Monday, December 1, 2008

Currently: binding our very best in hardcover
Today’s Feature: “Iggy Pop Lusts for Life” by Patrick Ambrose
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Headlines for Tuesday, August 31, 2004

New York’s currently: dismayed the outside world doesn’t know how much shoot is going down

Sadr suspends attacks, makes plans for political career in Iraq.

Taliban takes credit for killing six in Kabul on Sunday including three Americans, plans more attacks as Afghanistan’s presidential election approaches.

Deadline passes for U.N. sanctions against Sudan; Russia and China, with money to make on weapons and oil, unlikely to commit.

Wonderful limericks by Saddam Hussein.

63 troops dead in Iraq this month, up from 54 in July and 42 in June.

Number of Americans in poverty rising, same for number without insurance.

Guiliani: Thank God George Bush is our President; McCain: Thank God I can trash Moore instead of Kerry. (See Moore’s column from inside the convention.)

It is possible to bet on nearly anything in London, including flys on walls, gay Simpsons characters, and piglets.

At the moment, I see John Kerry as two parts Herman Munster and one part Bill Walton. Profile of presidential impersonator preparing to be Kerry.

New Yorkers: See traffic routes for massive non-violent die-in scheduled for Republican Convention tonight.

Milosevic blames world for destroying Yugoslavia, forcing Serbs to defend themselves.

Calvin Trillin falls for South African foodstuffs.

Asserts that Kansas should at once be admitted as a State. The Republican platform of 1860, when the two-party system began, and, the Republican platform of 2004 [PDF].

Copywriter argues for advertising to be treated as a day job, not your ambition.

New Music Box magazine covers new American music.

List of the president’s codewords for enemies and friends.

Headlines for Monday, August 30, 2004

New York’s currently: not looking forward to this

“They could use a bunch of people from Iowa to come here to show New Yorkers what life is all about, what being patriotic is all about, and what country is all about.” The delegates arrive, the protests begin.

Largely peaceful demonstration along Seventh Ave. estimated at 200,000 strong.

Why here? Not for the money, that’s for sure: Political conventions rarely bring in the cash they’re supposed to.

Listen to Dr. Ruth quizzed on Matthew Baldwin’s “Tricks of the Trade” from Saturday’s “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me” on NPR.

Refusing to meet demands of Iraqi kidnappers, France will keep headscarf ban in effect.

Car bomb at offices of American contractor in Kabul leaves seven dead.

California opts to reschedule its primaries and hold less influence over the Presidential race.

Yes: We sincerely hope that those who will inevitably take to the streets in order to register their objections will conduct themselves courteously and will refrain from offensive or destructive behavior.

A gallery of television test graphics from around the world.

Video: And now a word from that other maritime constituency… The Pleasure Boat Captains for Truth.

Mutants go wild! A history of the Marvel Swimsuit Issue.

Does asparagus really, you know, make that smell?

So you can command the catchphrases: the Borat soundboard.

Creepy toy from bag of candy resembles Sept. 11 attacks.

Video: Boy band Townsend do Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” Watch if you dare.

Mime gives delegate the finger.

Headlines for Friday, August 27, 2004

New York’s currently: way way way overworked

Ali Sistani’s Najaf truce holds, Imam Ali shrine opens up to worshippers, men in surgical masks collect the dead from the streets.

White House preparing orders for intelligence overhaul, considering new spy-czar.

In measuring the state of the union, Gore Vidal asks you not to hate our government too much.

World’s largest pink ribbon to be constructed from post-it notes in Times Square.

It looks as if everything will be so easy that people will probably die from sheer boredom. Life in the year 2000, as imagined in Weekend Magazine, 1961.

Turner-winning artist Grayson Perry takes sketchbook to Glyndebourne, the outdoor seat for U.K. opera and nasty looking people.

1.3 million added to U.S. poverty rolls this year, plus 1.4 million more uninsured.

Today’s favorite headline: New jaw grown on patient’s back. Number two, anticipating next week: They’re nude, they’re rude, get used to it!

Howell Raines: Keeping Reagan’s mysterious brain in mind, let’s ask: does anyone really care if the President is an idiot?

