Happy Holidays: My Holiday Reading

I did a lot of couch reading this holiday and as a result found some good stuff on the interwebs and thought I’d share…

1. The Paul Rudd & Conan video

Paul Rudd has been going on Conan O’Brien’s show for 20 years.  Each year he brings a clip to promote a new film. Apparently, every time he brings the same video clip every time. Here’s a video showing all of them. This is pretty hysterical. 

2. Bill Gates’s Good News of 2013

Here’s a post from Bill Gates about the good things that happened this year. Gates is out there solving real problems and he has such a unique perspective of how things are improving on a global level. This is worth reading.  For instance, he lets us know:

Half as many children died in 2012 as in 1990. That’s the biggest decline ever recorded. And hardly anyone knows about it! 

3. Billy Joel at MSG

Billy (now age 64) hasn’t released a record since 1993 and hasn’t toured since he wrapped up his last gig in 2010, but he’s still changing the music business. He recently signed a deal with Madison Square Garden to play a concert there every month. A good article in businessweek.

4. Maria Bello’s Modern Family

I’ve always loved Maria Bello as an actress.  She has an interesting personal life too. She’s penned a good essay in the NYTimes about her children and romantic situation.  It’s good and worth a read.

   

5. NYTimes and New Yorker vs. Buzzfeed and Gawker

The online advertising world is changing.  Sites like Gawker and Buzzfeed are grabbing lots of traffic and some good ad dollars.  This article looks at how publications that try to be more exclusive (and thus have less traffic) are trying to compete.  Hint: it’s not going to work out well for them. 

6. Be Nice to Cats

We have two cats and love them (most of the time) and I loved this video of a mean old woman getting karma right in the face.

7. Pregnant Virgins

Here’s an Interesting study here of 8000 women about how they got pregnant.  Almost 1% of them said they got pregnant with no men involved (and no in vitro or other reproductive technology).  Here’s to immaculate conception.

Happy Holidays everyone.  (note: if you want to regularly get my links, follow me as @MikePLewis on twitter)