The Morning News

"Girl Lessons" by Jessica Francis Kane

2008-05-09T07:31:04-05:00

Mothers and daughters don't always have the easiest relationships, especially when the daughters try to recycle the mothers with the trash. A story of aspirations, generations, and pop-culture quizzes by JESSICA FRANCIS KANE.

Around the time my daughter was born, my hand began to stall whenever I wrote my first name. I write in fairly legible cursive, so my concern was that the two lowercase s’s would be asymmetrical, not have the same roundness with a little point cresting the top, the way I was taught. If I was signing a receipt in a store this was embarrassing. Stopping in the middle of your name is generally not acceptable to busy cashiers. It makes them impatient. The problem only occurred during the writing of my name. No other word with a double s troubled me. After a time, I decided it must be the first sign of an identity crisis. That, and that it was somehow related to my mother.* * * Apparently every night when my father came home from work, I would run into the kitchen and announce that now was... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Do Not Go Gentle" by Lauren Frey

2008-05-07T11:41:09-05:00

With primary season nearly over, the two remaining Democrats are each facing their own demons. Perhaps some poetry will be an inspiration? TMN Poet Laureate LAUREN FREY puts her observations into verse.

With special thanks to Walt Whitman’s “Oh Captain My Captain!” and Dylan Thomas’s “Do not go gentle into that good night” O Bama! My Bama! O Bama! my Bama! the campaign trail is done, The team has weather’d every attack, the prize we sought is won, The vote is near, nomination here, the people all exulting,While in your eyes, steady and real, the message bright and daring; But O hope! hope! hope!O the bleeding hearts of Dems, Where on the stage my Bama lies, His words and Hillary’s the same. O Bama! my Bama! Rise up and hear the cheers; Rise up—for you the flag is flung—at you Obamagirl leers, For you signs made and buttons worn—for you the room way crowdedFor you they call, the Gap-clad mass, their oily faces turning;Here Bama! rare leader!This check made in your name!It must be a bad dream that on the stage,Your words... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Cypress Hills, J Train" by Elizabeth Kiem

2008-05-06T09:49:38-05:00

Turning an elevated corner, in the crook of which stands a decaying apartment, shades drawn to half-mast, darkness inside where life is shared with a world not paying attention, ELIZABETH KIEM does light research.

The Cypress Hills station straddles Jamaica Avenue along two southern blocks of the vast acreage of the dead that is the northeastern corner of Brooklyn where it folds into Long Island. From the Manhattan-bound platform, a visitor could drop stealthily into the neglected public front plots of Salem Field, or gaze, uninvited, into the less-accessible private plots of Shearith Israel, guarded by a massive portico. Visitors to Shearith Israel are called out to through a beleaguered screen in the whitewashed wall and instructed to stop at the office first. In the office, a woman looks up from her lunch to ask a visitor which particular grave is sought. Absent a concrete answer, the visitor is informed, unapologetically, that there is no “wandering” in this cemetery. The neighboring Cypress Hills National Cemetery, on the other hand, has gates thrown wide. Seven thousand simple white headstones create the usual optic disturbance,... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"More Than Meets the Eye" by Nicole Pasulka

2008-05-02T08:25:57-05:00

There is a distinct possibility that, within our lifetimes, robots will be everywhere--taking out the trash, day-tripping to Mars, winning the Nobel prize. During the past month, news about robots was frequently amazing and sometimes terrifying, writes NICOLE PASULKA.

On March 17, a video of the spooky quadruped military robot BigDog, designed by Boston Dynamics, was posted on YouTube to show us what America’s Department of Defense has been doing with its $550 billion budget. Within two weeks, the BigDog clip had been viewed more than 3.8 million times. BigDog sounds like a swarm of killer bees and is more terrifying than the headless horse it closely resembles, if only because of its capability: “BigDog runs at 4 mph, climbs slopes up to 35 degrees, walks across rubble, and carries a 340 lb. load.” Perhaps you’ve been too busy picking a color for your XB-500, but BigDog wasn’t the only robot news in April. If robots are to become a part of our daily lives, right off the bat we’ll need them to take over all our tedious and unpleasant tasks. It is predicted that the IWARD (Intelligent Robot... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"The Top 10 Albums of 1988" by Andrew Womack

2008-05-01T07:57:25-05:00

Because album lists shouldn't happen only once a year: ANDREW WOMACK continues his rundown of the finest records from every year, now arriving within two decades of the present day.

After years of denial by my parents, in February of 1988 I was finally allowed to go to my first concert. It was stipulated, however, that my older brother had to go with me, I had to be home by a certain time, and couldn’t smoke grass. (The last stipulation was implied.) I hadn’t been a true Yes fanatic in years, but they were playing in Houston and my brother was coming home from college and wanted to go, and after missing every touring band I’d wanted to see play live (Van Halen, Mötley Crüe, among others), I was determined to see the inside of an arena, no matter who was rocking it. And I would buy a T-shirt. Seats found, T-shirt in hand, I watched as the room darkened, took note of the legendary smell of grass wafting over from the next section, and cheered the aging hippies on... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Things We're Denying Ourselves" by The Writers

2008-04-30T08:00:00-05:00

A recession looms at the door--before it arrives, we have an opportunity to improve our minds, bodies, and wallets. Though we may soon be denying ourselves more than pleasures, this is what we're omitting right now.