Recollections of time spent with Fela Kuti, king of Afrobeat, polygamy, and teaching London white boys to dance.

Duck shield, Phone gas, Man-catching tank. Absurd inventions and patents.

Harper’s Lewis Lapham apologizes for traveling in time.

Fall concert preview for New York, and fall opera preview.

Changes as made to: Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi.

How to build a tiled pizza hearth in your oven.

Headlines for Thursday, August 26, 2004

New York’s currently: fiddling with this stupid internet connec-

“Roger, we won’t shoot the mosque.” Fighting continues, tension builds in Najaf as Top Shiite cleric calls for peace in the city, urges followers to join him there, but for what? And: Mortar attack kills 27 in neighboring Kufa.

Chief outside counsel to Bush campaign quits after giving legal advice to veterans behind anti-Kerry television ads.

The police officers beat some of the reporters and fired assault rifles in the lobby. Najaf police call “press conference.”

Snarling begins as new faces arrive in New York. Related: Bush, Schwarzenegger looking for NYC firehouses they can bond in.

Video: Planet of the Apes reimagined as a Twilight Zone episode. Astoundingly good.

Investigation turns up little in Russian passenger jet crashes, although one plane had its hijack alarm flipped.

Adolescent bullying finds a new home: online.

Former Beanie Baby collectors cringe at the thought of plush critters.

Gore Vidal bids farewell to his retreat on the Amalfi.

Write a book: A database of opening hooks.

Because now you can: Make your own Lego head icons.

A gallery of death masks, including Alfred Hitchcock.

Flash tree that you can grow with your messages.

Director Wes Anderson seems to have a thing, bordering on obsession, for Futura. Great look at typefaces in movies, with stills.

Dave Matthews tour bus unloads 800 pounds of liquid human waste into Chicago River.

Game: Navigate the obstacles with an invisible cursor.

Fascinating pixel map of D.C.

Headlines for Wednesday, August 25, 2004

New York’s currently: fed up with the illogical and ridiculous belief that governments, especially ours, should be more than corrupt, inept, and corrosive.

Two Russian jetliners crash within minutes of each other after departing same Moscow airport; Chechen rebel leaders deny involvement.

Oh, good: Companies responsible for certifying U.S. touch-screen voting machines operate in complete secrecy, and refuse to discuss reported flaws in technology to be used by a third of November’s voters.

One third of U.S. lakes and one-quarter of its rivers are spoiled by mercury, potentially harmful for children and pregnant women.

Man intentionally loses wallets around New York City to discover how nice Gothamites can be.

Prison-abuse investigation panel says blame goes all the way to the top, but firing Rumsfeld would be a boon to America’s enemies.

Perhaps to show he doesn’t pull every string, Cheney backs gay marriage, saying policy changes should be left to the states.

Man quits iPod, breaking addiction to constant need for soundtracked life.

Pataki and Giuliani gunning to Obama the Republican Convention, and right now Pataki’s ahead.

PDF of interview with Hollywood production designer Ed Verreaux, on exactly what his job entails (e.g., for Starsky & Hutch).

Additions to the popular insiders’ tricks written up by TMN’s Matthew Baldwin yesterday.

Margaret Thatcher’s son arrested in Cape Town, accused of planning to help overthrow Equatorial Guinea’s government.

As it happens, lonely foreigners on cold islands don’t look forward to visitors. All your Iceland belongs to the Iceland Review.

People in wheelchairs have a 1-in-4,162 chance of flagging down an accessible taxi in New York.

Pianist Angela Hewitt on Glenn Gould’s erratic driving, pill-popping, and Canadian-ness.

Video: ‘Appearances’ by Citizens Here and Abroad.

Leaning Tower of Pisa’s tilt halted, stablized for the first time in more than eight centuries.

Headlines for Tuesday, August 24, 2004

New York’s currently: asking “What’s so great about hyenas?” “They make the best jokes.”

Upcoming report on Abu Ghraib to show that dogs were used to terrorize Iraqi teens.

Kerry still wants Bush to denounce Swift Boat ads, Bush still kinda doesn’t really do it.

