Greetings Webtaculators. This was an exceptionally bad week for Trump. It’s about time. On to the news.

STORY OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: No Wall
Why: Because after over a month of not paying federal workers for their work, Trump reopened the government until February 15. He still doesn’t get his State of the Union, he doesn’t get his wall, he doesn’t get his approval, and he is shown to be absolutely abysmal dealmaker. Some other things happened, too. Roger Stone was arrested. Venezuela almost kicked out US diplomats,

ECONOMIC THING OF THE WEEK (7 min. read)
What: Thin Mints Are Manna
Why: Because it’s Girl Scout cookie season.

LAW THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: White Shoes Are Too White
Why: Because diversity in large law firms, especially at the partner level, still is noticeably lacking.

SPORTS THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: California And Football – The Twilight Years 
Why: Because Jared Goff, quarterback of the Rams, grew up in my home county, and is leading the Rams to the Super Bowl as the glory of football has slowly been fading out of the area. Football is at an interesting crossroads for many reasons, and this is another good look into what it is that people actually want out of the sport.

MOVIE THING OF THE WEEK (3 min. read)
What: Sundance
Why: Because everyone famous is in Park City Utah this week.

MUSIC THING OF THE WEEK (long listens)
What: New Music
Why: Because a lot of new music came out this year already. In order of seriousness to less so: Gary Clark Jr., This Land (read and watch the Rolling Stone interview – context makes this song even more powerful); Maggie Rogers, Heard It In A Past Life;  Vampire Weekend, Harmony Hall; James Blake, Assume Form; Toro y Moi, Outer Peace; and last, least, but certainly a lot of fun if you’re in the mood for it, Weezer, Teal. Yes, they covered TLC’s No Scrubs. It’s something.

LITERATURE THING OF THE WEEK (long read)
What: The New Sci-Fi
Why: Because Science Fiction writing has historically been the domain of white men. This is changing.

VIDEO GAME THING OF THE WEEK (2 min. read)
What: Video Games Are Big
Why: Because retail sales for games was $43 billion dollars. The actual number is bigger, since this figure does not include digital sales, which at this point probably is an even larger percentage of sales than retail is, especially due to mobile and “loot” based gaming, like Fortnite.  If you want to throw more money at games, I recommend the Resident Evil 2 remake.

INTERNET THINGS OF THE WEEK (∞)
What: Mean Chef Cant Handle Hot Wings, Blames Millennials; Normal Straightforward Guy; Vampires Win
Why: Because Internet.

THING YOU SHOULD GET BRIAN OF THE WEEK
What: Lightspeed Travel
Why: Because Brian deserves it.

Webtacularly yours,
Brian
Managing Editor, Webtacular World
The Internet You Didn’t Know You Needed™