Someday they’ll make separate menus for all the things we deny ourselves. Not just carbohydrates or whatever the South Beach diet bans, but substitutes for coffee, cigarettes, meat on Fridays, fish on Mondays, and expensive shoes. If it’s not a diet, it’s a phone call, a new laptop, a real relationship: We’re constantly denying ourselves one thing or another in the pursuit of health, beauty, or—in the interest of mastering of our own willpower—just because we can. For a month or so, anyway. * * * I’m a New England-clam-chowder, beef-with-vegetable, Scotch-broth kinda gal. On a wintry or rainy day, I want soup, warm and full of healthy vegetables. But these days it’s off my list entirely, because in addition to the carrots and corn and clams and broth, there’s also an astonishing amount of salt lurking in each bowl. Companies that make soups and stews add it to amp... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"A Mnemonic Guide to Remembering New Planets" by Richard Lee Abrams

2008-04-29T07:40:14-05:00

Memorizing the newly assigned 11 planets may be tough for anyone who's already graduated fifth grade. RICHARD LEE ABRAMS offers a tutorial on devising your own mnemonic system.

It has come to my attention, as no doubt it has come to yours, that two new entries have recently been added to the roster of planets orbiting our sun. Now this would hardly be worth noting if the new planets had been given names easy to commit to memory. For example, Mutinus Mutunus and Intercidona. Or Arimanius and Nemestrinus. Names such as these would have fit right in with the other orbiting bodies, and memorizing them would have been a snap. But it didn’t happen like that, not even close. The names given were not simple, familiar names. Which raises a dark suspicion: the namers were toying with us. They were making it difficult just for the sake of making it difficult. Doubled up with laughter in their naming sanctum, cackling at their mischievousness, at the havoc they were sure to wreak, the confusion they would doubtlessly sow. But... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Easy-Fake Oven" by Jessica Francis Kane

2008-04-25T03:16:58-05:00

Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. In this week's installment, JESSICA FRANCIS KANE breaks down all that pre-heating nonsense, with a heating guide for 21st-century cookery.

Have a question? Need some questionably expert advice? Ignored by everyone else? Send us your questions via email. The Non-Expert handles all subjects and is updated on Fridays, and is written by a member of The Morning News staff.* * *Question: Why do you have to wait for ovens to pre-heat? —Sonia Answer: I know who you are. You honk immediately after the light turns green. You can’t stop yourself from stepping 10 feet off the curb while you wait for the pedestrian “walk” light to change. No doubt you’re unable to put yourself squarely at the end of a line, preferring to stand slightly off to the side. And I’m certain you crowd the person in front of you at every check-out counter. The Non-Expert doesn’t like being crowded at the check-out counter, but your question is of interest. If the goal is to eat sooner rather than later,... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Running and Screaming" by Kevin Guilfoile & John Warner

2008-04-22T10:00:51-05:00

Give us a nominee or give us death. The Pennsylvania primary is here, and with it may come the end of our nightmarish nomination process. KEVIN GUILFOILE and JOHN WARNER on what's truly making Americans bitter: politics.

John, I grew up in a small Northeastern town, a village so tiny and rural that I was widely regarded as a country rube and a hick when I arrived at college. In Indiana. So I think I can say with some authority that people who live in small rural towns are, in fact, bitter. They are bitter for a lot of reasons, but mostly because the anchors of their local economies—family farms and factories—have disappeared at the whims of unaccountable corporations and because their voices have been ignored by politicians since the populist days of the ‘30s. I think most of them would consider it a sign of progress if a politician at least acknowledged their bitterness, as Barack Obama was trying to do last week. His opponents have accused him of being out of touch, but it seems to me that an African-American community organizer, who didn’t even... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Write-In Candidate: Reporting Vote Results" by Michael Y. Park

2008-04-18T08:13:00-05:00

Political news is often the repetitive; only the names and votes change. As the nation's newspapers prepare to report on yet another close primary, MICHAEL Y. PARK offers a template that could get everyone out of the office earlier.

" method="get" > In a '; ?> turn of events that changes absolutely nothing, primary voters in '; ?> today '; ?> '; ?> as the person they wanted to '; ?> next in the White House. With '; ?> percent of the votes counted, this news organization is declaring '; ?> the winner, with '; ?> votes to the '; ?> votes racked up by '; ?>. A victory '; ?> is expected at '; ?> from state campaign headquarters in '; ?>. Also today, '; ?> easily bested '; ?> by margins that were widely predicted, '; ?> to '; ?>. '; ?>’s win of '; ?> delegates means that both sides are nearly tied once again, and that the primary battle for the '; ?> Party will continue in a near deadlock for at least the next '; ?> weeks. According to '; ?> experts, tonight’s win... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"12 May 2008: Morning"

2008-05-12T08:32:24-05:00

Why Clinton was the best thing that could have happened to Obama's campaign.

The new way of measuring sucess: We spy more so we can prosecute less so we can spy more.

A theory about why locusts swarm: to avoid being eaten by each other.

Scientists know better than you, because they're scientists--just look at vaccines.

A highly varied list of popular culture's best and worst mother figures.

Penthouse branches out--to a Christian dating service.

In his talon, the eagle is holding a clutch of arrows. This symbolizes the growing problem of Indian litterbugs. The symbols on Jack Handey's flag.

Tonight in D.C.: Laurie Lindeen reads at Olsson's Books and Records.

Detroit residents oppose demolition of former Tiger Stadium, break and enter to show their love.

Video: Wii Lebowski (watch the original scene here).

"Whatever he's doing in there, I'm sure it's genius." Michel Gondry's newest project draws interest on all sides.

So really: How do you make a bong out of a human skull?

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"9 May 2008: Afternoon"

2008-05-09T14:09:42-05:00

North Korea hands over boxes of nuclear-related documents, clearing way for removal from U.S. terrorism blacklist.

Comparing lists, Obama now tied with Hillary for superdelegates.

