The Morning News

"The Republican Speaks of Jungles" by Lauren Frey

2008-07-03T09:52:32-05:00

The presidential election continues to bring forth policy promises and attempts at soul-bearing honesty. LAUREN FREY takes a look at what they really meant to say.

With special thanks to “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes and William Carlos Williams’s “This Is Just to Say” The Republican Speaks of Jungles I’ve known jungles: I’ve known jungles tangled as the House and older than the flow of my own blood in my own veins. My hair has grown grey unlike jungles. I never bathed in Hanoi; no dawn felt young. I had no hut to protect me; fatigue forced me to sleep I looked upon the green and raised my spirits above it. I heard the chanting of the hippies when Richard Nixon went down to Washington, and I’ve seen their muddy bosoms turn all golden in the sunset. I’ve known jungles: Tangled, aging jungles. My hair has grown grey unlike jungles. Clinton’s Campaign Debt Is Tough to Repay We have squandered twelve million that you kindly loaned us and which you were probably thinking... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Takin' Care of Jesus" by Daniel Nester

2008-07-02T11:38:40-05:00

There's a movement afoot to rewrite rock's best songs with Christian lyrics, and you haven't heard about it. Enter the world of "parodeities," and join DANIEL NESTER in learning some deuteronomy.

It seems fitting that I needed to wait for the waters to part before I could see a gig by ApologetiX, a Christian parody rock band. On my way to Pittsfield, Mass., more than two inches of rain had fallen upon the earth through three days and nights. “Wait here,” a cop with a bright orange smock told me just outside town. “We need to wait for the signal until it’s OK to pass.” For what it’s worth, ApologetiX can claim the title of “premier band of the Christian Parody genre” with little or no competition. All 284 Google results for “Christian parody band” refer to the combo that has also been described as “Weird Al Yankovic meets Billy Graham,” “The Christian Weird Al,” and, on its web site, “That Christian Parody Band.” The band first crossed my radar one morning in 2005, while I read my daily check of... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"The Dream Vacation" by Elisha Cooper

2008-07-01T09:21:30-05:00

When appointments and schedules get in the way of travel plans, it's easy to think of the summer as a lost cause. But it doesn't have to be that way. ELISHA COOPER on his days at home and the adventures that ensued.

Last summer, there was no summer vacation. Friends were flying off to California or weekending on Lake Michigan, but we were moving east at summer’s end, and then our elder daughter unexpectedly needed to be in and out of the hospital. We had to stay in Chicago. It was in this state of instability that I found myself on our stoop one humid afternoon in early July, my two daughters grumbling around me. What to do? I looked out at the street. “Um, want to fly to Hawaii?” “No,” said the five-year-old. “How?” asked the three-year-old. “That plane,” I said, nodding at our parked station wagon. After some eye-rolling, we clambered onto the roof of the “plane,” taxied down the street, and took off into the air. We headed west, soaring over plains and oceans until the islands of Hawaii appeared on the horizon. After landing, we picked palms (leaves... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Ways We're Saving Money" by The Writers

2008-06-27T11:14:58-05:00

As the price of everything hikes higher and higher, thrift is fast becoming an essential life skill. The TMN READERS AND WRITERS tell us how they're beating the high cost of living.

The economy, it is having issues. Gas is up to $600,000 a barrel (or something like that), groceries will cost you an arm, leg, and your firstborn, and society gently groans under the ceaseless predictions of doom and gloom in our future. Perhaps you’ve already started cutting corners: trading standard furnishings for the more economical boxes and crates, or saving quarters at the Laundromat by doing away with clean clothes altogether. Here are a few more suggestions for these troubled times, courtesy of the ever-thrifty TMN writers and readers. * * * How to save money? Steal a hybrid car. Because at $4 a gallon and rising, it’s hard to make it to the Badlands on the $50 you got from a filched stereo receiver. American cars have focused on the useless parts of their technology (security systems, locking mechanisms, elevation off the ground) while resisting advancements in fuel efficiency... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Mr. Can't Fix It" by Christopher Monks

2008-06-25T09:07:20-05:00

To the unhandy, a broken appliance offers an opportunity to prove one's mettle--and finally break the plastic wrap on that toolbox. Stay-at-home dad CHRISTOPHER MONKS calls in reinforcements.

Last week our dryer broke and a repairman came to fix it. I always get intimidated when a repairman comes around. It’s terribly emasculating. A big, burly guy enters my home and fixes things that, if I were a real man, I’d be fixing myself. Most of the time, repairmen don’t know what to make of me, as if being a stay-at-home dad who wears arty glasses frames and doesn’t fix things were some indecipherable puzzle. It’s all very awkward. Thus, in preparation for the dryer repairman’s visit, I decided to take apart my toaster oven. I figured that if the repairman saw me attempting to fix something he’d be less inclined to think of me as a nancy boy, and in turn I wouldn’t feel nearly as self-conscious about being a stay-at-home dad who wears arty glasses frames and doesn’t fix things. Besides, my wife had been complaining about... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"When It Sizzles" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-06-19T08:24:32-05:00

The weather's started heating up in Paris, and our correspondent ROSECRANS BALDWIN is besieged by turtles, gastroenterologists, gay bars, and bureaucratic customer service. Another adventure from the land of France.

