The 2014 Winter Olympics began this week. The Washington Post details the difficulties facing NBC and its affiliates in covering the events. The opening ceremony takes place Friday at 11:00AM (several hours before this post goes live), but it won’t be aired to American audiences until Friday night. Earlier this week, animal rights activists mobilized in an attempt to save stray dogs, as reported by CNN. Slate covers the rainbow Google doodle, “Google Joins Criticism of Sochi Olympics with Rainbow Doodle.” Russia’s anti-gay politics apparently aren’t the only “Dark Cloud” looming over the games, according to the NY Times.
CVS announced Thursday that it would stop selling tobacco products. According to Wired, Amazon is responsible.
The Opinion page of the NY Times seems to have found “A Solution for Bad Teaching.” (Be sure to note the gender politics of the accompanying artwork). Aaron Barlow posted a response on Academe Blog. The Economist posted another, “Those who can’t, teach.”
In the wake of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death on Sunday, the media has featured dozens of pieces both about Hoffman’s work and legacy as well as about his addiction. Notable pieces include an interview with Hoffman’s Almost Famous costar Patrick Fugit. Aaron Sorkin’s tribute ran in Time. Actor Russell Brand had a different take on Hoffman’s death, blaming drug laws.
In a prelude to Valentine’s Day, a number of contemporary writers including Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall, Bringing Up the Bodies), Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones), Chris Ware (Building Stories), Khaled Hosseni (The Kite Runner) and others discuss the writing that taught them about love.
Bad news for fans of the BBC series, Sherlock.
In case you were curious, the Telegraph recently published a list of the 100 coolest Americans. A teaser: Walt Whitman.
In our video of the week, the Olympic torch makes its way to Sochi:
[Creative Commons licensed image by Flickr user USDAgov].