Op: The only thing left for Hillary is to negotiate the terms of her surrender.

McCain takes time, early steps to prepare for the big race.

What one week of news in the Guardian newspaper looks like graphically.

On the separation of verbatim memory from gist memory in the brain.

Study of the stratospheric amounts ballet companies spend on toe shoes.

Mexico's national police chief assassinated; cartels blamed for killing 6,000 in 2.5 years.

If you ever get tired of the steampunk lifestyle--AND HOW COULD YOU--good luck trying to sell your clockwork top hat on consignment. Todd Levin discovers steampunk.

Steampunk, you say, praytell what be that?

Man infiltrates pet psychics by posing as his own dog.

Word problems for future hedge-fund managers.

Hilarious: The Harper's (Bazaar) Index.

If you're a married woman living in the New York City area, there's a better than 50 percent chance that you don't work.

Cities can prepare to see marketing soon in logo-shaped clouds.

We are prepared to love transparent Post-it Notes.

Get academic: The journal of cartoon over-analyzations.

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"9 May 2008: Morning"

2008-05-09T08:35:41-05:00

As Clinton continues campaigning, Obama returns to Washington, ready to unify Democrats for November.

After two days of fighting, Hezbollah forces seize most of western Beirut.

Touring Guantanamo exhibit displays replica of a maximum-security cell.

Subtle: Wytham Woods are home to about 400 breeding pairs of great tits.

The pigeons are a problem, so Venice is quitting the birdseed business.

I always wondered what would happen if marijuana were legalized for anyone over 18. It seems it already has been, and nothing happened.

White House report links teen pot smoking to depression, mental illness.

Will the Fritzl children ever recover? Can they even survive?

Further improvements in medicine and technology may not make any difference to the chances of life before 24 weeks.

Things to know before you go on a baseball vacation in the Dominican Republic.

Trampy girls at batting practice...This strategy may work in the minors. Ten people to avoid at the ballpark.

Video: Sad Kermit plays "Needle in the Hay," reenacts The Royal Tenenbaums.

Where we do what we do--where do you do what you do?

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"8 May 2008: Afternoon"

2008-05-08T12:56:57-05:00

Obama switches to general-election strategy; Republicans focus attack ads on Obama.

Pelosi: Woah there, the race is still alive and well.

Pick a Veep: for Obama, for Clinton.

Roger Ebert on the movie to be made when the Clintons realize they've lost.

Gallery: Bil Eppridge's images of Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign.

TMN's Rosecrans Baldwin's latest digital ramble for the Times Moment blog.

Facebook has leaked out of the college dormitory and has begun infecting grown men in disturbingly vast numbers.

Austrian incest father says he's "not a monster" since he never killed his daughter.

London mayor keeps promise, bans drinking alcohol on public transportation.

Remembering the scientific battle to fight sloth, including the grafting of monkey testicles.

Nature as metaphor for politics: On China's Tai Lake, polluted, poisonous, and immune to efforts to enforce a clean-up.

Where not to go on your summer vacation; R. Kelly is going to court--eventually, maybe.

Saddam's prison diaries reveal he was worried about catching an STD from his guards' laundry.

Print for the commute: In case you missed it, Richard Price on the editing of Clockers.

In what is being called the first conceptual terrorist attack on American soil, the landmark Sears Tower was encased in strawberry gelatin.

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"8 May 2008: Morning"

2008-05-08T08:38:53-05:00

First U.N. aid flights arrive in Burma; despite reports to the contrary, officials still refuse U.S. access.

Burma's junta has so frustrated aid workers that the French foreign minister recommended the U.N. enter Burma without permission.

This week, 11 opposition activists were beaten to death by Mugabe supporters.

"We're giving the people of Zimbabwe another opportunity to mend their ways, to vote properly." Mugabe's militias boost intimidation campaign.

On Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos," and how not all Republican votes for Democrats can be chalked up to mischief.

Those who sleep less are prone to smoke more--or is it that those who smoke more are prone to sleep less?

Winning the war on meth: Surveys, police statistics confirm the drug is in sharp decline.

Tracking the media upswing in creating the next drug menace, the still-legal Salvia divinorum.

The CEO of Adidas talks tracksuits and the politics of the Olympics.

Fast food gone free range: Chipotle's deal with the pigs.

Ten new terms to improve the quality of internet insults.

The tricky world of the New York bicyclist: getting "doored" and other holdups.

Artist Jason Polan is drawing everyone in New York, maybe even you.

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"7 May 2008: Afternoon"

2008-05-07T12:22:12-05:00

Medvedev assumes the Russian throne, arrives alone to his swearing ceremony.

List of "unenviable policy challenges" awaiting Medvedev.

Friedman: Mbeki is second in line for the world's most disgusting leader.

Examining the (surely unlikely) appeal of a May-December McCain-Jindal ticket.

Stephanopoulos: Look for supers to back Obama today; McGovern switches to Obama, believes he's still friends with the Clintons.

I'm the Denzel Washington in Training Day of booking plane tickets online.

Rise in oil prices spells good days for India's camel businesses.

Exactly what an "infinity aquarium" looks like.

Larry Doyle responds to his dog's manufactured memoir.

All the artifice behind Niagara Falls, and all its influence.

The influence of raw milk: full of healthy probiotics or barn-floor sludge?

Your quantum computing crib sheet. (pdf)

Eighty percent of Australians live within 80 miles of the sea; 50 percent of the country's houses sit less than 8 miles from a beach.

Print for the commute: The must-read on human trafficking, the global sex trade, police corruption.

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"7 May 2008: Morning"

2008-05-07T10:11:35-05:00

Number of dead and missing in Burma passes 60,000; U.S. boosts aid, Bush digs in at junta.

