seriously, we live in really, really stupid times.
India has human-powered Ferris wheels.
Watch Orson Welles’ long-lost pre-Citizen Kane movie Too Much Johnson.
Mark Romanek Q&A re directing the Taylor Swift music video “Shake It Off.”
Does Adam Driver’s success herald a new kind of American masculinity in the movies.
Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) welcomes daughter #3.
Jon Stewart asked advice from Ron Howard and J.J. Abrams on his movie project Rosewater.
Klingon-speaking candidate could complicate North Carolina senate race.
Have you been following the amazing casting news for the upcoming HBO series “Westworld”?
Here’s how crazy-long German words are made.
James Cameron says the Avatar sequels will allow him to address “the state of the world and human affairs.”
The Wisconsin town that didn’t learn English for five generations.
Galaxy Quest sequel officially happening… as a comic book.
You know you want it: The Star Wars rumor generator.
Why biting your fingernails is more than just a bad habit.
Internet piracy isn’t killing Hollywood… Hollywood is killing Hollywood.
How is whiskey is produced.
How to tell the two Jungle Book movies apart.
This explains a lot: Politicians and serial killers share traits.
BBC TV chief hopes to see female Dr. Who.
Older people with vision trouble have an increased risk of early death.
Miramax gets some dough to the tune of $250M.
New Bob Dylan album featuring Dylan lyrics… but no Bob Dylan.
Aaron Paul plans “Breaking Bad” scavenger hunt for Emmys.
Dystopian novels right and left, but where are the utopian stories.
Related: No one writers utopian stories because they’re boring.
What is Marvel’s problem with women?
The single best way to help your kid succeed at school.
HBO says to expect “True Detective: Season 2” in summer 2015.
Forbes 100 most innovative companies.
Brian Koppelman with a new interview series Creative Spark at 92Y in NYC.
Why do we have eyebrows.
RIP: North Carolina state film incentives.
7 Tooth Fairy traditions from around the world.
An assistant’s guide to surviving August downtime in LA.
Great New Yorker article on the genesis of humankind’s communication through symbols.
Breakout movie character of the summer? Dancing Groot [video].
Inside America’s crumbling infrastructure.
10 Disney sidekicks that got the axe.
A bottle of 50 year-old single malt whiskey sells for $33k.
5 freaky facts about this summer’s fractured box office.
“Mythbusters” losing three co-hosts.
A teaser trailer for Tarantino’s Hateful Eight leaked online [video].
Finally 45 years ago, Easy Rider was released, a film that despite its flaws, changed movie culture forever.
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week: Here is the schedule of classes and workshops through the end of 2014:
August 25 — Craft: The First 15 Pages (Tom Benedek)
September 1 — Core IV: Style (Scott Myers)
September 8 — Pages I: The First Draft (Scott Myers)
September 15 — Core V: Dialogue (Scott Myers)
September 22 — Prep: From Concept to Outline (Tom Benedek)
October 6 — Network Hollywood (Tom Benedek)
October 16–19 — Quest Writing Workshop — Chapel Hill (Scott Myers)
October 27 — Core VI: Scene (Scott Myers)
November 3 — Writing the Original TV Pilot (Tom Benedek)
November 10 — Core VII: Theme (Scott Myers)
December 2 — Core VIII: Time (Scott Myers)
December 9 — Craft: The Character Driven Script (Tom Benedek)
Core Package — Take all eight Core classes at your own pace at a 50% savings
Tom and I have over 60 years experience working in the movie and TV business.
We have over 20 years experience teaching writers principles and practices of professional screenwriters.
We look forward to the opportunity to work with you.
Onward!