Good morning, sunshines! I have cultivated the web far and wide to find articles on tax dodgers, Brad Pitt and Sesame Street just for you. Also, did people still refer to the internet as “the web?”

Anyways, I’ll get on with it….

On the 10th, James Grebey of GQ, gave an overview of the recent director drama at Disney:
“Three out of the five Star Wars movies Disney made since purchasing the IP were marred by director troubles (Rogue One was ultimately still directed by Gareth Edwards, technically). The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had a better track record, but there have still been a couple of films that switched directors—a behind-the-camera version of swapping Edward Norton for Mark Ruffalo, essentially.”

Eirik Gumeny of Cracked, analyzed why corporations love making movies and TV shows about evil corporations, on the 11th:
“Corporations today love selling stories about fighting back against big business. Superhero satire The Boys makes a big deal about Vought International being an evil irresponsible corporation that manipulates the public. The Outer Worlds, a video game released this past October, tasks the player with righting centuries of corporate greed and mismanagement with giant hammers and shrink rays. The sitcom Superstore has spent the better part of two seasons showing its retail workers being exploited by their parent company and fighting to unionize.”

Laura Stewart talked about “Babylon”, one of the best episodes of the crimminally underrated Carnivàle, on the 13th, over at 25 Years Later:
“Every single episode of Carnivàle was fantastic, but two planted themselves deeply in my psyche. Episode 5 of S1, ‘Babylon’ and the following episode, ‘Pick a Number’ were out of the ordinary; they took a slight turn off from the main storyline and in doing so, brought us closer to many of the carnie folk. In doing so, the show became something more important to me—I began rooting for the characters, wanting to know more about them, admiring their strength while living hand-to-mouth in dire conditions.”

On the 14th, Angelica Jade Bastién ranked all of my boyfriend Brat Pitt’s movies, for Ranker:
“Brad Pitt is undeniably a great movie star. He has an enviable coolness that snakes through his work onscreen, most recently used to great effect in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He’s the kind of movie star that has become increasingly rare — larger than life, assured, contradictory, physically mesmerizing, with a strong understanding of the power of persona. But is he a great actor? This question is trickier to answer because of the scope of his career and how subtle his best work can be.”

On the 15th, Michael Roffman looked at Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame snubs, at Consequence of Sound:
“Through their 68 total releases — including LPs, EPs, and singles — New Order have been an unstoppable presence in the UK charts with three Gold albums, two Platinum compilations, three Silver albums, and, you know, the best selling 12-inch single of all time with ‘Blue Monday’. Stateside, they secured two Gold albums and their Substance compilation was even certified Platinum.”

Jake Kanter reported on Netflix dodging taxes, for Deadline, also on the 15th:
“The complex tax arrangements of big tech firms is part of the reason why the UK government is pressing ahead with a digital services tax in April, which will see US tech giants pay a 2% tax on the revenue they make from UK users. The hope is that this will be more effective than taxing just profit. France has introduced a similar initiative, despite opposition from the companies impacted.”

On the 16th, Mike McPadden interviewed Gibby Haynes for Merry Jane:
“Now, in 2020, the Butthole Surfers have been on hold for years, and Gibby Haynes is a married dad. Ever the cosmic prankster and cultural table-flipper, though, Gibby has channeled his wicked genius into a format nobody — no matter how high they were — could have seen coming. He has written a young adult novel, Me and Mr. Cigar.”

Finally, Jake Rossen of Mental Floss, looked back on that time Mississippi banned Sesame Street, also on the 16th:
“The series had only been on the air for a few months when the newly formed Mississippi Authority for Educational Television (also known as the State Commission for Educational Television) held a regularly scheduled meeting in January 1970. The board had been created by the state legislature with appointees named by Governor John Bell Williams to evaluate shows that were set to air on the state’s Educational Television, or ETV, station.”

Enjoy!