F.B.I. agents raid agency that protects government whistle-blowers, under accusations the agency was retaliated against their blowing.

Following last month's Supreme Court ruling, executions resume--Georgia is the first out of the gate.

"Absent some sort of miracle on May 31st, it's going to be tough for us." Clinton aides focus on reinstating Fla., Mich. results.

It was fitting that this Democratic election, which has seemed at times designed by Willy Wonka, should head to a close in a flurry of confusion and drama.

Sleeping pill precautions: Do not take with alcohol, hide your car keys, put an alarm on your bedroom door.

Op: Finding no extraterrestrial life would be less depressing than finding the remains of it.

Subcutaneous fat--particularly in the buttocks--may boost metabolism, reduce risk of diabetes.

The notorious, provocative, scandalous filmmakers of our time.

Animals stay dumb in order to preserve the species.

Audio: "Posh" and "progress" together: Beijing can now cross "Zagat guide" off the list.

"He will see it in a way that the majority of people don't see it." Meet Pascal Dangin, who works for everyone, retouching and airbrushing everyone else.

The growing field of corporate espionage--spying on journalists, students, and workers--has been growing for a long time now.

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"6 May 2008: Afternoon"

2008-05-06T16:14:19-05:00

Myanmar survivors desperate for aid; aftermath feared more lethal than the storm itself.

All of that stuff that made it possible to live in New York is gone. Sarah Jessica Parker on the end of New York.

There is next to no speculation about Barack Obama’s sexual secrets. This is a seismic shift in racial subtext.

Tips on how to watch returns from Indiana and North Carolina.

Non-musicians may have a hard time with major vs. minor, but they get happy vs. sad.

Psychologists say people believe insurance keeps them safe, appeases the gods.

How the evangelical community adapts to the unworthy aspects of popular culture.

At Hunter College, a PR class puts on a fake blog about a fake bag with real money--from Coach.

A fake 10-year-old's letters to public figures and serial killers, and their replies.

Participants in New York City's Gay Pride Parade have turned down the volume of the music in order to be more accommodating to kids. Signs of the gay baby boom.

Audio/visual guide to coca-growing in Bolivia.

A map of every street in (the 48 states) America.

Graph for all the little parts in how much you spend.

Teens' rap about The Economist less awful than you expect.

Big day here at the White House. Milbank's take on Bush's last days.

Photos of other people's rad parties you missed.

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"6 May 2008: Morning"

2008-05-06T08:44:04-05:00

In Myanmar, a cyclone may have left as many as 14,000 dead and one million homeless--and the White House finds a political op.

There are no roads in the region that are functional so access is primarily by boat, but many boats have been destroyed." Aid is available--how will it enter?

U.S. says 3,500 soldiers sent to Iraq for the surge will be leaving soon.

Puerto Rico's full Olympic membership and its half-in-half-out status as a commonwealth of the U.S. is a subject of conversation for two exceptional reasons.

A federal gas tax holiday may be a gimmick--but at the state level, it would make a big difference.

The trailer park vantage: watching Clinton and Obama drink beers, hang out in factories, talk about shooting guns.

You wore a trucker cap into a truck stop and felt scared. Signs you may be a hipster.

Ten-year-olds are copying Shel Silverstein and winning contests for it; it happened last year, too.

The 50 greatest fake commercials, mainly from SNL.

It's come to this: a social networking site for the dead.

China, Costa Rica, the Netherlands: Who will ban smoking next?

How to get a town to ban plastic bags: Start with the butcher.

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"5 May 2008: Afternoon"

2008-05-05T15:14:18-05:00

The thinking in small-town North Carolina is a deep wish to do right.

How Bill Clinton got his groove back.

New files show Brits' thinking when considering to ship Jews back to camps in Germany in 1947.

Speculating on Josef Fritzl's madness.

Austria's antiterrorism unit now guarding Fritzls' recovery center after reporters try to break in.

The story of the past year looks better abroad than it does at home. The Economist reflects on Sarkozy's first year.

When the middle class gets hit hard in France, people buy their own baguette makers.

A world of horizons in today's TMN Gallery with Sze Tsung Leong.

Download, print, and build your own pinhole camera.

Novelist Sigrid Nunez and "bookish" Robert Birnbaum on what to read this week.

Gladwell on how "good ideas are out there for anyone with the wit and the will to find them."

Print for the commute: Alinea's Achatz and his re(dis)covery of taste.

Looking back at Seeger and Buckley without "air-brushed reminiscence."

Taking sartorial lessons from the N.Y.P.D.

Real-life Iron Man robotic "power" suits to debut soon from Japanese exoskeleton firm.

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"Serial Commas 'R' Us" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-05-09T11:48:36+00:00

The TMN House Styleguide has been updated for spring, for all your editorial needs

Wondering about serial commas? Unsure about spelling foreign words? Curious about when God gets an uppercase? The TMN House Style Guide has been updated for all the latest concerns, so whether you're writing a finals exam, editing your new scrappy literary magazine, or just curious about why we use serial commas, give it a look.Enormous thanks as ever to TMN managing editor Kate Schlegel and TMN copy editor Liz Entman for all the heavy lifting and keeping us tight.... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"New Sites Added to the Deck" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-05-05T12:19:04+00:00

Chip Kidd, Ze Frank, and more join The Deck, TMN's advertising network.