I eat the same lunch in the same park on the same bench every day at noon. There are seven other regulars at that hour: Samsung, the pinched-face woman always talking on her cell phone; A.T.C. (Air Traffic Controller), who drinks beer for lunch, wears headphones, and does a complicated semaphore routine with plastic bags; Charlie Parker, who feeds the birds from a loaf of brown bread; the Smoking Couple (he smokes cigars, she smokes cigarillos), who do the crossword together; and Stephen King, the man with the silver moustache who’s always reading yet another book by Stephen King. And occasionally, when the weather’s nice, Louis XIV. Louis XIV goes barefoot and topless, wears only yellow swim trunks, and does calisthenics while facing the sun. By all other indicators he’s perfectly sane, just a middle-aged man with flowing hair who loves to tan. In May, we were joined by Madame... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Out of Arm's Way" by Orr Shtuhl

2008-06-18T09:52:59-05:00

Lyrics in music rarely get the scrutiny and attention they deserve. With an ear for meaning, ORR SHTUHL dives deep into the unsettling content of Islands' latest album.

When I’m in my roomI love the shadows of my bad bones…I feel evil creeping in Bones have long been a favorite vehicle of Islands lyricist and singer Nick Thorburn, dating back to the “bone ca-marrow” he coined with his old band (and Islands predecessor), the Unicorns. On Islands’ latest offering, Arm’s Way, death and evil certainly creep—through bones, lungs, car-crash carcasses, and lots and lots of blood. Throughout the album’s 68 minutes, Thorburn’s words evoke a transformation into malevolence, one accepting, condoning, and eventually partaking in crime and sin. It’s a state of wickedness in which people hone their stabbing skills (“Creeper”), beat fellow humans to death (“Pieces of You”), and on one occasion wear another person’s skin (“I Feel Evil Creeping In”). Not that our protagonist doesn’t feel bad about it. A strong current of moral struggle runs through Arm’s Way, as our narrator witnesses the slow rise... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Someone's in the Kitchen With Ignatius J. Reilly" by Elizabeth Kiem

2008-06-17T09:49:07-05:00

Ever since she left Little House on the Prairie behind and was forced, when she grew too old for books with pictures, to conjure up storybook settings, ELIZABETH KIEM has been placing the fiction she reads in the homes she knows.

In total defiance of the accepted notion that reading unfetters the imagination, I have been setting the domestic scenes of 30 years’ worth of novels on just a few familiar and well-trod stages. They work together, shifting measurements and accommodating amenities to fit textual requirements (a dumbwaiter, a patio fountain, a half-door and mansard window), but they are always recognizable behind these architectural liberties. Cognitive scientists claim you can’t dream of a face you’ve never seen. Well, I can’t read a room I haven’t inhabited. My childhood homes have been pressed into service for so many plots that they are more crowded with characters than my own memories. Anne Shirley threw tantrums and Harriet Welch lurked (wrongly, rurally) in a big house in the country that I, personally, left at age 10 but through which I can still slide across its hardwood floors and kitchen flagstones under the feet of... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"M4W: Surrogate Mother" by Jon Methven

2008-06-13T08:32:49-05:00

About us: A childless couple who pines for the pitter-patter of little feet around the house. About you: Fertile, with an athletic build, and maybe a tattoo. JON METHVEN writes a wanted ad.

My wife and I are seeking someone to give us the greatest gift of all: the pitter-patter of little feet to make our home complete. We are not particular about race or education. Our main requirement is that you be trusting and friendly. And because we are old-fashioned, that the insemination be done Adam-and-Eve style, without all this fallopian transfer, in-vitro terminology. About us: We have been married 13 years. We own a ranch-style, cold house in Trout Canyon with separate master bedrooms and two dogs. One dog, Jake, is intelligent, obedient, friendly, and passionate. The other is hers. You may call me Edward. Or Teddy. About you: You are between the ages of 19 and 25. You are drug-free, though you know how to let your hair down. You have an athletic build, the genetics of which are important to a child’s development. You are STD-free, though without any... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Regular Guys" by Emily Freeman

2008-06-12T13:02:27-05:00

University communities are often divided by townie and out-of-towner, and never the twain shall date. EMILY FREEMAN gives us a story of town and gown, and lawn mower mania.

In college I landscaped for the University of Michigan Grounds Department, working with a grounds crew of girls my age—other students at the university who, like me, wanted a campus job, but not one involving a cubicle with a computer and fluorescent lights pulsing overhead. During the warm months, we were responsible for planting and weeding the flower beds outside of the buildings, and sometimes inside, in the case of the odd courtyard garden. While our friends pursued internships in air-conditioned city buildings, or lounged around their parents’ suburban pools, we stuck around Ann Arbor and spent our summer days hot and dirty, in mandated steel-toed boots. After work it wasn’t uncommon to run into a crewmate walking around town in a skirt or a flowery little dress, or something pink—which was strange, because we were all sort of tomboys, but it was as though spending so much time in... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"3 July 2008: Afternoon"

2008-07-03T16:27:44-05:00

Citing spiritual and moral crisis, Russia aims to flatten its youth's social landscape.

