Ads via The Deck

Infinite TV

From Here You Can See Everything

by James A. Pearson

Our current era of on-demand television series does more than facilitate binge-watching—it encourages it. David Foster Wallace already told us what happens next.

Profiles

People like to talk about how bad Detroit is. This city is under a demonic spell.

Crack Rock City

by Mark Binelli
The Global Desk

Everything in This City Must

After six months in Leipzig, a German reporter asks the novelist what he’ll miss. But it’s back here in the United States where more dangerous questions take shape, none easily answered with good beer.

by Alexander Chee
Spoofs & Satire

It’s Complicated

Though mothers may gnash their teeth at forgotten flowers and missing brunches, the poets still sing of the worst Mother’s Day ever: that of Oedipus and his bride.

by David Comfort

Love Your Dress

Siam, I Am (Not)

Small-screen post-Downton satisfaction for costume connoisseurs.

by Liz Entman Harper

TMN Weekender

Inlandia

It's not all just New York and Los Angeles with Mayberry in between.

by The Morning News

Current Columns

Latest Gallery

Takuma Nakahira. From the series Circulation: Date, Place, Events. Untitled, 1971. Gelatin silver print © Takuma Nakahira, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.

Takuma Nakahira. From the series Circulation: Date, Place, Events. Untitled, 1971. Gelatin silver print © Takuma Nakahira, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.

Takuma Nakahira. From the series Circulation: Date, Place, Events. Untitled, 1971. Gelatin silver print © Takuma Nakahira, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.

Takuma Nakahira. From the series Circulation: Date, Place, Events. Untitled, 1971. Gelatin silver print © Takuma Nakahira, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.

Takuma Nakahira. From the series Circulation: Date, Place, Events. Untitled, 1971. Gelatin silver print © Takuma Nakahira, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.

Takuma Nakahira. From the series Circulation: Date, Place, Events. Untitled, 1971. Gelatin silver print © Takuma Nakahira, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.

Takuma Nakahira. From the series Circulation: Date, Place, Events. Untitled, 1971. Gelatin silver print © Takuma Nakahira, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.

Takuma Nakahira. From the series Circulation: Date, Place, Events. Untitled, 1971. Gelatin silver print © Takuma Nakahira, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.

Takuma Nakahira. From the series Circulation: Date, Place, Events. Untitled, 1971. Gelatin silver print © Takuma Nakahira, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.

Takuma Nakahira. From the series Circulation: Date, Place, Events. Untitled, 1971. Gelatin silver print © Takuma Nakahira, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.

Paris in the Seventies

From his new solo show in the United States, black-and-white selections from Takuma Nakahira’s “Circulation: Date, Place, Events,” plus a reprint of his 1973 essay, “Looking at the City or the Look From the City.”

Start Gallery

More Galleries

Infinite TV

From Here You Can See Everything

Our current era of on-demand television series does more than facilitate binge-watching—it encourages it. David Foster Wallace already told us what happens next.

by James A. Pearson

Against my better judgment, I’m watching another episode of The West Wing as I write this. It’s streaming on Netflix in a window next to this one. It’s my third episode of the night, my 80th or so this month.

When I left Uganda this winter I had finally broken the 300-page barrier in David Foster Wallace’s gargantuan novel, Infinite Jest. I’ve started it three or four times in the past and aborted each time for attentional reasons. But 300 pages felt like enough momentum, finally, to finish. Then I hit my first American airport, with its 4G and free wi-fi. All at once, my gadgets came alive: pinging and alerting and vibrating excitedly. And even better, all seven seasons of The West Wing had providentially appeared on Netflix Instant. I’ve only finished 100 more pages in the two months since.

I always binge on media when I’m in America. But this time it feels different. Media feels encroaching, circling, kind of predatory. It feels like it’s bingeing back. Continue Reading

From the Headlines

Afternoon Headlines

May 22

If you’re in the right place, you get a strong odor of fresh-cut grass. Q&A with a tornado chaser.

Riots break out in Stockholm suburbs over racism-fueled police brutality.

Conspiracy theories also seem to be more compelling to those with low self-worth, especially with regard to their sense of agency in the world.

As the world’s population continues to grow and resources shrink, 3D-printed food may become more appetizing.

Around 85% of clothing purchased every year is thrown away; here’s what happens when you donate it instead.

Both campaigns accused the other of stealing yard signs. For the fourth time since 1956, Portland voters reject fluoridation.

Mark Binelli meets the motorcycle men working hard to save Detroit, one fiend at a time. #tmn

See also: Out this week, Edward McClelland’s Nothin’ But Blue Skies, a collection of rust-belt tales.

Related: McClelland profiles the sole survivor from a 1966 Great Lakes shipwreck. #tmn

This week, restoration will begin on the Apollo Saturn V engines Jeff Bezos recovered from the ocean floor. #photos

Steve Wilhite weighs in on how to pronounce one of his best-known inventions: the GIF.

Bloomberg to Taxi Club: “When I am out of office, I am going to destroy your fucking industry.”

Citing a nagging lower-back injury, Murray drops out of the French Open. #tennis

Attend medical school via Tumblr.

Excerpts from Imaginary Oklahoma, flash fiction—prairie-style from novelists Jonathan Lethem and Aimee Bender. #tmn

Spiders From Mars bassist Trevor Bolder dies, age 62.

More Headlines