Several new web sites have joined The Deck, TMN's advertising network. We will let Mr. Zeldman explain our enthusiasm. Thinking of advertising with TMN and our cohorts? Here is why you should:The premier network for reaching creative, web and design professionals, The Deck serves up tens of millions of page views each month and is uniquely configured to connect the right marketers to a targeted, influential audience.We’re picky about the advertising we’ll accept. We won’t take an ad unless we have paid for and/or used the product or service. Sell us something relevant to our audience and we’ll sell you an ad.Here are all our current advertisers; support them and you support TMN. For potential advertisers, limited opportunities are now available through the Third Quarter of 2008. Visit The Deck and get in touch.... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Shouting-out Jennifer Daniel" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-04-29T18:27:09+00:00

Announcing our newest contributing artist.

Not only does she have the internet's best web address, Jennifer Daniel recently had the grace to join TMN as a contributing artist, and we are thankful.You may have seen her work for Todd's Levin's series "Consoles I have Known", or in that poster calendar your cubical mate bought, or perhaps in pretty much every section of the New York Times. Either way, we're excited to say you'll be seeing much more of her around these parts. Welcome, Jennifer.... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"What are we denying ourselves?" by Andrew Womack

2008-04-19T04:30:43+00:00

What we're denying ourselves--entry is now closed.

Next week we’ll be publishing our monthly installment of Of Recent Note; and just like last month, we’re inviting you to participate. Here’s this month’s assignment: “Things We’re Denying Ourselves” What have you been holding back on, holding out on, holding yourself up to? Ideals of health, beauty, personal will, and self-control lead us to deny ourselves simple pleasures, favorite vices, and all the rest: So what have you been denying yourself lately? Give us those things you’re not letting yourself have, and provide a reason as to why. (Example: cigarettes, for the obvious health reasons but also because you’ve lately found yourself buying your grandmother’s brand.) Send us your denied items, and the reasons why (and why not): 75-150 words, to bridgetfitz@gmail.com by 6 p.m. E.D.T. on Wednesday, April 23. And please include a link to your personal site or wherever you’d people to go when they click on... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Intern sought for Summer 2008" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-03-18T14:19:05+00:00

We're looking for interns. Deadline: April 18.

We are now accepting applications for our Summer 2008 intern position. Applicants should email us a short description of why they want to intern at TMN, their complete contact information, and a résumé that’s pasted in the body of the email (don’t worry about fancy formatting). Detailed descriptions of any kind of editorial, publishing, or web-work experience are appreciated. Please also inform us of any summer plans. Duties include whatever you imagine it takes to keep TMN chugging along: news reading, deadlines, proofreading, lots of email, going to the post office, more deadlines. Approximately 10 hours of work per week from home, Starbucks, or wherever you like. This internship is unpaid, excluding beer and good times. Bridget, 2007-8 intern:If you’re going to sign on for an unpaid internship, you should be so lucky to get this one. In the cozy internet family that is TMN, your work is appreciated, your... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"What's the last great thing you downloaded?"

2008-03-18T08:53:52+00:00

We're trying a new thing here. We'd like you to tell us your most recent, favorite download--a song, a movie, a piece of software, anything at all that you downloaded from the internet to your computer or whatever you compute on. Please send us your 75-100-word entry by Wednesday, March 19, at 6 p.m. Eastern. Also, if you're contributing more than one item, each should have its own separate write-up. And if you could also include a link to the download--as well as a link to your personal site or anything you'd like us to link your name to--we'd be much obliged. Thanks, The Editors Visit The Morning News.

"Book Digest: May 12, 2008" by Robert Birnbaum

2008-05-12T08:32:21-05:00

Elizabeth Strout give Robert Birnbaum her latest reads; also: The Bill McKibben Reader; Kluge; I Thought I Could Fly; Nixonland; A Coney Island of the Mind; Like a Rolling Stone; Personal Days; Girls in Trucks; White Cargo; Custerology; Cliff May and the Modern Ranch House; The White King; The Outlander; Maps and Legends; Airs & Voices.

Elizabeth Strout, whose latest opus, Olive Kitteridge, is garnering well-deserved reviews, writes: I have been reading Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory, the heartbreaking, gorgeously told story of a priest in Mexico, who—during a difficult time in the history of the country—is trying to escape the Red Shirts who have been killing all the priests. I have always loved Graham Greene, and I very much enjoyed his three-volume biography by Norman Sherry, but somehow I had failed to read The Power and the Glory, and so it is a lovely gift to have now. I have also recently read Nathan Englander’s novel, The Ministry of Special Cases, which tells of a family who loses their son in Argentina during the terrible days of “the disappeared.” He writes with humor and sharpness and is not afraid of the gritty, and I am a fan. In a different musical tone is... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Video Digest: May 9, 2008" by Meave Gallagher

2008-05-09T06:36:52-05:00

The best of April's viral videos, culled by Meave Gallagher: Erykah Badu's advice for young women, Jon Stewart's advice for presidential candidates, and lots more.

I hear April was a good month for viral video. Having spent the majority of it in New Zealand, I missed all the good stuff, or so it seems. This week, a roundup of the more popular videos of the past few weeks. Superstar Erykah Badu gives some (unsolicited?) advice for women trying to advance their careers in the music industry, which can be summed up in two words: Get naked. Did you know that Republican presidential candidate John McCain is old? He was born in 1936! The next year, Amelia Earhart disappeared, and the Hindenberg exploded. Suspicious. “My story begins in 19-dickety-two. We had to say ‘dickety’ because the Kaiser had stolen our word for ‘20.’ I chased him down the road but gave up after dickety-six miles…” Ladies and gentlemen, Grandpa Abe McCain. Of course, neither Democratic presidential candidate is an old coot. Some have been accused of... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Mp3 Digest: May 7, 2008" by Erik Bryan

2008-05-07T08:00:00-05:00

Erik Bryan's Monthly Leak Report: Death Cab for Cutie; Islands; Scarlett Johansson; Ladytron; Aimee Mann; Spiritualized; Wolf Parade.

