Linda Holmes

Credit Chris Hartlove
for NPR

Linda Holmes writes and edits NPR's entertainment and pop-culture blog, Monkey See. She has several elaborate theories involving pop culture and monkeys, all of which are available on request.

Holmes began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living-room space to DVD sets of The Wire and never looked back.

Holmes was a writer and editor at Television Without Pity, where she recapped several hundred hours of programming — including both High School Musical movies, for which she did not receive hazard pay. Since 2003, she has been a contributor to MSNBC.com, where she has written about books, movies, television and pop-culture miscellany.

Holmes' work has also appeared on Vulture (New York magazine's entertainment blog), in TV Guide and in many, many legal documents.

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Monkey See
10:56 am
Wed May 29, 2013

Ahem: Asking Someone To The Prom Is Not A 'Proposal'

Credit BVDC / iStockphoto.com
Monkey See
8:39 am
Wed May 29, 2013

Entirely Real Photos: Wax Will Smith Gets Jiggy With Wax George Clooney

Credit Ben A. Pruchnie / Getty Images
The Will Smith waxwork figure is unveiled at Madame Tussauds on May 22, 2013 in London, where it hangs out with the George Clooney and Emma Watson wax figures, because why not?

As you know, we at Monkey See enjoy creepy wax figurines maybe more than anything in the world, and now, Wax George Clooney (whose adventures we have chronicled in the past) has been joined at a photo shoot in London by Wax Will Smith, as well as Wax Emma Watson. You know, just to hang out. To talk about movies. To talk about being made of wax.

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Monkey See
5:15 pm
Tue May 28, 2013

Comikaze: Not Just The Other Comic Convention

Credit AP
Last year's Comikaze, seen here in September 2012, attracted tens of thousands of attendees.

Originally published on Wed May 29, 2013 8:43 am

You may be familiar with the San Diego Comic-Con, a constantly expanding convention for fans that started as a niche event for comic-book nerds and is now a sprawling pop-culture event.

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Monkey See
12:50 pm
Tue May 28, 2013

A Parade Of Goobers: 17 Actual People Presented To 'The Bachelorette'

Credit Kevin Foley / ABC
Desiree's parade of goobers. You'll notice the one without the shirt on. And the fact that many of them are the same guy.

Originally published on Tue May 28, 2013 1:49 pm

Last night brought the premiere of the new season of The Bachelorette, in which Desiree, who was rejected by Sean on the last season of The Bachelor, was presented with 25 men from whom to choose. The theory is that if television producers choose 25 guys for you to pick from, surely one of them is your soul mate. Makes sense!

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Monkey See
11:09 am
Tue May 28, 2013

Bad News, Men: You're Not Very Charming

I hate to break this to you, Men Of The Entire United States (Especially Actors), but The Atlantic has just run a lengthy piece pronouncing you un-charming.

At first, Benjamin Schwarz seems to mean "good conversationalist" when he says "charming." He says:

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Monkey See
9:52 am
Tue May 28, 2013

Let's Rush To Judgment: 'Don Jon'

Credit Daniel McFadden / Relativity Media
Tony Danza and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Don Jon.
Monkey See
2:37 pm
Fri May 24, 2013

Are Women Really Missing From Film Criticism?

Credit iStockphoto.com

A new study from the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film has led to headlines claiming that women are missing from film criticism. "Female Movie Critics' Influence Shrinking, Says Study," reads the headline in the Chicago Tribune.

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Monkey See
10:16 am
Fri May 24, 2013

Dear Tiny Desk: Miss You

Credit Lizzie Chen / NPR
The Lone Bellow performs a Tiny Desk Concert on Feb. 20, 2013.
Monkey See
1:49 pm
Thu May 23, 2013

Breakin' The Rules: 20 General Principles Suspended In 'Fast And Furious 6'

Credit Universal Pictures
This little skeleton-of-the-Batmobile-y looking thing is actually one of the vehicles on display in Fast & Furious 6.

1. Newton's Laws Of Motion

2. The Reluctance Of Brilliant Criminal Masterminds To Freely Confess

3. The Inability Of Two Things To Coexist In The Same Physical Space

4. The Integrity Of Vending Machines

5. Gravity

6. Gina Carano's Ability To Snap Most Of These People Like Twigs Pretty Quickly, If We're Being Honest

7. The Hardness Of Cars, Which Are Actually Kind Of Uncomfortable To Land On From Great Heights

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Monkey See
12:26 pm
Thu May 23, 2013

Really Most Sincerely Bad: Fox's Nasty 'Does Someone Have To Go?'

Credit Chris Tomko / Fox
Employees argue over who's the worst in Fox's Does Someone Have To Go?

The biggest problem with pretending all of reality television is categorically odious is that it denies us the opportunity to identify and hold accountable what is actually odious. To those who insist that it's all gross — that no matter the documentary aspirations or good-natured competitiveness of plenty of unscripted television, it all belongs in the same giant dumpster — I am your Crocodile Dundee of distaste: Those aren't destructive and grotesque and irresponsible. This is destructive and grotesque and irresponsible.

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