Not sure about you, but this week seemed to zoom by for me. That might be because, on Monday it was revealed to me that my general, mid-week sluggishness might be due to the fact that I’ve been drinking my morning coffee wrong this whole time. Who knew?! Some other fascinating pieces from this week include the notion that scheduling sex isn’t all that rare — or unhealthy; that “nice guys” can be just as mean and creepy to women as their asshole counterparts; that there’s a teenage Kiwi metal band using the Maori language to rage against the machine; that there’s a long history behind how the unpaid internship became corporate America’s favorite labor scam; and that bimbo-ism is being reclaimed by a new wave of feminists.
All in all, a good week! (Unless you’re an unpaid intern.)
But for our most popular posts, you need only look below…
The Must Reads
“Rihanna Yelling at Men Is Extremely My Kink”
The “my” in that headline is none other than Miles Klee — and he means it. After witnessing all the memes going around the internet of bad girl RiRi giving the business to her Saudi billionaire boyfriend Hassan Jameel, Mr. Klee is very mad that he’s not the one being yelled at. Needless to say, he’s open to the experience. READ MORE
“The Things Men Wish They Knew Before They Got Married”
Knowledge is power. And what you don’t know may totally kill your marriage. That’s Bridget Phetasy’s conclusion after speaking with many of her tens of thousands of Twitter followers. For example, just how corrosive resentment in a marriage can be:
Find out what other things men wish they knew before taking the plunge here.
“The Definitive Tale of Redoine Faïd: The Real-Life Movie Gangster Who Just Escaped a French Prison in a Helicopter”
The brazen helicopter escape of infamous French jewel thief Redoine Faïd from the Centre Pénitentiaire Sud Francilien in Reau on July 1 was perhaps the closest case of life imitating art ever:
Zaron Burnett explores Faïd’s most recent daring prison break, the humble beginnings to his life of crime and how he’s become France’s most famous and charismatic convict since Jacques Mesrine. READ MORE
“The Professor Who Wants to Inspire a New Generation of ‘Dirty’ Democrats”
Democrats are losing. If the party wants to rebuild their crumbling political fortunes, it’s time they fight with the same ferocity Republicans have for decades. That’s the opinion of David Faris, head of the political science department at Roosevelt University in Chicago, and author of Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics. Features writer Eddie Kim recently sat down with Faris to talk about the type of asymmetrical political warfare the Dems need to deploy to regain power. READ MORE
Best Art of the Week
C. Brian Smith went out and found five die-hard bottoms — four men, one woman — and a zoologist, and asked them to share their tips, tricks and dietary restrictions for when they like to get super anal. This is what they had to say.
The Movie You Should Really, Really, Really See This Weekend
If you haven’t already, you should definitely check out Ant Man and the Wasp. It’s the first Marvel movie in a while where the stakes are refreshingly low. As MEL film critic Tim Grierson puts it, “It’s a comic-book movie that isn’t concerned with the fate of the cosmos. No one’s fighting for global domination. There isn’t a single Infinity Stone to be had. It’s a blessed relief.”
Get the full review of the latest entry in the MCU, plus everything you could possibly want to know about Paul Rudd’s alleged smugness here.
And Finally, the Five Most Important Things We Learned Over the Last Seven Days
- Using last names in the office can be a good — and a bad — thing (depending on your gender). For men, being called by your last name can build your career, but for women, the opposite is true.
- Don’t confront the fuck-up in your friend group on your own. Make a plan, pick a spot and bring some other, less fucked-up friends. Interventions have been shown to be much more effective than one-on-one confrontations.
- If you want to show off your bangin’ bod on Tinder, opt for your shirt being on. You might get swiped left on, otherwise:
4. You don’t need to live with wack-ass feet. The first step is cutting your nails. But again, that’s just the start.
5. Fitbits are useful to people who want to be healthy, but they might be even more useful to people who want to be really, really unhealthy. You know, like coke fiends, who have been using fitness trackers to monitor their explosive heart rates.
Jeff Gross
Jeff Gross is MEL’s senior editor for social media and content marketing. His daily ICYMI column, which chronicles all things meta on the site, is the quickest way to catch up on MEL, and the funniest thing you’ll read all day. Follow him on Twitter.