I was considering using a malaprop of sorts to introduce this month’s collection of leaked music by conflating the popular adage of “April showers” with these “May leaks,” but then I thankfully remembered that I don’t hate any of you anymore than I’d want you to hate me, so, better judgment prevailing, let’s just proceed to the business at hand and never speak of this again. Death Cab for Cutie, “Pity and Fear” (download) Let me be perfectly clear about this: I don’t want to read your poetry, I will not be coming to your solo acoustic performance at the coffee shop, I don’t care one whit about whichever fashion marketing undergraduate just totally messed with your mind or if you’ve ever really felt loved, and, finally, I think your haircut is stupid. All that being said, I kinda dig Ben Gibbard, and Death Cab for Cutie by extension. It’s... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Book Digest: May 5, 2008" by Robert Birnbaum

2008-05-05T07:17:54-05:00

Sigrid Nunez tells Robert Birnbaum what she's been reading; also: So Brave, Young, and Handsome; I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed by Me; Negro With A Hat; The Hakawati; Peace: The Biography of a Symbol; A Freewheelin' Time; Valentines; Native Son; Language for a New Century; Louise Bourgeois; Wild Nights! Stories About the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James, and Hemingway; Margarita, How Beautiful the Sea; The Boat.

Sigrid Nunez, whose novels I have enjoyed and admired, responds to my inquiry about what she’s been reading lately: “I’ve been asked to teach a literature seminar in the Graduate Writing Program at the New School this fall. Thinking about ideas for a course, I remembered reading an article about Javier Marías in which he is quoted as follows: In my books there is not only the action, the characters, the story, and so forth; there is reflection as well, and often the action stops. The narrator then makes a series of considerations and meditations. There is a tradition within the novel form, almost forgotten now, which embodies what I call literary thinking or literary thought. It’s a way of thinking which takes place only in literature—the things you never think of or hit upon unless you are writing fiction. “I thought it might be interesting to teach a course... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Mp3 Digest: April 30, 2008" by Llewellyn Hinkes

2008-04-30T10:21:08-05:00

Llewellyn Hinkes on music and ulterior motives: Relatively Clean Rivers; the Master Musicians of Jajouka; E Pak Sa; "Curly Toes"; Erkin Koray & Ter; Portishead.

Relatively Clean Rivers, “Hello Sunshine” (download) I’m not sure how many people recognized the reference to Relatively Clean Rivers in the stories a few months back about Adam Gadahn, the American who joined al Qaeda. Gadahn’s father, Philip, was the lead singer of the amazing, obscure psychedelic folk outfit from the ’60s that put out one all-around perfect album. I’m also not sure what it all means for the son of a freak-folk minstrel to go on a tirade against the United States, but my only worry is that it will mean bad press for the album, which desperately needs to be rereleased. The Master Musicians of Jajouka, “War Song/Standing” + “One Half (Kaim Oua Nos)” (download) Legend tells of the Hashishan assassins: men drugged to think they had died and were visited by virgins of the afterlife, then thrown into a dungeon and told they would not experience the... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Book Digest: April 28, 2008" by Robert Birnbaum

2008-04-28T09:18:05-05:00

Birnbaum queries Joan Frank on her reading list; also: Hispaniola; Crime; Attachment; Counterfeit Amateurs; The O. Henry Prize Stories 2008; Betrayal; Northline; Ploughshares Winter 2007-08; The Forgery of Venus; Translucent Tree; The Speed of Dreams; Please Don't Remain Calm; The Commission.

Joan Frank, whose first novel Miss Kansas City I reviewed for the San Francisco Chronicle, responded to my query about what she is reading: I’ve been reading Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints, a brilliant essay collection (most ran in prior New Yorkers) by dance critic Joan Acocella. Acocella is like a no-nonsense maiden aunt who walks straight into the bedeviled hearts of the artists she studies as if those hearts were dirty closets: unfazed by the mess and anguish, embracing the works and struggles with a kind of stern exhilaration. Her writing’s a marvel; clean, trenchant, bracing. Also Stoner, by the late John Williams, an almost unbearably brave and beautiful novel about a Billy Budd-like teacher, revived by the New York Review of Books Classics series. And Olive Kitteridge, a mesmerizing novel-in-stories (it succeeds as such) by Elizabeth Strout, whose characters in a small coastal town in Maine will remind... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Video Digest: April 25, 2008" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-04-25T08:06:46-05:00

Six short films to fill your Friday: Rosecrans Baldwin's picks for perfect small things.

Ever since I saw The Five Obstructions a couple years ago, I’ve been a fan of Jørgen Leth’s short film The Perfect Human. Perhaps more than a fan. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched it, maybe a dozen. Not that there’s much story: A man wearing a tuxedo gets dressed and undressed, shaves and dances, eats a meal of salmon, and mourns the woman who left him. That’s it. But it’s perfect. Which is the point of Lars von Trier’s Five Obstructions—that Leth’s film is too good, too inhuman, and it needs bruising up. Von Trier challenges Leth in a sort of Scandinavian sadistic joust to remake it five times, each time according a new set of rules. Here’s the trailer in case you haven’t seen it: I love small perfect things—eggs, lemons, shopping malls, handguns. Brenda Dickson and Beaver. The strip of road from the seafood restaurant... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Mp3 Digest: April 23, 2008" by Erik Bryan

2008-04-23T08:08:52-05:00

Erik Bryan inaugurates the TMN Summer Fest, the music we'd host if we had our druthers (and a music festival): Alphabeat; Dino 5; The Who; Meshuggah; Britta Persson; Glenn Gould.

