General

We’re only two weeks into 2018 but it’s impossible to talk about books in the new year without hearing three words: fire and fury.

Since an excerpt published in New York Magazine on Jan 3., the country has been buzzing about columnist and non-fiction author Michael Wolff’s latest book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.

The book is a searing deep dive into Donald Trump’s presidency as seen from Trump’s own White House staff, most notably Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon (who, since the publication of Fire and Fury, has been disavowed by the Trump campaign and ousted from Breitbart News) and former White House deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh.

But whether Wolff is dragging his subjects, like when Michael Wolff tries to explain a theory of why Donald Trump might try to court Vladimir Putin:

But then there was the those-that-know-him-best theory, some version of which most Trumpers would come to embrace. He was just star-fucking. He took his beauty pageant to Russia because he thought Putin was going to be his friend. But Putin couldn’t have cared less, and in the end Trump found himself at the promised gala dinner seated on one side next to a guy who looked like he had never used a utensil and on the other side Jabba the Hutt in a golf shirt. In other words, Trump—however foolish his sucking-up might have been, and however suspicious it might look in hindsight—just wanted a little respect.

or roasting Donald Trump’s hair

[Ivanka] often described the mechanics behind it to friends: an absolutely clean pate — a contained island after scalp-reduction ­surgery — surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray. The color, she would point out to comical effect, was from a product called Just for Men — the longer it was left on, the darker it got. Impatience resulted in Trump’s orange-blond hair color.”

one thing becomes abundantly clear about Fire and Fury: nothing and no one is safe from a Michael Wolff’s shady, shady pen.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we chat about Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury. Join us in the episode above as we chat about what this book says about the Donald Trump presidency, how do we separate fact vs. fiction in this book given Michael Wolff’s somewhat dubious fact-checking methods, and what to make of the president’s response to Fire and Fury.

And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

• Peter recommends The Mighty Boosh, a BBC Three comedy. “It’s just the weirdest and most surreal show, that’s slightly problematic sometimes. All that said, though, it’s a delightful show because it has my two favorite comedians: Rich Fulture and Matt Berry. It’s fun. It’s on Hulu.”

• Heather recommends “The Liars Club” by Mary Karr. “Mary Karr is perfect, she’s never made a mistake, much like Michael Wolff. This published in ’96 or ’97, and it kicked off the era of memoir writing. This was like the original good memoir.”

• MJ recommends author Matt De La Peña’s essay for Time “Why We Shouldn’t Shield Children From Darkness.” “The essay is just so movign about how we need to support children through darkness and the incredible, heartbreaking moments that he’s expereicend when he’s gotten to see a child expressing true emotion and grappling with that.” He also recommends RnB singer Jessie Reyez. “Her songs just got me all up in my feelings.”

And if you’re looking for even more book news, don’t forget to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter.

Actress Mira Sorvino penned an open letter Thursday apologizing to Dylan Farrow, daughter of filmmaker Woody Allen, for ignoring the sexual assault allegations Farrow made against her father and working with him in the ’90s.

Sorvino worked with Allen on the 1995 film Mighty Aphrodite, a few years after Farrow (who was 7-years-old at the time) alleged that Allen has sexually assaulted her. Recently, Farrow has become more outspoken about Allen’s alleged actions, calling out actors who have worked with him after the allegations went public.

Farrow’s call to action prompted Sorvino to write an apology for working with Woody Allen, via The Huffington Post, saying that she now believes Farrow’s accusations.

Sorvino wrote that, when she worked with Allen, she did not put much stake into Farrow’s allegations, something that she now regrets and apologizes for.

I am so sorry, Dylan! I cannot begin to imagine how you have felt, all these years as you watched someone you called out as having hurt you as a child, a vulnerable little girl in his care, be lauded again and again, including by me and countless others in Hollywood who praised him and ignored you. As a mother and a woman, this breaks my heart for you. I am so, so sorry!

We are in a day and age when everything must be re-examined. This kind of abuse cannot be allowed to continue. If this means tearing down all the old gods, so be it. The cognitive dissonance, the denial and cowardice that spare us painful truths and prevent us from acting in defense of innocent victims while allowing “beloved” individuals to continue their heinous behavior must be jettisoned from the bottom of our souls. Even if you love someone, if you learn they may have committed these despicable acts, they must be exposed and condemned, and this exposure must have consequences. I will never work with him again.

Shortly after Sorvino’s letter was published, Farrow gave her a heartfelt thank you on Twitter.

