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Join NOW!Another school year has begun leading to age old questions like: is this degree worth it? The New Yorker takes a look at college degrees and how over the last century, the liberal arts degree that once served as a ticket to white-collar, upper-middle-class careers has since become a basic resume builder for service jobs […]
...moreIn 2013 Ross Williams began an ambitious project: film all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets in 154 different New York City locations, and reach “beyond the restrictions of a live performance in a small theater.” Now the project has taken a large step forward, as the group completed their 100th film, which features the Emmy-award winning […]
...morePowerful writing might be just as moving for the writer as for the reader. New research is demonstrating that the old advice about writing through your problems might actually be based in science. Researchers in various studies are gauging how writing about situations can help improve them, like students writing essays about the difficulty adjusting […]
...morePhotographer Carlo Bevilacqua spent five years photographing hermits for a project he calls “Into the Silence.” Each of his subjects choose to live outside of society for different reasons – from the extremely religious, to the spiritual, to those who simply want to live alone. The project caused Carlo to reexamine social norms: “I worked all day long […]
...moreHere’s the bill text of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) An explanation of the three major ways that SOPA could impact journalists. An NY Times op-ed argues “while American intellectual property deserves protection, that protection must be won and defended in a manner that does not stifle innovation, erode due process under the law, […]
...moreA recent article in Sunday’s NY Times Book Review breaks down reading habits by gender, reporting that boys read less than girls. This revelation may be surprising given the plethora of YA fiction out there—one of the only booming genre of books out there right now. However, this is where the gender dichotomy breaks down […]
...moreThere are many ways to appreciate the work of David Foster Wallace. Michael Schur, the man who co-created the tv show, “Parks and Rec,” is reproducing a scene from Infinite Jest in music-video form. Schur’s directorial debut is the coexistence of both his favorite band (the Decemberists) and the novel that most profoundly altered his […]
...moreThe history of the New Times Roman font involves the artistry of a yacht-maker (William Starling Burgess) plagiarism (by one Stanley Morison) and the truth’s delayed discovery by a Canadian printer (Gerald Giampa) almost seventy years later. The font’s initial appeal was its ability to fit more words in a broadsheet of the Times, thus […]
...moreThere’s been a couple articles as of late suggesting we change the way we deal with social inequity—by pointedly not participating in its fulfillment. Instead of setting our sights on the people actively promoting the problem, why don’t we all participate in correcting the imbalance? Because doesn’t it affect everyone, regardless of whether they are […]
...morePaul Trynka wrote a Bowie biography, titled David Bowie: Starman. It will combat all the David Bowie aggression you may have experienced as a result of the decisions he made in the 80’s. Even if you’re one of those people who just “likes his early stuff,” this biography may help you revisit the pretty boy […]
...moreThere are those writers that relinquish their private lives to the world, choosing to share the honesty of experience, which is often difficult for those family members and friends who were part of this experience. Changed names and confrontation come up all the time for the memoirist, but what about protecting those family members that […]
...moreNews International’s phone hacking scandal has regenerated all over the web as the scandal continues to unfold, tracing back the hacking and subsequent bribery that’s been happening for years–more and more articles appear detailing the latest happenings in Parliament. With the shutdown of The News of the World and News Corporation’s imploding BSkyB deal, both […]
...moreBill Keller is doling out more contentious opinions! We already found out what he thought about twitter— its consequences on our cognitive abilities and its potentially deleterious effect on the well-being of his thirteen year-old daughter. But now he is taking a break from insulting ephemeral communication to critique good, old-fashioned books. Why critique those […]
...moreTomi Ungerer, writer of over 150 books, illustrator, engineer and designer of a cat-shaped kindergarten, considers himself “basically an author,” amidst all his varying accomplishments. This NY Times article features an excerpt from an interview. Recently, his career has been experiencing a resurgence of appreciation with some of his children’s books being republished and a […]
...moreAnybody who appreciates the community value of their local independent bookstore knows about the monetary pressure imposed by Amazon and internet-based competitors. So if you really appreciate the value of independent booksellers and the literary community it supports, why shouldn’t you reciprocate? This NY Times article laments the admission charges that independent booksellers are introducing […]
...moreWhat are the cultural consequences of cell phone cameras, social media websites, and online photo hosts? The degradation of anonymity and an obscured understanding of privacy. It’s shockingly simple to identify people on the web—whether to scorn them for an embarrassing moment or pinpoint the victim of political violence as an activist. This newfound publicity […]
...moreNext time you’re basking in the glory of your ability to reason, thinking that you’re closer to arriving at some sort of ultimate truth, consider this first. Apparently, our reasoning instincts come from a primordial impulse to win arguments, a “hard-wired compulsion to triumph in the debating arena,” or at least that’s the theory. Who […]
...moreDirector Aaron Sorkin’s conversation with NY Times columnist (and intrepid memoirist) David Carr for Interview Magazine delves into the territory of addiction, journalistic journeys and the state of news media. He uncovers much about the state of journalism in these aggregation-based and blog-heavy times, and sheds light on his own unconventional path to the NY […]
...moreReykjavik just elected a comedian to be its mayor. Jon Gnarr is the head of the Best Party, which took just over a third of the vote in the recent elections, which means they control 6 of the City Council’s 15 seats. The Best Party has to form a coalition in order to govern, but […]
...moreWith the year winding down, the book blogs have been ablaze with your typical speculations about the best of this and that. But perhaps there are less obvious threads out there if we only knew where to look. . . The New York Times retraces the fictional haunts of Patricia Highsmith, our ‘most Freudian’ of […]
...moreThe First Amendment case that’s getting most of the attention this year involves Citizens United and political speech by corporations, in large part because most court watchers believe that the Court’s conservative majority is going to overturn almost a century’s worth of precedent when it returns its decision. But there’s another case before the Court […]
...moreIt’s Saturday night, the skies are cloudy, and the satellite reception keeps cutting in and out. Guess it’s time for some poetry links. I don’t generally link to poetry reviews elsewhere, but the NY Times reviews poetry so rarely that I figured I ought to do it if only for the sake of novelty. It’s […]
...moreTwo weeks in a row now I’m doing a blog post on the upcoming feature story in the NY Times Magazine. This won’t become a habit–they get plenty of attention on their own. But it’s such a good article on such a dry subject that most people know so little about that I just have […]
...moreIt’s time to release my inner geek. Okay, not so inner. Behold the cannibal galaxy! Triangulum, your day is coming! The nonprofit Solar CITIES is installing solar power systems in the poorest parts of Cairo. Global warming science is complex, and deniers are either co-opted by a dirty energy lobby or just stupid, and this […]
...moreWelcome to Saturday everyone. Warning: following this link might make you question humanity for the rest of the day. Hint–it involves Twilight and a dildo. Via Slog the Stranger. More Edward Cullen madness at Geekologie. For crying out loud, some movies don’t need to be remade. Same goes for you, Brian Singer. Didn’t Hollywood learn […]
...moreForget the herbal supplements, the diets, the hyperbaric oxygen chambers–a big circle of friends has a huge effect on your long-term health.
...moreI’ve never understood the argument for super-premium vodka–vodka is supposed to be, by definition neutral (don’t get me started on flavored vodkas), so what, outside the stylishness of the bottle, can a super-premium vodka offer that Popov or Luksosowa or Smirnoff can’t? Not much, and in tough economic times, lots of people are rediscovering that. […]
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