Opinion: The technique President Bush is using against John F. Kerry was perfected by his father against Michael Dukakis in 1988, though its roots go back at least to Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Afghanistan says Islamic militants are training at the Pakistani border, readying to disrupt its October elections.

Is blood a requirement? So how do you win a Purple Heart, anyway?

Fighting continues in Najaf: Residents annoyed with Sadr and militia; Iraqi government really is calling the shots.

Resetting our expectations on the promise of stem cells.

We’re surprised it didn’t snow: 2004 was New York’s seventh-coldest summer since 1869.

The Morrissey/Princess Diana conspiracy theory. [via coudal]

Two resources to aid you in determining the age of your globe.

During Jack’s opening drive up to the Overlook, there’s the slight sound on the soundtrack of Danny’s tricycle going over the floor of the Hotel. Five things you probably didn’t notice in The Shining.

World War I soliders found, almost perfectly preserved, in an Italian Alpine glacier.

Come one! Come all! See Dan Benjamin’s retooled, redesigned Hivelogic!

Even in the pandemic of corruption that is the former Soviet Union, traffic police officers are nearly universally regarded as an especially low form of social parasite.

Museum officials to art thieves: Please take care of Munch paintings.

Headlines for Monday, August 23, 2004

New York’s currently: one week from a whole bag of nuts

Senate Intelligence Committee urges dismantling the CIA, exceeding the 9/11 Committee’s (or Bush or Kerry’s) suggestions.

Hollywood stunt pilots to snag hunk of Sun falling to the Earth.

Hillary says: Give New York the fricking money it deserves to prevent terrorism, you self-important, grandstanding jerks. (Don’t worry, Bloomberg’s pissed too.)

Dole says Kerry didn’t bleed enough in Vietnam, while Podesta reminds us Bush got his teeth cleaned in the Guard.

TMN’s Choire Sicha says Pam Anderson is the Jean-Paul Sartre of the U.S. Weekly set, though she’s only one of many deadly women writing.

British celebrities compose notes-to-self.

Despite legacy of accepting suffering, Japanese learn to want happy all the time, while Americans still resent knowing they’re going to die.

Central Park Film Festival begins this week. Almost as important, J.Crew now hand-delivers preppy goods to the Hamptons.

Op: Whatever we’re doing in Iraq, it’s a mess, people are dying, and it’s certainly not to be called war.

Details behind the snatching of Munch’s “Scream.” (See also, history of famous art thefts.)

Italian cuisine guru Marcella Hazan eats at Olive Garden, leaves very disappointed.

3.3 million people dead from war in the Congo over the last decade: great multimedia reader’s guide to a long story. (See also, recent history.)

Game: Scarecrows and nasty flappy things.

Trials begin for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib’s Graner.

How did George W. Bush pronounce the name of Abu Ghraib prison? Quiz on the administration’s 1300 days.

Headlines for Friday, August 20, 2004

New York’s currently: ignoring the weatherman

As Iraqi troops struggle with their role in a possible strike on the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, Moqtada al-Sadr sends word that he’ll hand over control of the mosque, in order to save it.

How the Swift Boat anti-Kerry ads began, 30 years ago. And: The Iraqi soccer team really, really, really doesn’t want to be in Bush campaign ads.

A massive collection of textfiles you’ll want to read. Such files may include Ian Frazier’s Coyote v. Acme.

Ted Kennedy was stopped for questioning at airports five times in six months because a name similar to his appeared on no-fly lists.

Tonight freebasing, er, vaporizing liquor will be all the rage in Manhattan.

Celiac Chicks are the coolest for what they’re doing to make true gluten-free dining-out possible. Related: Child’s wheat allergy gets her first communion invalidated.

Italo Calvino’s widow “Chichita” takes Corriere della Sera to court over publication of old love letters written by Calvino to a married woman.

Casting cock-ups, as when Helena Bonham-Carter was in Planet of the Apes, or when Kevin Costner was in…too much, really.

Straight-Edgers: See who’s gone to the other side at the Edge Break List.

But can you get Palpatine to read your vows? A Star Wars wedding.

Biggie’s lyrical shrine to non-Lexus Asian import cars.

1961 illustrations of New York. (Note: “weiter” means “next”) [via coudal]

An obituary on the extraordinary life of Czeslaw Milosz.