Sorvino’s open letter comes about a day after Lady Bird writer and director Greta Gerwig wrote a similar statement in which she expressed regret for working with Allen on the 2012 film To Rome with Love. Farrow thanked Gerwig as well.

There are still many people who have worked with Allen in recent years who have not spoken publicly about Allen, despite the recent wave of support for women and men in Hollywood coming forward against men with allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.

For better or for worse, a lot of people on the internet think Tide Pods look delicious. For better or for worse, I am one of them.

So I was thrilled to see that according to r/food, a friend of Redditor dweron appears to have successfully made edible Tide Pods in sushi form — a feat I am now affectionately calling “the dream.”

To be clear, this isn’t the first time the topic of edible Pods has been broached online. There’s been a hypothetical recipe floating around for a few days now. But that one — let’s be honest — seems pretty flavorless, and this one looks a little more appetizing. It even appears to have retained that iconic Tide Pod squish.

A forbidden snack forbidden no more? Perhaps. But if sushi-making isn’t your forte, you (and I) should probably stick to gazing longingly at photos of Tide Pods instead.

If you’re a frequent traveler, you know how annoying it can be to wait for your checked luggage to come around the carousel. On the flip side, we’ve all been there when someone tried to fit their giant suitcase in the overhead bin and that’s not fun for anyone.

Finding the perfect carry on is tricky — they have to keep up with you and fit your specific traveling style. Are you the type of person who needs to plan every stop of your trip? Or are you more of a wanderer who lets the road take them where it may? Whatever end of the travel spectrum you fall on, your suitcase is your most important accessory. You need to make sure you have the right one for your lifestyle.

We’ve rounded up five of our favorite carry-on bags that fit most airlines’ specifications for overhead luggage. (As always, you’ll want to make sure to check your airline’s requirements before you fly.) Whether you’re an old-school business traveler or a wanderlust-filled backpacker, we know you’ll find the perfect travel companion.

For the traditionalists — Delsey Spinner Trolley

This sleek hardshell case is made of a sturdy plastic that’s still lightweight enough to lift into an overhead compartment. Plus, the high-gloss finish looks like something out of Mad Men. It comes with dual-spinner wheels, a compression compartment, and TSA-approved lock that are pretty standard on nicer luggage.

For the trendsetters — Away Carry-On

The internet has been going crazy about Away, the luggage startup with tons of neat features. One of the most hyped perks is the TSA-approved battery pack that lets you juice your devices on the go. Equally useful, if not as exciting, is the included compressible laundry bag that keeps your dirty clothes separated from clean ones.

Image: Away

Away Carry-On — $225 at Away

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For the hyper-organized — Genius Pack

If you love making itineraries and have your iPad out wherever you go, the Genius pack is as coordinated as you are. A packing checklist is printed on the inside of your case and each pocket is labelled for its particular use. There’s external pockets for magazines, water bottles, passports, and a strap to hold your jacket. Plus you can grab an add-on battery pack or umbrella that fit right into their own compartments.

Image: Amazon

Genius Pack Carry On Spinner Luggage — $239 on Amazon

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For the backpackers — Osprey Packs

When the airplane is only the first part of your journey, packing can be annoying. You want to make sure everything is kosher for the TSA, but durable enough for more intense parts of the journey. Osprey’s travel backpack fits the bill on both counts. The backpack straps are padded with a sternum strap and hip belt. When you need to condense things for the plane, the straps are easily stowed in their own pocket. A protected laptop pocket gives you easy access to electronics during security screenings and the compression straps ensure that your bag will fit in the overhead bin.

Image: Amazon

Osprey Packs Porter 30 Travel Backpack — $120 on Amazon

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For the hyper-organized backpackers — eBags

Combining the versatility of a backpack with the compartmentalization of a carry-on, eBags’ MotherLode Convertible is the best of both worlds. The inner compartments are modular, with a removable divider and compression to keep contents secure. A roomy top pocket gives you easy access to the things you’ll need frequently, while the hidden laptop pocket is accessible while remaining discreet. There’s even a collapsible water bottle pocket for when you need to hydrate on the go.

Image: eBahs

eBags TLS Mother Lode Weekender Convertible — $129.99 at eBags

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Ah, Unreal Engine 4. It’s the game development engine that has recently brought us the likes of Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the upcoming and epic-looking Dragon Ball FighterZ.

Get in on the action and learn how to use Unreal Engine 4 to make your own great game by taking this online course.