The dying phenomenon of the college yearbook.

Truly intelligent people know how to improvise well. Academics don't. The problem with memory-based education.

The flag pin was popularized by Richard Nixon, who got the idea after seeing Robert Redford wear one in a movie.

Tracking the African economy with the changing price of a bottle of Coca-Cola.

"[The chicken] was so full of steroids that we never could have given it to athletes. They all would have tested positive." An Olympic disaster guide.

Why the media's fascination with the pregnant man isn't helping transgender politics.

Now dogs can have nine lives too--an interview with a biotech entrepreneur and his cloned pets.

David Cronenberg's The Fly is made into an opera (finally).

How to make a 12-sided-die purse.

As olive oil, mozzarella costs soar, Italians eschew pizza, chew pasta.

Artist walks 100 miles to complete massive drawing in sand.

Beyond SNAFU: bad military acronyms.

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"3 July 2008: Morning"

2008-07-03T08:45:52-05:00

Colombian soldiers infiltrate rebels, liberate 15 hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt.

How the raid was carried out; visiting Colombia, McCain was briefed beforehand.

How the Republicans took over "patriotism"--blame pastels in 1988.

"They are not really interested in fighting the battles that have been fought over the last 20 years." As baby boomers retire, campuses go moderate.

Conservative critics divided over whether a cartoon robot is mongering liberalism or proving them right.

Al Qaeda's strength may depend on free advertising by world governments.

Op: Voters do not care how uninformed they are--even if it constitutes a threat to national security.

Somewhere in Cheshire is a seriously melancholy thief. Ian Curtis's headstone stolen.

Oil hits record high of $146 a barrel; oil-rich countries turn to coal.

Which is more economical: Using your car's air conditioning or driving with the windows down?

Next to Nadal, one part sweatband, three parts biceps, the Scot looked like a lanky adolescent who had taken the wrong door.

Polygamist sect responds to public demand, begins selling children's versions of its modest prairie dresses.

"The minute you put the logo on it, it becomes a New Yorker cover." Rea Irvin and his defining typeface.

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"2 July 2008: Afternoon"

2008-07-02T14:39:38-05:00

Netroots supporters revolt over Obama's flip on surveillance, organize protest using tools on campaign web site.

African-American actor who played president on 24 believes his portrayal may have helped Obama.

Starbucks to close 600 stores; The Onion called it five months ago.

Michael Reagan pushes for a monument of his dad in Berlin, concedes pantyhose's role in ending Cold War.

Army bosses delete soldier's blog following posts criticizing superiors.

Video: Christopher Hitchens tries waterboarding (on himself).

Arthur, 5, is obsessed with the New York City subway system...He laughs at his mother when she suggests taking the B on a weekend. Two boys who love the subway.

Forget pedophiles: On sites like Webkinz, kids are the biggest threat to each other.

A new way to retrieve your forgotten password: Take a personality test.

The history of the SOS signal, which turns 100 years old today.

Walmart un-hyphenates its logo; Miller's new logo "unequivocally about beer."

Musicians read The Unbearable Lightness of Being, see their "infidelities glorified and justified in poetic form."

One of the terrors of dating is Milan Kundera, and specifically, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Slavic authors to read instead.

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"2 July 2008: Morning"

2008-07-02T08:46:50-05:00

Troop deaths in Afghanistan are at their highest since the invasion; evidence shows the Taliban has reclaimed some control.

U.S. reveals trust issues, aims spy satellites at the Iraqi army they arm, train, and fight alongside.

Satisfactory progress in Iraq is happening, though too slowly; blame is shifted to the Iraqis.

The improved security situation has allowed alcohol to flow back into Baghdad.

San Francisco protects Honduran crack dealers from federal officials; days later, the dealers escape from group homes.

Consumers are not diversifying their tastes as the Long Tail--aka the "sacred text in Silicon Valley"--suggests.

Anyone who suggests embarking on a cradle-to-grave narrative of a royal mistress goes to the back of the class. The end of the un-sensationalized biography?

David Sedaris on taking on The New Yorker's fact checkers.

"We just stopped playing, as we had done periodically since we got together." After a 17-year hiatus, the Feelies return.

Though Abkhazia is "under constant threat of war" and foreigners aren't allowed to visit, building hotels today will help it become a tourist hotspot tomorrow.

A breakdown of the bevy of nonrefundable fees on an airline ticket.

Italy launches international manhunt for Japanese students who left graffiti on a cathedral terrace.

"Shroom" study reveals lasting effects, including increased well-being and life satisfaction.

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"1 July 2008: Afternoon"

2008-07-01T13:02:47-05:00

Republicans should blame cyclical lows, not Obama, if he presides over billion-dollar deficit.

