Andrew Sullivan: A Democracy DisappearsAmericans should watch what is happening in Hungary with a great deal of attention — and alarm about similar trends playing out at home.
Hank Azaria Bites Into Live, Struggling Deer Name: Hank Azaria
Job: Star of Broadway’s The Farnsworth Invention, which was scheduled to open tomorrow but will be delayed until the stagehand strike ends. Azaria plays David Sarnoff in the historical play by Aaron Sorkin. Also, genius Simpsons voice artist.
Age: 43
Who’s your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional?
Pat Sajak. I’m pretty sure he’s been to New York.
What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in New York?
I had a tuna sandwich back in July of ‘78. It was pretty good.
In one sentence, what do you actually do all day in your job?
Mostly I stare folks down.
vulture
‘The Simpsons Movie’ Is Here! Woo-Hoo!The Simp-sons. Yup, today’s the day, and The Simpsons Movie is out. Over at the Times, A.O. Scott rather liked it. Over at Vulture, Dan Kois didn’t. (And over at NPR, where David Edelstein is opining because there’s no new mag next week, he didn’t much either.) There’s plenty of Simpsons Movie coverage — text! Video! IM conversations! — waiting for you at Vulture.
‘The Simpsons Movie’ coverage [Vulture]
photo op
Who Needs the Kwik-e-Mart? (We Do.)
It’s funny. Some buzz-building marketing campaigns just irritate us. (Yes, yes, even as we sometimes, inevitably become part of them.) But others, for whatever reason, we think are kind of cute. Here’s the 7-Eleven adjacent to Port Authority on 42nd Street, decked out in promotional gimmick for the Simpsons movie. We’re going to stop for a Squishee on our way home from work.
vulture
‘Simpsons’ Discriminates Against the Bespectacled (and We’re Okay With That)Okay, yeah, this is cool. Our friends at Vulture notified us that on the promotional site for the coming-soon Simpsons movie, you can create your own Simpsons character. We share Vulture’s frustration that there’s no option for eyeglasses, rendering it impossible to create our own Simpsons likeness. But, still, we just managed to kill twenty minutes with thing. Go. Have fun. Just be sure to put in your contacts.
Build Your Own ‘Simpsons’ Character [Vulture]
Simpsons Movie [Official site]
gossipmonger
Oh, J-Vanka!Jared Kushner was caught making out with Ivanka Trump while bowling. While hanging with some ex-CIA spies, Robert De Niro hit the sauna with KGB colonels and fired guns with Taliban warriors. An aide in the Israeli U.N. mission quit after being outed as a DL gay-porn star. NBC paid $2.5 million for the rights to air a Princess Di tribute concert in July, which may have been the reason they also scored an interview with the princes. Surprising Time “100 Most Influential People” includee John Mayer will also perform at the party. Paris Hilton appears in court today for her DUI charges. Jon Stewart and Tom Brokaw helped raise $72 million from hedge-fund bigwigs at a Robin Hood Foundation charity event.