This 15-hour course promises to teach you how to best use the latest version of Unreal Engine to make a SHMUP game prototype and get you started on learning the intricate mechanics of game design. It includes guides on how to apply audio, implement a save system, and program your playable characters, along with several other lessons. Consider it a way of gaining experience so you can level up to making a game that’s all yours.

There’s now a how-to video on making a Porg bento box and we are eating it up.

Disney Parks made a how-to video on how to make a Porg bento box. It’s fun and easy, as long as the Jawas don’t keep interrupting.

Using primarily rice, sesame seeds, olives and soy sauce, the chef makes an almost identical sushi-version of the beloved Porg, from Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.

Even as sushi it’s cute.

Though this is adorable, something still feels wrong about eating a Porg, especially after that Chewy scene in The Last Jedi. Still, eating a sushi Porg is better than a real Porg.

The next best thing to carrying your guitar around over your shoulder is wearing it on your shirt, and the playable electronic guitar shirt lets you do just that.

This shirt features a special electronic panel that can hook up to a clip-on amp. When you strum the strings on the guitar, it’ll play the actual notes and chords through the amp, so you can jam out wherever you are — no picks required.

Check it out:

The electronic panel is easily removed for when you need to throw your shirt in the wash. But like, rock stars don’t do laundry, okay?

If you’re having an especially bad day at work or the current political climate Twitter is causing you stress, you might appreciate having a self-destruct button on standby. No, it’s not an actual self-destruct button, but a fun little toy you can have at your desk that can even charge your devices.

The Self-Destruct USB Hub is kinda like a busy board for grownups that has a very extreme aesthetic. It’s got a big red button that can only be activated when the two switches and one big key are flipped and turned in order. Once activated, you can press the big button to set off lights and sounds not unlike something blowing up. It’s a fun deterrent against work piling up on your desk and can even help you indulge your “getting rid of Rob from accounting” fantasies. Screw you, Rob.

Check it out in action:

The hub also features four USB ports to charge up your devices so that even when you flip the switch, at least your phone will be at 100%.

We’ve already fallen in love with these remote-controlled outlets when they were on sale in the past, but now they’re on sale again for an even better discount at 41% off.

SEE ALSO: Banish phone charger stress once and for all with this USB combo wall outlet

These outlets are useful for conserving power and saving on energy. Instead of keeping your appliances plugged in all the time and having them use power even when you’re using them, you can plug them into these handy outlets and switch off their energy consumption at the push of a button. According to the product page, the remote also works through walls and doors up to 100 feet away. It’s great for hard-to-reach appliances that you can stand to unplug at the end of the day.

This set of three best-selling remote-controlled outlets are usually $29, but you can get them now for $16.98.

This guy took daddy duties to a whole new level…

Dante was relaxing at home when he received a FaceTime request from his daughter, who was just upstairs. Apparently, her brother left a little surprise on the carpet of their playroom, and she felt the need to tell him about it.

It gets worse.

The father of three posted a screenshot of the evidence on Twitter, explaining the situation and closing with “I’m tired.”

Reactions were what you expect — a mix of horror and relief. (Horror if you’re a parent; relief if you aren’t.)

Dante later posted a follow-up of the duo, and, honestly, how can you be mad at those faces?

If we learned anything from this and there’s pros and (poopful cons) to FaceTime with your children.

That Black Widow movie you’ve been asking for just got one step closer to reality.

Variety reports that Jac Schaeffer has been hired to write the film, which would star Scarlett Johansson as the spy-turned-Avenger.

Mind you, the film’s still got a ways to go before it becomes a reality. As of now, the Black Widow project doesn’t have an official greenlight, let alone a release date.

Still, it’s a promising development for a movie fans have been clamoring for since, oh, about 2008, when the character made her first big-screen appearance in Iron Man 2.

Schaeffer is the writer and director of TiMER, a 2009 sci-fi rom-com that essentially did “Hang the DJ” before Black Mirror did.

She’s also written The Shower, an as-yet-unproduced screenplay that has Anne Hathaway attached to star, and is working on a Dirty Rotten Scoundrels remake titled Nasty Women. She previously worked with Disney on “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure.”

Her involvement makes the Black Widow standalone film the rare Marvel Cinematic Universe project with a female screenwriter. Others include Guardians of the Galaxy (Nicole Perlman) and the forthcoming Captain Marvel (Geneva Robertson-Dworet, who replaced Perlman and Meg LeFauve).