Does Dick Cheney speak only to the lizards?

Eighties MP3s of the bands that would become everything to the ’90s: My Bloody Valentine and Nirvana.

Keep your lexicon up-to-the-second with new words at Double-Tongued.

Headlines for Thursday, August 19, 2004

New York’s currently: always, in the back of the mind, feeling like a target

Sadr’s militia to disband and vacate Imam Ali Shrine, though no departure date’s given and no guarantees for dissolution.

Pentagon report on Abu Ghraib to blame mid-level officials, not top brass.

McGreevey’s lover accused of being totally gay by spurned amour and CIA operative who takes pills to be blacker.

Map of money pipelines between Saudi government and religious charities.

Ops: Iran should be accountable for snubbing Israel in the Olympics, though larger checks need to be swung for its impending nuclear prowess.

Imam Ali standoff in light of Israel’s successful siege of the Church of the Nativity in 2002.

Shame is given by placing hoods over a detainee’s head. Avoid this practice. Handout for U.S. Marines as part of Iraq training.

New Cussler thriller: Weapons don’t kill people, French people do.

Got headphones? NPR six-part history on “The Middle East and the West.”

Preemptive strikes are not only for Americans, says Iran.

Former Bush voters tell documentarian Errol Morris why they’ll vote for Apple Kerry. (See ads.)

Summaries of Iran: Political structure, political forces, forecast.

Man protests London traffic policies by towing bus with his toe.

Video: Trailer for new Wes Anderson movie, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

Photos by Michael Kenna of power stations.

Headlines for Wednesday, August 18, 2004

New York’s currently: passing on waivers

Battle at Najaf began without plan or approval, turns stalemate when rebel cleric Sadr refuses meeting with Iraqi leaders.

Sadr becomes the voice of the opposition in Iraq, gains grassroots support with snub of government leaders.

Bloomberg offers nice RNC protesters discounts on tourist attractions, Broadway shows, and restaurants.

Britain charges eight for conspiring in terrorist plot; evidence includes plans of New York Stock Exchange, IMF, New York/New Jersey banks.

A bag of ice for $10: Florida price gouging in the wake of Hurricane Charley.

Soldier sues administration over extension of tour.

Why non-sovereign states can compete in the Olympics, but, no, Puerto Rico still won that basketball game.

Mount Sinai students tour their patients’ neighborhood in East Harlem.

“And, therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between—sovereign entities.” Get your fresh, up-to-the-minute Bush-isms with DubyaSpeak.

Jim Romenesko’s new Starbucks gossip blog.

“Pimp” and “Ho” costumes for children.

Video: Fun wackiness from Stella Comedy.

Here they are: The Top 10 Most Ridiculous Black Metal Pics of All Time.

“Those who like it are very fortunate, as there is scarcely a village whose grocer does not market this dreadful substance.” The history of cheese, from inedible to delicacy.

Video: Watch Luis Bunuel’s Un Chien Andalou. [156MB]

Headlines for Tuesday, August 17, 2004

New York’s currently: a bit upset when its hard drive decides to go kerplunk

Venezuela’s Chavez beats recall in election deemed free and fair.

Governor Bush races to clean up Florida, hoping to learn from mistakes that followed hurricane Andrew.

Only man in Kyoto permitted to cut geisha hair snubbed for blabbing sexy secrets on TV.

Requiem for Nobel-winning poet Czeslaw Milosz.

Mortar attack in central Baghdad kills five, delegation to meet with Sadr delayed by security concerns.

Protesting Q&A from the front lines of the Republican Convention.

So you keep a colored man in your closet to give you ideas. Interviews from Woody Allen’s press tour for Bananas.

Veteran city cop busted for attempted boy hunting.

News of dissent within the unlikely-to-survive Prohibition Party. (See the PDF of their latest newsletter.)

Saudi Arabia uses select parts of 9/11 report in 19-city radio campaign to defend national honor.

Rules formerly stuck up a composer’s ass.

Reasons for everlasting uncertainty and agitation in the airline business.

Video: Republicans shall feel welcome in the city of prep-school tryants.

