culture
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Albums of the Year
The Top 10 Albums of 2012
A year’s worth of music listening, whittled down to the core. Because in the end, there can be only 10.
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The Holidays Desk
Liner Notes for Christmas
Christmas is a time for family and friends and very weird songs that only get played once a year. Eleven holiday songs researched and fact-checked to explain their appeal, including the mystery behind endorphins solely released by Mariah Carey.
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Reading Roulette
Mikhail Shishkin
This is it, friends—the last round of our Reading Roulette series of contemporary Russian literature in translation, with one shot left in the chamber. But we’ve saved the best for last.
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The Global Desk
The Perfect Forecast
Predicting the weather is an incredibly complicated task—and stopping it altogether is even more difficult. But that doesn’t mean scientists aren’t trying. A story of obsession, cloud seeding, and very powerful storms.
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Opinions
A Spot for Tea
It’s easy to hate Starbucks until you admit it’s responsible for nearly everything good in today’s coffee culture. Now the behemoth is poised, with a recent acquisition, to introduce America to hundreds of years of tea culture. A tea maker is grateful.
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The Future Case
Touching From a Distance
Technology is moving so fast, it’s easy to overlook that what’s to come is already right in front of us. Stop for a moment, and you’ll see the future.
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Guides
The 2012 Good Gift Games
Oh look, it’s the holidays and time to interact with humans again. Thankfully, there are board games to facilitate or replace conversation. Here are 10 of the year’s best to get you started.
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Reading Roulette
Irina Bogatyreva
The latest salvo from our Reading Roulette series of contemporary Russian literature—stories you’ll rarely find elsewhere in translation, unfortunately. This month we bring you a contender for the Debut Prize, Russia’s preeminent award for young writers.
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Our Passions, Our Day Jobs
The Death of Farmbrain
These days, everyone seems to enjoy tending chickens and eating local. But lifestyles are rarely ways of life, and the grain that goes into our daily bread is still easiest to obtain from giant operations. Visiting a dying small farm shows why.
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When Presidents Drink
Four More Beers
One of the most striking differences between U.S. presidents is how they choose to stock the White House bar. From teetotalers to all-out drunks, a brief history of presidents and their preferred libations.
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Reading Roulette
Olga Slavnikova
We’ve emptied half the cylinder in our Reading Roulette series of contemporary Russian literature—stories you won’t find anywhere else in translation, unfortunately. This month we usher to the table a 2013 Russian Booker Prize contender for a shot at blowing your mind.
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News From America
Here You Know Pretty Much Everybody
Our series continues with more random phone calls around small-town USA to find out what’s really going on. This time our editor only makes his calls at night, to see what happens when America goes dark.