Johansson’s Black Widow has appeared in five MCU films over the past decade, and will return later this year in Avengers: Infinity War. Despite her immense popularity, however, she’s been relegated to a supporting player in the franchise.

Over the years, there’s been a lot of talk about the possibility of a Black Widow movie. Johansson has said repeatedly that she’d like to make one, as has Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. In 2016, Feige even got as far as saying he was “committing” to making it happen.

But until now, talk seemed to be as far as it got. When pressed, Feige would reassure fans that it was in development, but come up with excuses as to why it wasn’t making much progress.

It got to be a bad look, especially as Marvel kept churning out one male-led superhero blockbuster after another. It got to be an even worse look once 20th Century Fox started promoting Red Sparrow, which had fans like us joking that it was the Black Widow movie Marvel wouldn’t make.

For all that the MCU’s done right, they’ve dragged their feet when it comes to female superheroes, letting rival DC beat them to the punch with Wonder Woman. DC’s work paid off – Wonder Woman became the highest-grossing superhero flick of 2017.

Meanwhile, Marvel has been moving ahead with 2019’s Captain Marvel, its 21st movie overall and its first one starring a woman.

If you’ve ever been curious about flying your own drone, then you need to jump on this Amazon lightning deal and save $30 on the Holy Stone Quadcopter Drone.

This 360-degree drone features a 720p HD camera and comes with an extra battery so you can extend your flight time. Have it hover steadily at any height for still shots, or go ham with flips and tricks. It features a headless security mode with simple directional inputs and orientation so that rookie flyers can operate it with ease, and the one key start allows it to return to you on its own.

The Quadcopter Drone is usually $100, but Amazon has knocked 30% off, so you can get it for $70.

Oh Kellyanne, we wish we could quit you.

Speaking with CNN’s Christopher Cuomo on Wednesday, the “counselor” to the President said “nobody here talks about Hillary Clinton,” insisting that “we” don’t care about Hillary.

The remarks were, erm, ill timed. President Trump had, in fact, brought up Hillary Clinton twice earlier that day, unprompted.

First, while speaking about his commitment to “massive oil and gas,” he compared himself to Hillary Clinton, who he said “was for windmills.” And second, while answering questions in a press conference: he once again insisted that there was “no collusion” with Russia when asked whether he would consent to an interview with special investigator Robert Mueller, and swiftly pivoted to what he said was the FBI’s mishandling of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server (Do you think he knows about Jared and Ivanka?).

Things got worse — or better, if you’re, like, into seeing hypocrisy play out in real time — during one of President Trump’s fun early morning tweetstorms. On Thursday, Trump returned to his “Crooked Hillary Emails” greatest hits, seemingly in response Senator Feinstein’s unilateral release of an interview with the author of a now-infamous dossier on how Russia influenced the US election via the Trump campaign.

Minutes later, Chris Cuomo took his subtweet game to the next level, and called out Kellyanne’s “nobody talks about her” comments once again.

Sick burn, Chris.

But Kellyanne is not one to bow out, and turned to her good friends, Nonsense and Nonsequiter, for help.

Ok Kellyanne, Ok. We’re just gonna put this right here.

There follow mild spoilers for Black Mirror Season 4. Seriously, haven’t you finished it by now?

Here’s a Black Mirror script idea: A 21st century comedy writer in the UK comes up with a series of stories with technological twists. They are, to him, darkly amusing, no more a serious prediction than a SNL sketch would be in the US. Still, it amuses the writer to see his comedy confections play out on screen in a dramatic, rather unsettling manner.

Then comes the twist: the rest of the world loses its goddamn mind.

With hindsight they suddenly see a prediction about a shocking cartoon character who becomes leader of the world, fulfilled. They see a prediction about a prime minster and a pig, fulfilled. They saw Apple iPhone software predicted, and even a Pizza Hut concept vehicle. They critique the show as if it were dispatches from a profoundly dystopian, profoundly real future.

The writer protests he didn’t mean to foretell anything. In interviews he frames the series as wry amusements, no more. But does his audience listen? The anthology show becomes way more popular than anyone expected. It migrates from Britain’s Channel 4 to the world’s Netflix. In short order, it becomes one of the most iconic TV shows of the internet age.

By the time the comedy writer’s show enters its fourth season, in the darkly dystopian year of 2018, the internet seems to burst with arguments over whether the comedy writer is some kind of dark prophet — or worse, a dangerous idiot who thinks he’s a prophet but doesn’t actually understand how tech works.

