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Greg Mitchell is the author of more than a dozen books and now writer/director of three award-winning films aired via PBS, including “Atomic Cover-up” and “Memorial Day Massacre” which are still up at PBS.org. Before all that, he was a longtime editor of the legendary Crawdaddy. You can still subscribe to this newsletter for free. You may have heard about Ireland’s “the Magadalene Laundries” many years ago, or just recently, or never.

A remarkable technology is about to make transportation in Silicon Valley much faster, much more convenient, and much more environmentally friendly. I’m speaking, of course, about electrified trains.  Unlike electric cars, autonomous cars or highway expansions, electrified trains can dramatically decrease travel times and increase transportation capacity through dense urban areas. Electrified trains can move more people, more quickly, using less space than any other technology in existence. The disruptors of Silicon Valley are about to find out that this proven transportation technology will actually provide greater benefits than any of the transportation innovations they’ve come up with.

Everyone has certain things they need to know are in the house at all times, or they get twitchy. Yours might not be the same as mine (tomatoes, Manchego, Dijon mustard, crisp-fried shallots, Campari) but each to her own. So I felt a little insecure when, just yesterday, I saw that we were out of lup cheong sausages. A quick trip to Chinatown was suddenly a necessity. NOT THAT QUICK, ACTUALLY.

Happy Sunday! We’re back with more from the Animation Obsessive newsletter. Today’s lead story has been in the plans for a long time — we’re very excited to share it. Here’s what we’re doing: Just finding us? You can sign up to receive our Sunday issues for free — get them right in your inbox: Sign Up Now, let’s go! The Last Unicorn is the definition of a sleeper hit. When it reached theaters in 1982, its box office returns weren’t huge — and some reviewers hated it.

Welcome to Micro-Chop, a newsletter dissecting beatmaking, DJing, music production, rapping, and sampling — written by me, Gino Sorcinelli. Micro-Chop publishes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for paid subscribers. Free subscribers receive Monday’s newsletter. Signing up for a paid subscription for $5/month or $43.33/year helps Micro-Chop provide loyal readers with new and exclusive articles and interviews. Give feedback, send questions, or just say hi by emailing me at gino@bookshelfbeats.com. Atlanta hip-hop pioneer DJ Toomp’s love for altering sounds and making music began with the tutelage of his father Alphonzo ‘Al’ Davis.

PEOPLE OFTEN TALK about how well orchestrated and finely-tuned my productions are. ‘Obsession with detail.’ ‘Months of planning.’ Picture descriptions written, and rewritten, sketches made, storyboards drawn, lighting charted, permits and permissions all secured. This is all true. But that is now. Twilight was the first time I attempted to make photographs with cinematic lighting and a production team. It was 25 years ago. 1998. As opposed to the way we work now on our productions, everything was improvised and very little was planned.

[This blog will always be free to read, but it’s also how I pay my bills. If you have suggestions or feedback on how I can earn your paid subscription, shoot me an email: cmclymer@gmail.com.] Yesterday, obscure singer-songwriter Taylor Swift got her big break and was honored as TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year. This is the second time she’s been recognized with the title, along with being part of the “Silence Breakers” cohort honored by the magazine in 2017, making her the first woman to achieve this twice.

The symbiotic relationship between film and fashion is always an intriguing one to study—how fashion influences movie costume and the opposite, and then the use of these shared inspirations to market both the clothes and the movies. My very first newsletter was about the fashion-movie collaboration of Oscar de la Renta and The Madwoman of Chaillot, and below is a look at some marketing tie-ins surrounding Mame. Just after I finished putting in the final footnote, I received a text that Angela Lansbury—who I talk about below—passed away.

As Georgetown men’s basketball tries to climb out of what is the lowest point in its storied program’s history, it’s easy to point the finger at Patrick Ewing as the root of the problem for many of the issues that have contributed to the downfall of a once-great basketball program. But while Ewing certainly deserves a lion’s share of the responsibility for what has happened this season, it’s hard not to question whether Ewing has the right people around him, too.