With South by Southwest already a fading memory and the glory of spring officially upon us, fans of live music across the country are turning their attention to the gigantic summer festivals looming in the distance. Artists are being added to lists every day for juggernauts like Bonnaroo, the Pitchfork Music Festival, Lollapalooza, and Coachella. From the top of the summer (All Points West) to the bottom (Austin City Limits), and even across the pond (Glastonbury), fans of all generations and genres are prepping for what should be a long, hot, loud season of music, and The Morning News has decided to get into the act. Yes, this summer we’re proud to present The TMN Summer Festival, coming to a town near you, perhaps, though unlikely. The following is small sample of the thousands of bands scheduled to play, with more being added every day. Alphabeat, “The Hours” (download) The... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Book Digest: April 21, 2008" by Robert Birnbaum

2008-04-21T08:01:52-05:00

Robert Birnbaum on: The Craftsman; L.A. Outlaws; Bonk; Parenting, Inc.; Armageddon in Retrospect; Last Last Chance; Invisible Nation; Temporary People; The Struggle Against Dogmatism; But Didn't We Have Fun?; American Earth; Ahmadinejad; The Sorrows of an American.

Having had reason to contemplate philosopher/titan Ludwig Wittgenstein, (see below) I thought I would lay out a few hors d’oeuvres of his thinking. From his so-called early phase: The world is everything that is the case. What is the case, the fact, is the existence of atomic facts. The logical picture of the facts is the thought. The thought is the significant proposition. From his later phase: Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language. And by the way, Wittgenstein, who served in the Austrian army in the Great War, observed: Nowadays it is the fashion to emphasize the horrors of the last war. I didn’t find it so horrible. There are just as horrible things happening all round us today, if only we had eyes to see them. Right on with the read on. The Craftsman by Richard Sennett This moment is as... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Mp3 Digest: April 16, 2008" by Lauren Frey

2008-04-16T08:42:54-05:00

Classical music host Lauren Frey aids the uninitiated, translating the old masters (and locating new ones): Jonny Greenwood; Fred Frith/Stevie Wishart/Carla Kihlstedt; Arvo Pärt; Leoš Janáček; Itzhak Perlman.

Usually, when I meet new people and they find out I host classical music on the radio, they ask one to three of the following questions: Do you talk really low and over-articulate every word? Do you actually listen to classical music? Do you think guys meet you and find out what you do and decide you must be boring in bed? I’ve only been asked that last question once, but someone did actually say those words to me. I didn’t answer. It was rude. But all three highlight how classical music has a rap for being a hoity-toity institution that no one, except the sexually challenged, actually likes. Back in the day (as in, the early 19th century), most classical composers could make Mick Jagger look like a nun. And some probably would have enjoyed dressing him up as one. More importantly, I think what people are telling me... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Perfect Day" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-05-12T02:50:25-05:00

You gotta love art with a message. In artist Stephen Floyd’s case, the medium is our conversational ether, our office-talk, the phrases that float around us during dinner conversation and in the news and are completely obvious, except when they end up in one of Floyd’s drawings and get turned on their head. Floyd was born in Galveston, Texas in 1978. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. All images © Stephen Floyd, courtesy the artist, all rights reserved. * * * Your drawings are tongue-in-cheek, but they don’t seem to stake down any commentary that’s too precise. I’m thinking more like you’re reading the newspaper and drawing at the same time. Where do the drawings start? I keep a few ongoing lists of ideas and notes for drawings on my iPhone. Here are some words from my current list: Camo-toeWe sell cancerSingletteDead artistsSlootStaff meatingBlu birds flyMissile toe... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"On the Horizon" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-05-05T05:34:31-05:00

Sze Tsung Leong must pay a fortune for location scouts. His work in the new “Horizons” exhibition at Yossi Milo Gallery in New York (April 3-May 17, 2008) shows the world’s edge in many cities, many rural vales, but always finds it a little shimmery and hard to pin down. Seen together, the pictures put the world on a flat line. It’s less Thomas Friedman, more a scale model of locations we can’t quite name. It’s all quite subtly mysterious. The following essay by Leong, excerpted from the show’s catalog, gets a little closer to exactly what he’s after. All images © Sze Tsung Leong, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York City. * * * Uncertain DistancesSze Tsung Leong The simplest manifestation of a horizon is a line separating ground from sky. From a visual standpoint, it forms the basis by which the earth’s surface is comprehended from an individual’s... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Worlds of Interiors" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-04-27T15:42:24-05:00

It would be interesting to interview British artist Anne Hardy’s cleaning lady. She turns her studio into spaces—worlds without people, but apparently heavily and recently used. Imagine your favorite novel, with all the characters tossed out. Her debut New York show is now on view at Bellwether in New York, up through May 17, 2008. Anne Hardy received an M.A. in Photography from the Royal College of Art in 2000, and has since participated in numerous prestigious international exhibitions including solo shows at Maureen Paley, London and Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle. Her work will be featured in the upcoming exhibitions Out of Focus: Photography Now at the Saatchi Gallery, London, and New Photography in Britain at Galleria Civica de Modena, Italy. Hardy lives and works in London. All images copyright © Anne Hardy, all rights reserved. Images courtesy Bellwether. * * * On first glance, I assumed your pictures were... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"I Am Tourist" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-04-21T02:51:20-05:00

