Cut, Chop, Re-release: Director’s Cuts
Cinema may face a far less foreboding fate than, say, our country’s print journalism, but the medium still seems to be undergoing a transformation. In Slate Magazine’s “Death by a…
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Rumpus Articles
Salesman (1968)
This picture about traveling Bible salesmen had me thanking God I didn’t go into retail. At least not the kind in Salesman: you’re separated from your family, working out of…
Condomless Porn – They’re Making It Cause You’re Asking for It
Sex educator and writer Lux Alptraum, who is also the editor of Boinkology, has an article in Black Book that investigates the absence of condoms in porn. Is it because…
Zak Smith: The Shorty Q&A with Dennis McGrath (NSFW)
Shot on the sets of pornographic films, Dennis McGrath’s photographs are eerie, funny, down-to-earth, poignant, and gorgeous all at the same time.
Morning Coffee
Investigative linguist discovers first known use of “Ms.” in print. (via @randomdeanna) Kush, sleep support for your breasts. An interview with Nic Brown, author of Floodmakers. Disappearing on sex weekends,…
Scientology Defectors: Why Did They Stay?
I attended a Scientology service a few years ago as part of a Stanford psych course taught by Phil Zimbardo. My assignment was to act as a target of social…
Travel As A Political Act
Rick Steves’s recent book, Travel As A Political Act tells us how we can travel more thoughtfully. “Growing up in the U.S., I was told over and over how smart,…
In Case You Missed. . .
Last month’s North Beach Poetry Festival, William Taylor, Jr., poet, author of Words For Songs Never Written, and gentleman, has provided a very succinct report of the festival’s events which,…
Junot Diaz’s Favorite New Yorker
At Red Hill Books we keep having to order more Junot Diaz books. It’s really extraordinary. They keep flying off the shelves on a daily basis.
Discovering Georges Simenon
Maybe because I’m one-quarter Belgian, or so my parents claim, I tend to go out of my way to discover famous Belgians. I’m half-kidding about that but I do admit…
The Daily Grind Of Writing
I laughed out loud, like a lot of writers probably did this week, when I read J. Robert Lennon’s confession in the L.A. Times, The Truth About Writers. The truth,…