Press upset by President’s taste for support groups as news venues.

How Bush paid back Appalachia’s coal industry by changing “waste” to “fill.”

Op-ed: It’s not fair when a serial sex attacker wins millions, but what are you going to do?

Tough-but-still-Dixie female politicans find success and Democratic salvation in the South.

Headlines for Monday, August 16, 2004

New York’s currently: spores in the air conditioner

As over 1,000 Iraqis convene in Baghdad to determine new election processes, delegates fire up protests over U.S. strikes in Najaf, and mortars explode outside.

Hurricane Charley devastates Florida, leaving thousands homeless, a half-million without water, and over a million without electricity. And this is only the beginning of an active hurricane season.

F.B.I. preps for Republican National Convention by detaining, and in some cases, subpoenaing potential demonstrators.

Julia Child, 1912–2004: Julie Powell of Julie/Julia says goodbye to the chef who transformed our culinary landscape, and the one who changed her life; 1976 New Yorker profile.

U.S. places increased pressure on Pakistan to find Osama bin Laden before November elections.

Dream team creamed: U.S. men’s basketball team downed by Puerto Rico in Olympics. [Apologies for the NY Post-y headline.]

A handy primer on your basic Icelandic pop music.

Decried as a show of pomp, new memo orders on-duty air marshals into coats and ties during Republican convention.

What the…? “Nothing better than waking up in the country and getting a cup of coffee and getting in the pickup truck and driving around and looking at the cows.”

Warner Brothers causes stir when asking MP3 bloggers to promote a new Secret Machines song, then posting comments about how great it is.

With federal dollars tightening up at the end of the fiscal year, dozens of Superfund sites will see little if any of the money they need for cleanup operations.

Interviews with the cast of Office Space, five years on.

Where are we, really, in stopping the production of weapons of mass destruction?

Silliness, the good kind: Don’t let it get your cursor!

The chemist is where you’d go to buy pharmaceutical drugs. Americans call it a straight drugstore, which implies to Brits that you could just buy Class A narcotics over the counter. English words with American meanings.

Headlines for Friday, August 13, 2004

New York’s currently: got that rotten smell of garbage all over

Sadr possibly injured in Najaf, military operations ceased as Iraqi politicians arrive for negotiations.

California high court voids 4,000 same-sex marriages.

Jersey Governor McGreevey declares homosexuality, resigns over affair, or was it corruption?

U.N. allowed Saddam to siphon at least $10 billion from oil-for-food program.

I believe in baubles, the bigger the better! Romance novelists give sex advice.

Horror stories of cannibalism from ill-fated voyage to Puerto Rico.

Collection of album covers featuring insects.

Under the sofa are stuffed several assault rifles and a pair of umbrellas. Report from inside the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf.

The remarkable story behind Afghanistan’s upcoming sham of a presidential election.

Video: Krugman, O’Reilly, and Russert, with O’Reilly’s facts corrected.

Is egg freezing—storing a young woman’s eggs for up to 10 years down the road—the golden egg for professional women wanting to be mothers someday?

In Christianity you might say that God is a secular humanist. Interview with radical theologian Don Cupitt.

Pentagon learning to obey the sixth amendment, especially when detained enemy combatants may be set free for lack of evidence.

Female Olympians swap nude photos for cash and no one cares.

40,000 traveling through J.F.K airport end up at the airport’s hospital.

Mp3: Chipmunks slowed way down.

Headlines for Thursday, August 12, 2004

New York’s currently: leftover puddles

As U.S. and Iraqi forces wage assault against Sadr militia in Najaf, Shiites warn U.S. not to harm an ancient mosque whose history in rebellion and worship is extraordinary.

Idealism, desire for martyrdom two big reasons militia has gathered around Sadr.

Freak lightning storm hits New York [see photo], breaks rainfall records, floods streets, and electrocutes two motorists.

If you haven’t been there, you just don’t know. But more, if you’ve been there and perpetuate the myths, you know even less. Op-ed from veterans and writers in defense of John Kerry’s service.

New York restaurants switching off the lights, cranking up their air conditioners to celebrate the anniversary of the blackout.