Support Obama: Change your middle name to "Hussein" on Facebook.

In Turkey, two former generals arrested in failed coup; secular court may ban ruling party for Islamist leanings.

For a planetoid of the size of Azeroth one would expect to see gravity of about 0.003 m/s² or, in the vernacular, buggerall. Calculating the size of World of Warcraft.

In transporting accident, 12 million bees released along major Canadian highway.

Audio: Baby crocodiles communicate with mother and siblings from within their shells.

Cabs installed with karaoke flourish in Thailand.

"Paraguayans cry when they hear it." U.S. diplomat sings folk songs in obscure Paraguayan language, wins the country's heart.

Op: Tibet should stay the nonviolent course--it retains its moral appeal, and violence hasn't worked for the Palestinians.

Photos: The Google sari.

In an era of increasing fuel, food prices, vertical farming in cities makes new sense.

The franc is reintroduced in one French town, encouraging spending, national identity.

Poster designs from the May '68 Paris Rebellion.

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"1 July 2008: Morning"

2008-07-01T08:50:52-05:00

Obama delivers speech defending his, McCain's patriotism.

Obama appeals to faith-based groups, wants to expand funding, supports their ability to hire based on religion.

Sex in the Warner toons was more likely to be transgressive and connected to deception, especially cross-dressing. Billy Collins on Surrealism and Looney Tunes.

Advice on writing screenplays, including "avoid the German funk trap."

Chuck Klosterman asks 20-something Germans to pick the most interesting 20th-century American.

In poll on America, a quarter of Canadians name Obama the most admirable politician in either country.

"This is something to look at, just like a painting." A new art installation features runners sprinting through the Tate.

Charades study proves English's subject-verb-object is a cultural construction.

Baby busts, shrinkage, lowest-low fertility: on the extinction of Europe.

New jug design makes for fresher milk, is better for the environment, and customers hate it.

Environmental crises you no longer need to worry about.

As always, tipping back in your seat is fifty dollars, payable to the person sitting behind you. New flight restrictions on my airline.

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"30 June 2008: Afternoon"

2008-06-30T09:41:14-05:00

Twelve things America's next president can do on day one to improve America's standing.

Clark: Getting shot down in a plane doesn't make McCain qualified to be president.

Measuring the appeal of New York's new "Waterfalls" in terms of web parody.

Waterfalls are supposed to be Nature's most spectacularly wild destinations, yet on the East River, they're tame to a fault.

Urban birds strain their voices singing, damage their hearing, have trouble attracting mates.

Why catchphrases, even when they're used ironically, ought to be "thrown under the bus."

Swift-boat veterans would like to remember the soldiers they lost, not some political smear.

Though he was originally fond of Barack Obama, the weekly meetings of the University Democrats made Tom increasingly Baracktose intolerant.

Meet Teodoro Obiang: Africa's worst dictator, leader of "the Switzerland of dictatorships."

Meet a terrorist sketch artist.

As self-help finds fans in Iran, The Secret tops best-seller lists.

Zadie Smith on Kafka: We are all insects now.

Foreign Policy's top 100 public intellectuals; the chosen put in their own votes.

Perceived differences between tap and bottled water found to be almost entirely due to marketing.

On phantom sensations, or literally how to scratch an itch that's in your brain.

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"30 June 2008: Morning"

2008-06-30T09:16:34-05:00

Fascinating, frightening report on al Qaeda's rebirth in Pakistan.

In the course of the election campaigns of recent years, he's been arrested 32 times. After the election, Zimbabwe counts victims.

Mugabe joins African Union summit; Tsvangirai: "He wants to keep power for himself until he drops dead."

Local government budgets across the country crippled by energy prices, too.

Brain study finds happy thoughts may dampen cravings; article doesn't mention what happens if thoughts are about source of cravings.

Your brain knows what you're going to do 10 seconds before telling you about it.

In 1923 a theoretical tome listed 88 different theories of humour, few of which seemed to acknowledge that it is supposed to be enjoyable.

Video: Where the hell is Matt? Dancing all over the place.

When to wear sunscreen: pretty much always.

"To create girls of strong character," a mission as unimpeachable as it is vague. First American Girl movie hits theaters this weekend.

A New Wave mixtape to come out to (but are any of its songs 2:42?).

On the worship of the goddess-sisters Bhagavati and the Virgin Mary in Southern India.

Tired of peddling you celebrities in print, Bonnie Fuller--maven behind US Weekly, Star, and Glamour--to go digital.

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"27 June 2008: Afternoon"

2008-06-27T14:42:53-05:00

Neo-conservatives "apoplectic" over Condoleezza Rice's emerging North Korea deal.

There's a guy running for president who knows who Jay-Z is. What's on Obama's iPod?

People holding degrees from Harvard or Yale...constitute 83 percent of the presidential nominees of the past 20 years.

Ivy League schools are teaching students to be "excellent sheep" who cater to the status quo.

Spanish Parliament approves "human rights" for apes.

Protected red-winged blackbirds go on spree of attacks in Chicago; citizens advised to "stare back into its eyes."

