april 4

Links we love today: Listing comedies and day-brighteners, reading aboutbaseball, loving Jeff Goldblum and more

Here are the links we loved today:

The 2012 National Magazine Awards finalists have been announced, and Flavorwire’s helpfully compiled links to the nominated articles.

Speaking of awards, someone give Buzzfeed’s Matt Stopera one for the fail-proof “13 Simple Steps To Get You Through A Rough Day.”

Splitsider celebrate’s FOX’s 25 years by listing their 25 best comedies.

Here’s the Jeff Goldblum interview you didn’t know you needed to read.

"The Life Unlucky": Like The Gashlycrumb Tinies, but more depressing.

I will be following Rolling Stones’ High and Tight series, where rockers like Ben Gibbard, Scott Ian, Pete Yorn and Tom Morello cover baseball.

Finally, Mark Bittman weighs in on pink slime.

H&M to open the most ridiculously-named new chain: ‘& other stories’.

The Awl launches new finance-focused site The Billfold.

Aquarium Drunkard reviews the new Gentleman Jesse album, Leaving Atlanta, and previews the track “Eat Me Alive”; PopMatters interviews Gareth Campesinos.

Is Keith Olbermann a ‘diva’?

The Atlantic takes a look at visitor loyalty on video sites, with surprising results.

(BTW: We’re all following A Softer World, yes? Great!)

Funny or Die's latest series, Noah's Ark, features Marc Maron, Jonathan Katz and Maria Bamford:

Comic Cy Amundson debuts on Conan:

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”