Greetings Webtaculators! It was officially the most San Francisco summer ever, and I couldn’t have been happier. Nothing quite like needing a jacket in the middle of August when the rest of California and most of the U.S. is either figuratively or literally on fire. This also means that the year is almost in it’s last quarter- let’s hope that the madness that 2016 has been so far turns itself around. On to the news.
STORY OF THE WEEK (6 min. read)
What: EpiPen
Why: Because pharmaceutical companies once again make the case that maybe a market valuation on something that saves lives might not be the best way to go when monopolies are involved.
ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (20 min. read)
What: Busted Draft
Why: Because Draft Kings and Fan Duel basically had all the commercial time for sports last year – now not so much.
LAW THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Everybody Poops
Why: Because the whole question of whether transgendered individuals can use the whatever bathroom that fits their gender identity is ridiculous – of course they should be able to.
SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Protest And Sports
Why: Because athletes, especially African American ones, have continuously been a visible and vocal part of political discourse. What Kaep is doing is really no different than what Muhammad Ali or Tommie Smith and John Carlos, or the WNBA or even Dwyane Wade, more recently have been doing. Also, football is back.
MOVIE THING OF T HE WEEK (11 min. watch)
What: Why So Serious?
Why: Because The Joker remains one of the best villains ever to be on film.
TELEVISION THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: Top 100 Shows Ever
Why: Because that what the Hollywood Reporter is attempting to do, but as far as I’m concerned, it messed up in the bottom 20 by putting True Blood higher up than either Scrubs or It’s Always Sunny… so obviously they’ve made some questionable choices as to the ordering.
MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (4 min. read)
What: Brit’s Back
Why: Because her new album (which I have admittedly listened way too much of over this weekend) is as quintessentially Britney as possible: it is immaculately produced, but also has absurd qualities, like the sound of can being opened repeatedly as a part of the drum track on “Do You Want To Come Over,” or the fact that one of the songs is basically how she’s singing about being a stripper. It also has the problem where it is unclear who exactly Britney even is anymore – she goes full Gwen Stefani on one song, and then sings what could be a Beiber song on another track preceding it, and tries her hardest to sound like Beyonce on the one where she’s singing about stripping. It’s insane, and I can’t stop listening. I have a problem. Also apparently the VMA’s were on tonight, but who cares about those anymore?
PHOTOGRAPHY THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. look)
What: National Parks Turn 100
Why: Because the establishment of our National Parks was perhaps the best idea our government ever had.
VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (5 min. read)
What: The Wii U, In Retrospect
Why: Because hopefully Nintendo won’t have as big of a misstep with its next console.
INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Norm; Bad Chickin’; Bad FX Are Bad
Why: Because Internet.
THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: This Political System (AKA Rap Battles And Flag Fights)
Why: Because Brian deserves it.
Webtacularly yours,
Brian
Managing Editor, Webtacular World
The Internet You Didn’t Know You Needed™
on to the news.
Webtacular World 