With troop numbers stretched thin, Army turns to the private sector for base security personnel. And: Border guards now get more responsibility; bomb dogs now get more money.

Red-footed falcon reported on Martha’s Vineyard—the first time one’s been spotted in the Western hemisphere—and birders from all over flock to see it.

Baggage screeners at La Guardia and JFK busted after celebrities complain about missing suitcase items.

Dave Davies of the Kinks in partial paralysis from June stroke.

In no way related to the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, a wealth of tracks from British Sea Power that would make even Nelson titter.

A collection of stunning aerial photos.

A bevy of awfully ugly dresses.

Attention all those who favor sarsaparillas and white russians: LebowskiFest begins this Friday in New York.

A gallery of guitars constructed from Legos.

How the sound of your name affects your sexiness. (“Paul” didn’t fare well.) Related: Ringo look-alike scamming Americans.

Headlines for Wednesday, August 11, 2004

New York’s currently: roiling under the August broil

U.S. soldiers fight Shiite militias in Najaf and Sadr City while Sadr supporters try to spread battles.

New York police and firefighter unions threaten strikes during Republican Convention (estimations have one protector for every 2.4 attendees).

Putin’s crackdown on oligarchs may only be a crafty swap for new cronies loyal to Putin.

Soldiers express regrets, guarding one of the world’s largest graveyards in Najaf.

It’s pride, my friend. It is pride. Interview with two Brits who joined the Mahdi army.

The awful, moving details behind the Army’s mortuary systems.

President nominates CIA director, with little hope for appointment pre-election, for the appearance of leadership.

Wedding guests eat relative for touching bride’s bottom.

Hundreds of unpublished Philip Larkin poems found in library archives. Related: Lost Virginia Woolf essay for Good Housekeeping republished.

NYC: Still time to catch outdoor opera for free!

Auction catalogue of property from the Johnny and June Carter Cash estate.

Fantastic, unpublished interview with Bill Murray, including the tale of his role in Elvis’s funeral.

Great asses appreciated in New York right now.

Video: Coordinated video game dance to Nelly.

Beach Boys musical coming to Broadway, plus an all-male Importance of Being Earnest.

Headlines for Tuesday, August 10, 2004

New York’s currently: sun on, sun off, sun on, sun off…

Sadr rejects appeal, vows to continue his fight against U.S. and Iraqi forces.

In investigation into leak of CIA operative’s identity, court holds in contempt Time magazine reporter who refuses to testify.

Federal government offers $1 billion to hospitals for emergency care to undocumented immigrants—but wants hospitals to ask patients their immigration status.

New intelligence shows a changing Al Qaeda structure with new personnel.

Sarah Hepola has a group phoner with Usher.

Rock bands take on the kids campground circuit.

Turmoil grows within Ocean Spray: Stay independent, or die?

People from around the country have been invited to offer an invocation or benediction during this aspect of the program, “Preachers and Patriots.” RNC planners ready the glitz with gospel- and country-music performers.

Ralph Nader exhibits confusion on how democracies work. And: Nader as weapon.

Audio: Listen to Viet Nam’s debut album, The Concrete’s Always Grayer on the Other Side of the Street.

Former Afghan mujahedeen gets fighters to lay down weapons, build Alpine ski resort near Kabul.

Dog gets on 2 Train, rides around, everybody laughs.

Love for sale: Romans want to pay for serenading; New Yorkers want to pay for cuddling.

Beginning the work toward indexing the 9/11 Commission Report.

Gulp. Scientist warns of volcano off African coast that could collapse and send waves up to 100 meters high into the eastern seaboard of the U.S.

Video: Very dangerous bike messenger drag race in NYC.

Headlines for Monday, August 9, 2004

New York’s currently: switching to coma-mode for August

Seven killed in suicide car bombing north of Baghdad; Battle continues for fifth day between U.S. and Mahdi Army.

Arrest warrants out for Admad Chalabi and his nephew Salem, for counterfeiting and murder, respectively.

Remarkable paintings and drawings from Steve Mumford’s Baghdad journal.

Arab League backs Sudan, asks U.N. for more time to disarm militias.

How to spot fake MBA degrees.

