Since Fifty Shades Of Grey is basically just Twilight with the weird psychosexual subtext made into blunt and forgettable sexual text, it's not surprising that it would occur to someone that books in the public domain could be given the same treatment. Why not just add some dirty material to Pride & Prejudice and the exploits of Sherlock Holmes? Well, for MANY REASONS, but it may happen anyway. [The Hollywood Reporter]
You may recall that critics like David Edelstein took a lot of heat for being inadequately taken with The Dark Knight. This time around, with The Dark Knight Rises, critics who have had the audacity to be less than fully impressed — including Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum, who gave the film an apparently scandalous grade of "B" — are being attacked so voraciously that Rotten Tomatoes has actually shut down comments. Keep in mind, most of the people responsible for this behavior have not yet seen the movie. [Gawker]
If you liked Downton Abbey, there will soon be a new miniseries called Call The Midwife — also very, very popular in the UK — making its way to you via PBS. But, in a piece that talks some but not too much about plot, the Telegraph wonders whether Americans are going to take to this one, which is about the working class rather than the servant-having class. [The Telegraph]
I instinctively find it hard to take seriously a headline that calls the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes divorce "key to" anything, but I do understand the point of this piece that looks at what digital media can learn from big headlines about how people digest news. [The Hollywood Reporter]
I used to watch Pete Rose slide headfirst, and I absolutely can remember running to first base when I drew a walk while playing softball, because that's what Pete Rose did. Now, he's apparently getting a reality show on TLC. So that happened. [EW.com]
Do you love Parks & Recreation's Nick Offerman? Sure you do. The A.V. Club — of course — has the interview. [The A.V. Club]
Several TV panels from Comic-Con, including the one in which the new showrunners at Community faced fans who are clearly quite skeptical about their ability to carry on without series creator Dan Harmon, are available online. [Franklin Avenue]
E-books are not a fad and not a niche. Don't believe me? They now account for 30 percent of net publisher sales in fiction. [GalleyCat]
The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin — the chain that hosted me for much of the South By Southwest film festival in March — has heard the beginnings of a drumbeat for special screenings where texting would be allowed, and Tim League, the CEO, is having none of it. NONE OF IT. [Alamo Blog via FirstShowing]
One study suggests that actors are imaginative people, but they also may struggle with their emotional issues more. "More actors," the study says, "were unable to maintain narrative coherence when discussing memories of past trauma and loss." [The Guardian]
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