North Pole projected to be ice-free this summer.

How Haagen-Dazs really does depend on the bumblebee to make ice cream.

Video: If American Apparel had TV ads, they'd be like this; and like this, they wouldn't be safe for work.

Op: So what's so bad about having a pregnancy pact, anyway?

Americans lose jobs in the U.K., where a third of people believe the U.S. is a "force for evil."

Taipei skyscraper contains "earthquake bell" to act as a counterweight against seismic shifts.

Video: Another "public freezing" incident, this time in a Taco Bell.

No Country for Raising Arizona: Scene similarities between Coen Brothers' movies.

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"27 June 2008: Morning"

2008-06-27T09:01:58-05:00

Citizens of voting age without an inked finger...will be regarded as traitors and subject to reprisals. It's election day in Zimbabwe.

Interviews with former Mugabe henchmen reveal young men motivated by the fear that they'll be the next victim.

Supreme Court rules rifle and pistol bans are unconstitutional; few changes are expected outside of D.C., but expect local litigation.

Op: Obama may not be able to sway the evangelical vote, but he's doing the work to lessen its opposition.

Pyongyang televises its sincerity, demolishing its main nuclear reactor's cooling tower.

Analysis: Bush reversed on N. Korea, but won't credit at home for the diplomatic win--likely the last of his presidency.

He had the grace of Gollum as he quarreled with his questioners. Cheney's chief of staff dragged, kicking into the sunlight.

"Part of the problem with perfectionism is that by nature, you're always failing." As Mad Men returns, a nine-year journey ends.

A photo tour of Olso's Vigeland Sculpture Park, where human birth, life, and death is set to stone.

After a daycare begins fining late parents, parents arrive even later--it became "another commodity they could purchase."

On managing 20-somethings and their needs.

Audio clips and stories from octogenarian working professionals.

Today is Bill Gates's last day at Microsoft.

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"Ways We're Saving Money" by Andrew Womack

2008-06-11T14:40:23+00:00

We're on vacation until Tuesday--send us your solutions for economic disaster by then

Hail! Another Of Recent Note is upon us, and we’re inviting you to take part. This month’s assignment is: “Ways We’re Saving Money” The economy is doomed, the price of everything is going up: So how are you preparing? Maybe you’re brownbagging your lunches, cutting back on the air conditioning, replacing all your light bulbs with the energy-saving kind? Maybe it’s boxed wine instead of bottled? Send in your strategies, 75-150 words, to bridgetfitz@gmail.com by Monday, June 23, at 6 p.m. Eastern Apocalyptic Time. Please include a link to your web site or PayPal donation page or wherever it is you want people to go when they click on your name.... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Introducing Our Summer 2008 Interns" by Andrew Womack

2008-06-05T23:00:50+00:00

Introducing our Summer 2008 interns.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our Summer 2008 interns, who by right of even being interns in the first place are more of overachievers than we ever were. Do the old eat the young? The young eat the old? It's one or the other, and we forget. Good thing these three have their acts together and can remind us which way that goes. After graduating from U.C. Santa Cruz, Matt Robison moved to Brooklyn and briefly worked at a bookstore, a grocery store, and as an extra on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Now he works in an office building, and is grateful. On the side, he sometimes stars in short films made by his friends, and writes fiction in his room. Mike Smith lives in the sunshine of southwest England with his bike and his abnormally large stomach. He likes to write about music of European origin on... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Where was your last great vacation?" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-05-18T20:00:04+00:00

Your ideas sought on vacation destinations--entry is now closed.

The latest Of Recent Note is just around the corner, and like last time, we’re inviting you to participate. Here’s this month’s assignment: “Vacation Destinations” The summer travel season is coming, and those of us without vacation plans need some quick advice on where to go between now and Labor Day. Share with us your most recent vacation spot and why it was notable, or tell us about the one you'd do over this month if you could, or maybe the one you wouldn't. Send us your submissions: 75-150 words to bridgetfitz@gmail.com by 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20. Please include a link to your personal site or wherever you’d people to go when they click on your name.. Thank you to everyone who sent in items!... Click here to continue reading this article.

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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.

"Mp3 Digest: July 2, 2008" by Erik Bryan

2008-07-02T07:10:36-05:00

Au Revoir Simone covers Bowie; Wire; One Little Plane; Beta Satan; Death Vessel

If you’re anything like me, you can’t get enough David Bowie. Except of course for the whole Tin Machine thing. What was he thinking? Whatever. A new covers album called Life on Mars—each song hand-picked and approved by Bowie himself—will be released on July 8. Already one of my favorite tracks from the album, Au Revoir Simone’s version of “Oh! You Pretty Things” sounds cute, airy, harmonious, and heavily synthesized, just as if they’d written the song. This is what good covers do. I also happen to have it on good authority that Heather of A.R.S. kills at Disney-musical karaoke. Hopefully we’ll hear that covers album soon, too. » Listen to “Oh! You Pretty Things” at Mass Hyperbole * * * Known as one of the most influential bands to emerge from the British punk scene in the late ’70s, both for their music as well as their Situationist politics,... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Book Digest: June 30, 2008" by Robert Birnbaum