I’ve resigned myself. I’m functioning within the parameters of my mediocrity. Woody Allen on his 36th film, shot in London.

Maryland resident Alan Keyes to take on Obama in Illinois’s senate race. (Most likely you too could be a carpetbagger!)

Chances are your America and George W. Bush’s America are not the same place. Ron Reagan makes the case against the President.

Op-ed: With the Taliban’s assassination of voters and electoral staff, no history of presidential elections, and no rule of law, Afghanistan isn’t prepared for an October election.

Koko the gorilla—or, as we say it, Koko the monkey—calls for a dentist.

Garry Trudeau on soldiers, Bush at Yale.

MTA booth clerk attacks rider with faulty MetroCard.

There is a problem none of us likes to face. When the body goes, we go. Interview with Nobel-winner Gerald Edelman.

Video: Man inflates balloons under Hollywood sign.

Headlines for Friday, August 6, 2004

New York’s currently: making the show

Heavy fighting in Najaf as Sadr either did or did not call for an uprising against the U.S.-backed government in Iraq.

Two Albany mosque leaders arrested in sting operation that involved assassinating a Pakistani diplomat using a shoulder-fired missile.

McCain goes on the offense, asks White House to condemn ad that denies Kerry’s war record. And: The major discrepancies and errors in the spot.

Sudan government says it is cracking down on the militias that have been enacting genocide upon black inhabitants, then offers up a team of petty criminals as militia members.

Big states, big misperceptions: George W. Bush’s co-opting of Texas spawns film attack against the state; Alaska wants New York to know that it doesn’t consider its precious wilderness so precious.

Suicidal teenager jumps off Brooklyn Bridge, survives.

Just So You Know, Your Dad Was Standing Naked in My Kitchen, Facing My Kids’ Room. Man of the Week George Saunders preempts terror in the home.

Morph the electoral college, play with the election results with the Times, and track the battleground states’ polls with the constantly updated Journal.

There is a way, it’s another way, and it’s the zine way.

Boat crew finds hindered seagull, grafts Barbie parts for a leg.

Post-dating terrorist arrests for political advantage, but for the Democrats? Or for whom?

The story behind how the Internet Movie Database began, and how it continues to operate.

The anarchist-driven Wall Street explosion of 1920.

Barney, frankly, is the finest staff member at the White House, and definitely has the best hair (and an awfully nice blog).

Perhaps the most famous involuntary expression is what Ekman has dubbed the Duchenne smile. Malcolm Gladwell on how to read minds with faces, though densely.

MP3s: Brad Neely’s hilarious Harry Potter spoof, Wizard People, Dear Reader.

Headlines for Thursday, August 5, 2004

New York’s still: making so hot right now jokes

Car bomb kills five in Baghdad; 12 dead in Mosul; local tribesmen in Falluja rescue four hostages in raid.

At the Times, Malcolmson says Obama isn’t “black in the usual way.” At the Post, Williams says, “Holy shit, what?”

White House hails progress in raising the deficit by $70 billion to become the highest ever.

It is time to move forward. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting. Springsteen endorses, to tour for Kerry/Edwards.

Washington judge rules state law barring gay marriage is unconstitutional.

Three nearby banks robbed while police provided security for Kerry and Bush campaigns in Iowa.

If FDR and Lincoln did fine without seeing combat, is Kerry’s military service all that valuable to a war-time President?

Left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers. Should New York secede from the union?

Guide to safe sex with animals, e.g., how to mate with a dolphin.

Watching the media: The Daily Howler, Media Matters, Opinion Journal, The Campaign Desk.

Buy tickets for The Booth Variations. Or, buy plastic toys because you’re so impressed by the web design.

It is autumn, overcast and chilly. Girls find a red flower and bury it. Everyone speaks in the passive voice. Roger Ebert sees The Village so you don’t have to.

Top 10 fictional detectives.

Photographer Cartier-Bresson dies at 95, master known for remarkable moments.

Weekly news as drawn into mash-note.

Waugh waugh waugh: Trailer for soon-to-come Bright Young Things.

List of famous born-again Christian laypeople.

