The Unearned Mel Gibson Redemption Tour

Film

Scott Meslow, writing for GQ:

I’m sure Daddy’s Home 2 thinks it’s clever to cast Gibson, an actor widely known for his bad behavior off-screen, as Wahlberg’s bad-boy father. And with John Lithgow playing Will Ferrell’s cuddly teddy bear of a father, it’s easy enough to see where this is going: Lithgow will teach Gibson to be a little warmer, Gibson will teach Lithgow to be a little cooler.

But if Gibson’s character in Daddy’s Home 2 actually learns a lesson about the downsides of bullshit macho posturing, it’ll be one more lesson than Gibson seems to have learned in his actual life. You can argue, convincingly, that someone with an open track record of racism, misogyny, and anti-Semitism can eventually earn a second chance. But while Gibson has gone to rehab, what’s most striking about his return to the spotlight is his apparent lack of remorse.

Twitter Rolls Out 280-Character Limit to Everyone

Twitter

Twitter has announced, after their initial testing, everyone is now getting 280 characters to tweet with:

During the first few days of the test many people Tweeted the full 280 limit because it was new and novel, but soon after behavior normalized (more on this below). We saw when people needed to use more than 140 characters, they Tweeted more easily and more often. But importantly, people Tweeted below 140 most of the time and the brevity of Twitter remained.

I’ve found my brain just skips over most tweets that look “long.”

Disney’s Vindictive LA Times Ban Prompts Critics and Media Boycotts

Disney

Adam Rosenberg, writing for Mashable:

Four major film critic organizations released a joint statement, directed at Disney, that sends one blunt message: Enough with this bullshit.

The statement in question is a response to Disney’s media blackout of the Los Angeles Times, a retaliatory response to what the Lucasfilm and Marvel owner has characterized as “biased and inaccurate” coverage of the company’s business dealings with the city of Anaheim, California. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association, New York Film Critics Circle, Boston Society of Film Critics, and National Society of Film Critics all joined together to send the message early Tuesday.

Dear Disney, here’s your crash course in the Streisand Effect.

Update: Amid backlash, Disney has ended the ban on the LA Times.