2008-06-30T05:28:31-05:00

Margot Livesey's latest reads; also: The Osage Rose; America America; The Song of Everlasting Sorrow; House of Wits; Stop Me If You've Heard This; The Comanche Empire; Beyond the Hoax; Democracy's Prisoner; America Between the Wars From 11/9 to 9/11; The History of Human Rights; 10 Bad Dates with De Niro; The Pathseeker; Small Lives; The Temple of the Wild Geese; One Minute to Midnight

Margot Livesey—whose newest opus, House on Fortune Street, you should include in your to-be-read list—writes: When I was almost five my father married my stepmother and we began to spend our summer holidays in Pitlochry, the small Scottish town where my stepmother’s sister lived. There were four things that interested me in the town: the putting green, the salmon ladder at the dam, the trains that whistled as they passed through on their way to Inverness or London, and the library. But it often rained, the fish were capricious, the trains sometimes mute. Only the library was utterly reliable. Most summers I read at least a book a day. If only this were still true, but it is true that I look forward to summer as a time of unfettered reading. This year I have already got a head start by reading David Wroblewski’s The Tale of Edgar Sawtelle in... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Video Digest: June 27, 2008" by Meave Gallagher

2008-06-27T01:13:40-05:00

Gay, gay, gay! Pride, pride, pride! From Dykes on Bikes to boys in hot pants, videos of the international glories of gay revels.

June is the gayest time of the year, thanks to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (L.G.B.T.) pride celebrations happening throughout the month. This June is extra-special because same-sex marriage was just legalized in California; just last night as I was standing on Castro Street, a car stopped at the intersection and the man in the passenger seat yelled, “I just got married!” The whole block applauded. In honor of Pride Month, let’s digest some videos of parades and parties past. We’ll start with a double whammy: Bearforce1, the “world’s first true ‘bear band,’” on a float in the 2007 Amsterdam pride parade. These four gentlemen are not the smooth-chested boys of gay stereotype; they are hairy and proud and unstoppable, and must be seen to be fully appreciated. In Washington, D.C., they have dancing “cowboys.” My father, an excellent dancer, has always maintained that “real cowboys don’t do triplets.” Well,... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Mp3 Digest: June 25, 2008" by Llewellyn Hinkes

2008-06-25T08:25:26-05:00

Guns N' Roses; African Scream Contest; Girl Talk; Sigur Rós; Iron Horse's bluegrass cover of Modest Mouse

The legend is true: The infamous, ill-fated, Guns N’ Roses album Chinese Democracy has been leaked after 14 years of recording and scads of record-company dollars down the four-track. I had hoped it would be the greatest peak in maddening celebrity indulgence, like a thousand Golden Throats records combined into one dense, intimate portrayal of a millionaire superstar’s descent into syphilitic isolation. Maybe it could have been a rock opera about the plight of Jar Jar Binks, wherein Axl Rose raps “One Night in Bangkok.” Or it could have been an extended song-poem about a lonely child named “Xal Esor” who got caught up in the spotlight yet still pines for his trusty bandanna, “Budrose.” Or it merely could have been a muttered list of who is out to get him—played over old GnR tracks on a Casio SK-1. It could have been any of these and more, but instead... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Mp3 Digest: June 18, 2008" by Erik Bryan

2008-06-18T08:08:23-05:00

Boston Spaceships; the Acorn; Parts & Labor; Lil Wayne; Fleet Foxes

After calling Guided by Voices quits just four short years ago, Bob Pollard, the quits-caller, has released about eight solo albums, plus various EPs and albums with side projects (e.g., the Takeovers, Keene Brothers, Circus Devils, etc.). To call him prolific is nearly an understatement, as it’s hard to imagine Pollard having time for anything but recording high-kicking, lo-fi rock ’n’ roll jams all day, every day. He’s recently—presumedly in the two weeks since his last solo album release—been working with a former GBV bandmate, Chris Slusarenko, and John Moen of the Decemberists, among others. The result, a group called Boston Spaceships, sounds like just about everything else Pollard’s ever been party to, so I like it. So do you. » Listen to “Go for the Exit” at Boston Spaceships’ MySpace * * * I’m a sucker for a good cover, and this week’s honorable mention goes to the Acorn,... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Book Digest: June 16, 2008" by Robert Birnbaum

2008-06-16T08:01:02-05:00

Bedside reading from Alan Gurganis; also: A Conservative History of the American Left; Glimmertrain Summer 2008; The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories; No Way Home; We Would Have Played for Nothing; McSweeney's No. 27; Franklin & Lucy; Fidelity; Outlaw Journalist; Underground America; The Crowd Sounds Happy; Sea Change; Lush Life; Dear American Airlines

Tim Russert, in case you missed the news, has died. As he was a TV journalist, it behooves the U.S. news engine to dwell on and parse every aspect of his life and death. He was one of some magazine’s 100 most important people—which, considering how many people there are, is impressive. Even I met Tim Russert. At the Union Club in Boston, back in the 20th century, he signed my copy of a Meet the Press retrospective. We must have exchanged words—though I don’t remember what they were. That may not prevent me from making some up at a later date, if necessary. Tim Russert hopefully, RIP. Alan Gurganis confides his summer reading list to me and you: A Little Learning by Evelyn Waugh The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America by David Hadju Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese Great Expectations by Charles... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Video Digest: June 13, 2008" by Meave Gallagher

2008-06-13T07:58:16-05:00

The complete video guide to being a lunatic homemaker, as guided by a 1939 good wife test.