Headlines for Wednesday, August 4, 2004

New York’s currently: disciplining the sidewalk

At least 85 percent of money managed by Coalition Provisional Authority going to U.S. companies—not to Iraq companies, as promised.

Afghan troops and U.S. warplanes kill as many as 70 guerrillas near Pakistan border.

Iraqis feel new court system, intermingled with U.S. justice, doesn’t satisfy.

A good reason why stewing chaos at the RNC is just what the Republicans want.

Fahrenheit 9/11 opens in Arab world, silences a theater.

Chefs, out of their restaurant jobs, find the rewards of cooking at home.

The good thing about writing books is that you can dream while you are awake. Excerpts of an interview with Haruki Murakami.

Pristine scans of the comic books that came with the original Atari cartridges.

Brilliant perspective: Cooking music with Eno.

The rise and fall of photo-realistic comic strips. [via coudal]

Webcasts of surgery prep prospective patients for their procedures.

Mark Mothersbaugh’s gallery of mutants.

Comics from Modern Toss.

Ben Stiller wants to make a movie of George Saunders’s CivilWarLand in Bad Decline. Also: TMN’s 2001 talk with Saunders.

Scrape the clouds with MoMA’s Flash exhibit of the tallest buildings in the world.

Headlines for Tuesday, August 3, 2004

New York’s currently: really pissed if its panic-button wasn’t pushed for good reason

Info leading to Sunday’s terrorism alert was three years old, though some of it was updated recently by al Qaeda.

Turkish hostage killed in Iraq, causing Turkish truckers to stop all deliveries to Iraq, hoping to save two drivers.

Bush supports post of national intelligence director, unclear if his version would have any power.

It’s not enough for Ms. Streisand just to make her movies better anymore—there’s a whole country out there. Mapping Hollywood’s gold mine for lefties.

“Metrosexual” now defines E.U.’s tousled, just-got-out-of-WWII diplomacy.

The message of Jesus never changes; the messenger does. Sometimes he looks like me. Wonderful profile of Evangelical Christian stand-up comedian Brad Stine.

Benefits and history of newspapers, press in New York City.

Interactive “Great Day in Harlem” photo of great jazz musicians.

E.U. and U.S. agree to reduce farm subsidies, but a million details remain to be threshed out.

Know more about the beautiful tomatoes you’re buying.

Remnick’s rovers: Frere-Jones rides plane with Russell Simmons, defers to Lloyd Banks, while Alex Ross vomits on Christoph Schlingensief.

Prom discussion board shows prom themes never change.

Op-ed: With the gap widening between Europe’s diplomatic hopes and Iran’s nuclear ambitions, how far will Tehran go, especially if it feels threatened by the U.S.?

Harley Spiller, aka “Inspector Collector,” shows Chinese menus, odd scissors at Queens Museum.

A piece of trash collected for the internet every day.

Leftover recipes from Steingarten’s August Vogue column.

Headlines for Monday, August 2, 2004

New York’s currently: prepared

More detail on threat of new terror attacks in New York, New Jersey, Washington, and the ways the intelligence was acquired.

August 1 is the 60th anniversary of the start of the heroic and tragic 63-day Warsaw uprising against Nazis from within and Soviets from Russia.

How Chaucer got back at his sloven scrivener.

Drawings of TV sitcom floorplans. [more here]

“Seventy-six percent of the people mistrust the government. In the near future, this figure is expected to go up to 100%.” Indian call-center employees learn American culture.

Islamic government in Iran now allowing citizens to receive transsexual operations.

How to conduct an autopsy, complete with GIFs.

Beautiful dresses, funny hairdos in 1920s wedding photos.

Roller Derby lives on in Texas with the Lonestar Rollergirls.

A simple test of sending mail using Manhattan’s honorary street names.

This stunt pulled by HBO is just one more reason why I believe that the liberal, anti-God media needs to be brought under the strict control of the FCC, and that as soon as possible. Republican angered at duping by Ali G. [video here]

“Ma, Ma, Where’s my Pa, Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha” and other successful (and unsuccessful) presidential campaign slogans.

Cartoons inspired by spam subject lines.

New Yorker editor remembers the life and lessons of William Maxwell.

I wolde I had thy coillons in myn hond! Medieval insults!

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