Who are these tourists, where do they come from, and why do they foul up my morning commute? Anyone who’s lived in a big city knows the feeling of working in Disneyland, and anyone who’s visited one probably brought a camera. Aislinn Leggett’s series “I Am Tourist” takes on the wonder of tourism, zip-off shorts and all. Leggett was born in 1981, and grew up on a small farm in Namur, Quebec. At the age of 17, she moved to Montreal where she later completed her studies at the Dawson College Institute of Photography. She continues to create visual art, approaching her work through two styles, traditional black-and-white documentary photography and color photo-montage. All images © Aislinn Leggett, courtesy of the artist. * * * So why are we all so obvious when we travel? In my opinion, what people take pictures of really gives them away. No, tourists don’t... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"At a Crossroads" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-04-14T06:36:42-05:00

Kate T. Williamson’s previous book A Year in Japan was a treasure box: carefully selected annotations and beautiful watercolors, as though Maria Kalman and Kenneth Koch’s lovechild took a semester abroad (we recognize this is a ludicrous thing to say, though perfectly true—ed.). Her new book, At a Crossroads: Between a Rock and My Parents’ Place, is perfect for the new graduate in all of us, finding Williamson back in her hometown in Pennsylvania, running into old high school friends, going to a Hall & Oates concert with her mother, and trying to figure out what happens next. Williamson is the author of A Year in Japan, Hello Kitty Through the Seasons!, Hello Kitty Hello Sparkle!, and Hello Kitty Everywhere! She grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania, and now lives in New York City. * * * What brought you home after your time in Japan? I was actually planning on... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Spit Rainbow" by Nicole Pasulka

2008-04-06T17:01:16-05:00

Alongside large, loud, clamoring installation and sculpture at the Whitney Biennial 2008 and the M.C.A. Chicago, Chicago-based photographer Melanie Schiff’s work is quietly and surprisingly magnetic. The photos combine warmth and shadow in settings flooded with association and narrative. It’s as if the photographer’s been lying around all day waiting until everything is just right. In addition to the Biennial, Schiff’s new catalogue, Books & Plants, is now available (see her gallery, Kavi Gupta). Schiff will also be exhibiting a new series of black and white photographs at Volta NY, opening March 27. Schiff (b. 1977, Chicago) lives and works in Chicago. She has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago; and Galerie Haus Schneider, Uschi Kolb in Karlsruhe, Germany. Her photographs are also in the collections of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City and the Museum of Contemporary... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Pull Back the Shade" by Bridget Fitzgerald

2008-03-02T11:44:39-05:00

Photographer Muzi Quawson spent four years documenting the life of Amanda Jo Williams, a young mother and musician living in Woodstock, NY. The resulting pictures are familiar to anyone who’s spent time in New York and New England’s rust belt: young people assembling lives amidst the debris of failed industry and the lost hippie years. Quawson completed her Masters in Fine Arts at the Royal College of Art, in London in 2006. Since then, her work has been featured at the Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Manchester; Tate Britain; and the Barbican Art Gallery, London. Muzi Quawson was born in 1978 in London, where she continues to live and work. “Pull Back the Shade” was first shown at the Tate Britain; it’s currently on view through March 29, 2008 at Yossi Milo Gallery, New York. All images © Muzi Quawson, courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York.* * * How did you meet... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Antiquities" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-02-24T14:38:42-05:00

Robots and androids aren’t the sole property of science fiction. Christopher Conte’s sculptures are more like old-fashioned studies rendered with today’s materials: anatomical forms on the verge of motion. You can picture them crawling around the next Star Trek movie, or under a jar in a medical curiosities museum. After earning a BFA from Pratt Institute, Conte entered the prosthetics field and began making artificial limbs for amputees in New York, which he still does to this day. His sculptures have been recently used by The Discovery Channel and MTV Networks. All images copyright © Christopher Conte, all rights reserved. All images appear courtesy the artist. * * * How did you begin making these types of sculptures? I began making the transition from painting and drawing to three-dimensional work during my time at Pratt. While still an illustration major, I started building robotic-inspired sculptures in my free time. I... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Polaroids" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-02-18T01:57:21-05:00

Polaroid recently announced that it will stop producing film for instant cameras, now that the world’s gone digital. What are we losing? For photographers, the Polaroid was toy and tool, means and end, and Mapplethorpe handled it magnificently: roughly with sex, playfully with himself, carefully with faces, studiously on the body. Sylvia Wolf’s new book, Mapplethorpe: Polaroids pulls together about 300 images, many never before published. Wolf is adjunct curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. She is the author of numerous critical works on photography, including Ed Ruscha and Photography, Julia Margaret Cameron’s Women, and Michal Rovner: The Space Between. Photos courtesy Prestel Publishing. * * * Polaroids always look amateur to me: fast and cheap and wonderful. What drew Mapplethorpe to the format? A camera that produces an instant photograph allows both photographer and model to respond to the image as part of their... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"To Brooklyn" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-02-11T05:48:07-05:00

New York is new every second, every minute, ever year. Brooklyn’s industrial waterfront is one of the best examples of the last half-century: no longer thriving with industry, it’s now being remade by developers and planners who have cafés and green spaces and expensive rents on the brain. Painter Greg Lindquist is there on the front line, capturing the daily change. His lonely pictures of industrial evolution could be 50 years old; except for the graffiti, we’d never know anyone had been there at all. Lindquist lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. In 2007, he had a solo exhibition, “To Brooklyn” at McCaig-Welles Gallery in Brooklyn; presently hanging is “Industry” at the Elizabeth Harris Gallery in Chelsea. Lindquist was a research intern at the Museum of Modern Art and worked as an artist assistant for Ryan McGinness. As a writer about art, he contributes to artcrtical.com and The Brooklyn Rail.... Click here to continue reading this article.

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