When the need arises to indulge in the felicity of unbounded domesticity, not everyone is up to the task. Some of us weren’t raised by kings and/or queens of their castles; others were, but perhaps failed to learn such skills as home horticulture and grilling the perfect tomato. Would you pass this 1939 good wife test? Even granting myself half-points for things I do sometimes, and counting “has meals on time” as “comes to meals on time,” I scored a -3.5. In contrast, my partner scored a 9.5. Low scorers, do not despair! In the interest of public service, we’ve assembled the following tutorial in the ways of housekeeping. Watch carefully, listen closely, and soon you too will be a domestic deity. Lesson 1: Keep a clean kitchen. You will never experience true domestic bliss with a dirty oven, so at least take a sponge to it once in a... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Mp3 Digest: June 11, 2008" by Llewellyn Hinkes

2008-06-11T08:06:44-05:00

Tapes ’n Tapes; Destroyer; Ignatz; Eat Skull; forbidden gang funk from Rio de Janeiro

We all know the Billboard Top 100 is a sham; it’s a meaningless list of vacuous posers and pitch-shifted payola. The bands, singers, and studios that make it to the top of their Singles Charts, Hot Canadian Digital Singles Charts, or even the Bubbling Ringtones Chart, only got that way because they bought enough copies of their own album/ringtone to make it on the list. It’s the same way Lee Iacocca’s biography became a bestseller in the ’80’s (both the recording and publishing industries are just vanity ventures at this point anyhow). If it wasn’t arbitrary, why do you think Billboard calls its ranking software “Arbitron?” Either it’s a TI-86 calculator hooked up to a random-number generator in the basement corner of the Time Warner Center, or they shoved a statistical regression algorithm up a monkey’s ass and made it dance. Point being: There is a need for a truer... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Book Digest: June 9, 2008" by Robert Birnbaum

2008-06-09T11:34:58-05:00

State of Exile; Say You’re One of Them; The Finder; The Book of Chameleons; Factory of Tears; The House on Fortune Street; Senselessness; Worshipping Walt; Dreaming Up America; More Than It Hurts You; The Story of Edgar Sawtelle; The Lost Dog; The Political Mind; The Colfax Massacre

I have found Gore Vidal variously incisive, opaque, riveting, infuriating, brilliant, prescient, amusing, and just plain entertaining. Thus, this interview was so very satisfying (as well as edifying). Read well. State of Exile by Christina Peri Rossi, translated by Marilyn Buck Self-exiled in the early ‘70s (in response to a military coup when her work was banned and her life threatened) Uruguayan writer Peri Rossi wrote these poems during her first years in Spain—apparently they were too personally painful for publication when first written. Included are two essays on exile: one by Peri Rossi, the other by translator Buck who is serving an 80-year sentence in California for her militant political activism. Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan Nigerian writer Akpan also happens to be a Jesuit priest with an MFA from the University of Michigan. His stories have won prizes and been published in The New Yorker.... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Video Digest: June 6, 2008" by Meave Gallagher

2008-06-06T08:12:09-05:00

Everything you need to know about identity theft, including a Facebook tutorial and the story of Philadelphia's Bonny and Clyde.

Identity theft has become a crime epidemic—so how is it that 10 years ago, the phrase had yet to be coined? The internet and the rise of online banking are why: an easily exploitable, easily anonymizable window into the lives, and particularly the banking habits, of others. Especially timely is the story of Jocelyn Kirsch and Edward Anderton, “the Bonnie and Clyde of identity theft,” the most scandalous news from Philadelphia since… well, it is extremely scandalous. It’s the story of a terribly attractive young couple fulfilling their dreams of luxury clothing and exotic vacations and life in the society pages. The problem was that they were funding it with credit cards taken out in their neighbors’ names, bank cards stolen from friends and strangers, fake checks from nonexistent accounts, and lies, countless lies. Jocelyn and Edward were finally caught in December of 2007 after a solid year of living... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Split Second" by Nicole Pasulka

2008-06-30T10:01:57-05:00

When experienced from many different perspectives, is the instant when a photograph is taken still just a single moment? Barbara Probst’s diptych and triptych photos, taken at the same time from different cameras and points of view, offer multiple versions of a split second. Probst subverts the authority of the lone photograph, but rather than presenting a more comprehensive picture of an event, location, or moment, her work reminds us that even photos are interpretations. All photos © Barbara Probst, courtesy Murray Guy, New York, all rights reserved. * * * How do you set up these shots? When I photograph there are always at least two and sometimes as many as 12 cameras involved. There is no way for me to look through the viewfinder during shooting, since all cameras release at the same time. Therefore, I have to set up the cameras and instruct the models very deliberately... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Topologies" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-06-24T11:05:56-05:00

