Recent posts
Rumpus Articles
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Farzana Versey Remembers her Walkman
“I do not have an iPod. The Walkman is 30 now. I resisted it, as I have resisted several new innovations. I still have an old cassette player. I like the comfort of things I am used to – smells,…
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Evening Cocktail
Summer Thursdays are good for barbecues and movies. Take it from me. The New York Times on the recent upscaling of the humble hamburger. Plus recipes. Have some cheese with your burger, since your Cheese Problems Have Been Solved. (Paul…
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We Need Studs Terkel
At the bookstore I work at, we recently got in a HUGE shipment of remaindered books. Books by Michael Ondaatje, Virginia Woolf, Alain de Botton, all of them brand-new and at bargan-bin prices. Which begs the question, do all books,…
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William T. Vollmann Made Me A San Franciscan
One of the more anticipated summer novels of the season is also probably one of the longest, most disturbing and most intimidating: Imperial, William T. Vollman’s mammoth exploration of the U.S.-Mexican border in Imperial County, CA. Clocking in at about…
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Somalian Refugee Writers Show the Way
Dadaab is not an oasis. There is no water. In July, food rations are expected to be cut back to 1000 calories a day. The camps are short 38,000 latrines. Every year only twenty students from the entire camp escape…
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What We Were Doing and Where We Were Going
Five short stories modeled on the works of the old masters make up this smart, witty first collection
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Movies Briefly, The Proposal (2009)
The title The Proposal has two meanings; it refers to the improvised marriage between shrew boss Margaret (Sandra Bullock) and exasperated assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) devised to stave off her deportation, as well as to their jobs in the world…
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Movies Briefly, Suspiria (1977)
It boggles my mind that Dario Argento directed a movie called Deep Red and it is not this picture. How is that possible? How could any movie not set entirely in a darkroom be more about the color red than…
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The Dead Sea Scrolls of John Dillinger
The tale of a long-lost account of one of America’s most notorious criminals, a struggling ad man, and the contributing editor at Playboy who brought the story to light.
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Morning Coffee
Pictures of people looking at monuments. Eventually all of photography will just fold into itself. Using Google Earth and the country of Slovenia to create a satelite alphabet. (via Metafilter.) Did I just mention Slovenia? That must mean it’s time…
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The Science of Happiness
From an interview in The Sun with psychologist Barbara Fredrickson: “[Some] researchers have found that the number of positive emotions a person feels predicts his or her satisfaction with life. What we’ve done is uncover how positive emotions actually cause us…