January 2011
25 posts
“There’s a sickly strain of fake friendship which goes across the internet,...”
– The Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant speaks my mind on the January 2011 issue of The Word (via Provas de Contacto).
In the Year 3030, Everyone Will Still Read →
Brendan Koerner explains why while subbing for Ta-Nehisi Coated at The Atlantic.
The Death Of Albums? Not only no, but HELL NO! →
No, MP3 did not kill the album star, as readers of The Daily Dish prove.
News of the day →
Scritti Politti anthology coming. Well overdue.
“Can we end obligatory pieces? I don’t think the audience likes reading...”
– Conor Friedersdorf at The Daily Dish rails against obligatory editorials. I second that motion.
“Anyone from anywhere can be cruel, anyone from anywhere can be witty, but there...”
– As Ricky Gervais discovered this week, British banter - that playfully barbed conversational style used up and down the country - can baffle and perturb foreigners. America is a land of Regency etiquette in comparison.
“Or put more succinctly, what comes after “Here we are now, entertain...”
– One of Andrew Sullivan’s readers asks a scarily prescient question.
America, America
Two looks at the unfortunate Gabrielle Giffords shooting in Tucson, AZ, from Time magazine. On one hand, media critic James Poniewozik discusses the tone of contemporary American politics. On the other, columnist Joe Klein moves to look at society’s responsibility towards mental sufferers.
The Case of the First Mystery Novelist →
Paul Collins solves it.
The Case Against Chasing Scoops →
As always, Jim Poniewozik is on the money.
Dick Clark, Brett Favre, and the Art of Letting Go →
Boy, did I miss reading Lane Wallace.
The Beautiful Uses of Negative Space →
Ta-Nehisi Coates is SO on the money on this one.
“It is already virtually impossible in the United States, unless you undertake...”
– Speaking of British idiossyncrasies, I give you Christopher Hitchens in Slate (via Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Dish)
“My wife thinks the only thing biologically wrong with Colin Firth is that,...”
– Patrick Goldstein’s post in his Los Angeles Times blog has nothing whatsoever to do with this opening statement — but I know of far too many people who share the sentiment.
The Cloisters: A Good Place to Start →
Subbing for Ta-Nehisi Coates at The Atlantic, Andrew Baker proposes a sublime definition of art as devotion.