Places you thought were perfectly banal have secret identities. In his new book Topologies (Aperture), photographer Edgar Martins seeks them out, takes his time, and without any post-production trickery exposes what you missed, say, the last time you landed at J.F.K. All photos © Edgar Martins, courtesy of the artist, all rights reserved. * * *Even in your forest fire pictures or the Iceland landscapes, there’s a profound sense of control. Is this to set a frame on something wild? To define the space? To control enough so the imagination’s set free? My work has an apparent formalism and aesthetic rigor that some define as being precise. However, the process by which the images are created is everything but precise. I photograph in often “unphotographable” conditions, whether in burning forest fires or the icy winters of Iceland. I also make use of long exposures. When you work in this way... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Falling to Earth" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-06-16T01:22:54-05:00

The self-portraits of Chinese performance artist and photographer Li Wei tend to astound; his relationship with gravity is not exactly predictable. Using mirrors, cables, wires and other tools, the artist produces sublime surprises. As he notes in our chat below, "I don’t consider danger very often when doing art." Li Wei lives and works in Beijing, China. All photos © Li Wei, courtesy of the artist, all rights reserved. * * *Some are your photographs are outright shocking. How important is a sense of danger to your pictures? I don’t consider danger very often when doing art. The only thing I wanna do when shooting is to express myself well. Also the process of making art is a part of my work, too, giving me a new way of thinking. So danger is only an aspect of my work, though not for every piece. What are your feelings about gravity?... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Phone Sex Operators" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-06-08T15:09:52-05:00

So much of commerce now is blind: online shopping, tech-support in Bangalore. We hope there is a person at the other end of the transaction, but it could be a machine; often the machine doesn’t seem very well programmed. The phone-sex industry, though, thrives on being faceless and intensely personal at the same time. Phillip Toledano’s new book Phone Sex (July 2008, Twin Palms) takes us into the boudoirs of nearly 30 phone-sex operators so we see their faces and also hear their stories—each operator gives his or her take on the business. Phillip Toledano lives and works in New York City. All photos © Phillip Toledano, courtesy of the artist, all rights reserved. * * * So how did the series begin? I’d been thinking about the things in society that are in plain sight, but still remain hidden. What surprises appeared? How many [of these] people really loved... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Chrome" by Rosecrans Baldwin

2008-06-01T11:44:57-05:00

Gas prices and the ozone be damned, there is just something erotic about a Charger that you’ll never get from a Prius: masculine muscle, feminine curves, and complete freedom, at least until you can’t afford to fill up the tank anymore, or you get stuck in traffic. Painter Cheryl Kelley is the best thing that ever happened to car shows. As she notes below, “The first thing that I am drawn to is the beauty. I find myself getting lost in the reflections of beautiful cars when I stop at traffic lights. People honk at me when the light change.” Kelley studied at the University of Houston. Her current solo show “Chrome” is currently up at Lyons Wier Ortt in New York. All images © Cheryl Kelley, courtesy Lyons Wier Ortt, all rights reserved. * * * Let’s start with the car. Where does your love for cars begin? I... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"Colliding Worlds" by Nicole Pasulka

2008-05-26T08:48:46-05:00

Kehinde Wiley’s paintings marry strange bedfellows: the 18-year-old black man on his way to the train and 18th-century religious portraiture; the National Gallery and New York City streets; sneakers and traditional Senegalese textiles. Cultures collide, but according to Wiley, that’s to be expected—it’s happening around the world, easy enough to see as long as you don’t look for it on the nightly news. More proof will be available at The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York when Wiley shows his long-term project, “The World Stage” this July. Wiley received his MFA from Yale in 2001, and later did a residency at the Studio Museum in Harlem. His work is in the collection of the Denver Art Museum, the Columbus Museum of Art, the Kansas City Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Oak Park Public Library, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Walker Art Center, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art.... Click here to continue reading this article.

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"The Fourth Wall" by Heather Rasley

2008-05-19T04:44:01-05:00

In The Fourth Wall, Amy Arbus brings some of Broadway’s most recognizable actors from the stage to the streets, fully costumed and in character. The power of their performance spills over onto alleyways and fire escapes, transforming the modern landscape into an unlikely set and highlighting the disconnect between performance and reality. Photographer Amy Arbus has been photographing professionally for 24 years. She is a contributing photographer to New York Magazine’s theater section. Her photographs have appeared inmore than 100 periodicals, including The New Yorker, Aperture, People, ESPN, and The New York Times Magazine. The Fourth Wall, her fourth book, was released in April 2008 by Welcome Books. She is the daughter of the late photographer Diane Arbus and the actor Allan Arbus. All images © Amy Arbus, courtesy Welcome Books. * * * What motivated this project? I was visiting my family in Los Angeles. They’re part of a... 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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