This of course is the actual tale of Charlie Brooker, creator of Black Mirror. Unusually prolific by American standards of show running, Brooker has written nearly every episode of the show by himself. (Season 4’s final episode, “Black Museum”, contains its only hint of writerly collaboration; one third of it was based on a story of self-harm by Penn Jillette that was too darkly humorous for his own short story collection.)

Following in the wake of the show’s popularity, of course: takes, of all temperatures. “U.S.S. Callister,” a show about a gamer who traps simulations of his co-workers in a video game is held up as serious social commentary on the Gamergate crowd. “Hang the DJ,” a story about online dating, is compared unfavorably to the real-life Tinder experience. “Black Museum” now carries the weighty importance of being a “horrifying critique of American racism.”

But if you step back, take a breath and clear your mind of preconceptions, it’s just as easy (and I would argue, more rewarding) to see “U.S.S. Callister” as a Star Trek parody in which a socially inept guy becomes a bully and gets his comeuppance. “Hang the DJ” is just a sweet and sexy little tale about (spoiler alert!) more virtual reality people, this time playing out dating scenarios inside an app.

“Black Museum” is an anthology within an anthology — three scary ghost stories, one about actual ghosts inside people’s heads, that end with the one character who connects the stories getting his comeuppance.

Scary Ghost Stories

Ghost stories is another appropriate frame to place around Black Mirror. Brooker likes to give good scare. As I’ve noted previously, his hour-long episodes succeed when they spend at least a half hour on the slow, subtle build-up.

As such, his scary stories are somewhat formulaic. I don’t say that like it’s a bad thing; the scare works every time, and there’s an endless variety of genres and dark techno-comic twists to be layered atop the basic formula.

The point is, these are highly suspenseful tales for the digital campfire, not high literature designed to be picked apart for layers of meaning.

As with any bedtime ghost story, the logic of the plot and the motivations of the main characters can fall apart when considered the morning after. (Didn’t you think the protagonists of “Arkangel” and “Crocodile” were just a little too hasty in resorting to deadly violence?)

This is a show governed by nightmare logic. That’s the whole idea, a spooky comic nightmare fueled by tech that only has to be plausible enough to suspend our disbelief. The fact that most of the tech the show mentions plays on our human vanity is what makes it seem more real than anything in the actual design.

A Brief History of Brooker

To fully understand Black Mirror, you have to be familiar with the oeuvre of Charlie Brooker. This is a man whose writing career began when he created a comic strip for a gaming magazine called PC Zone. The strip was called “Cybertwats.” Nuff said.

And then he came up with this surprisingly disturbing page intended to parody people who thought video games were too violent. It caused PC Zone to be pulled from newsagents’ shelves. Black Mirror episode idea ahoy!

Shocking sketch comedy soon became Brooker’s stock in trade. He wrote for The 11 O’Clock Show, the same late-night satire that gave birth to Ali G. In 2005 he penned a sitcom called Nathan Barley; the title character was the most sneering hipster parody imaginable. (If Brooker predicted anything, it’s how off-the-charts-annoying hipsters would become in the 2010s.)

Earlier on he had written for a special final episode of Brass Eye, an already envelope-pushing news parody show. This particular episode pranked real politicians and celebs into recording dumb-sounding PSAs for a fake anti-paedophelia campaign. A government minister called it “unspeakably sick.” It became the most complained-about British TV show to date.

That familiar feeling of silly yet harrowing dread you get when watching Black Mirror — this is what this comedy writer has been trying to do to us for years.

That sense of reality being sickeningly inverted, and you’re not sure whether you should be laughing at the joke any more — this is the soul of Charlie Brooker.

The little knife twist of (occasional) joy or (mostly) pain at the end — this is the final flourish of the guy around the campfire, flashlight beneath his face.

Beyond that, when it comes to a deeper meaning or a high-tech prediction … knock yourself out. Go nuts. Plot out the rest of the 21st century using only Black Mirror technology.

Just know you’re bringing all that to the campfire yourself. It’s all you. The jester who told the tale has long since moved on to crafting his next shocking confection.

President Trump has reportedly set the record for the greatest number of lies told in the first year of his administration.

Sir, congratulations.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! celebrated the president’s achievement by publishing a mini-doc about his first year of deceit, titled Pants Of Fire: The Road To 2000 Lies.

It’s like Facebook’s year in review, only somehow more depressing. Enjoy!