December 2006 Archives
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Watching
Video Digest: December 22, 2006
Best Videos of the Year There was a stretch this summer when I watched OK Go’s “Here It Goes Again” every morning. It was like my personal inspirational video,...
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Guides
2006 Holiday Survival Guide for Slackers
It’s always better to give than to receive—at least that’s what your loved ones say, just as they’re about to open another present from you.
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New York, New York
I’ll Be Home for Christmas
The joy of having interns is dreaming up ludicrous projects for them to complete. We dispatched our own New-York newcomer to visit every possible holiday event he could find in the city and report back.
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Listening
Our Favorite Tracks of 2006
Rosecrans Baldwin’s Favorite Mp3s of 2006 “Ain’t No Other Man” by Christina AguileraI think I’ve several times performed dance routines to this song.» Listen to “Ain’...
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Reviews
The Top 10 Albums of 2006
The “record” industry is dead and 99-cent singles are now the rule, and yet terrific, cohesive rock LPs kept appearing every week.
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Reading
Book Digest: December 18, 2006
Let me just say that I am not a fan of lists and their masquerading as service journalism—though many 21st-century post-industrial homo ludens rely on lists to navigate the...
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Profiles
This Is Not a Eulogy
This is an appreciation. Our friend, writer, editor, and teacher Leslie Harpold recently died. A memorial for a woman who was difficult to describe—and who couldn’t stand sentimental bullshit.
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Gallery
Drop Dead Gorgeous
For anyone who has eaten the whole box, or bag, or carton the photographs in this series make light of our secret binges. Here, the consequences of indulgence are tabloid or monster movie deaths.
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Watching
Video Digest: December 15, 2006
“Us nerds are the oppressed and downtrodden,” raps one MC in following trailer for Nerdcore for Life. But these days, it’s kind of hard to feel bad for nerds....
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Guides
Our Favorite Gifts
The most meaningful gifts are so personal they cannot simply be plucked from the shelves of a store—but sometimes we need a little help. Turning holiday inspiration into shopping salvation, the writers recall their fondest gift memories.
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Spoofs & Satire
The Gift of the Magi
It’s Christmas morning, and a couple’s yuletide glee is under siege by the secular progressives. A provocative television personality and 19th century author spins their tale.
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Listening
Humbug
The holidays are when someone died. Or a grandfather got worse instead of better in the hospital, or a friend drank too much and had a car accident while driving...
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Op-Ed
The Confession of an American Jew
Everybody wants to know, but nobody wants to ask: Why are Jews funny? A journey far from the roads of good intentions.
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Spoofs & Satire
Wii Feel Your Pain
Nintendo’s gaming system has thrilled many players with its motion-sensing capabilities, some to the point of harm.
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Reading
Book Digest: December 11, 2006
If you are a book store habitué or are shopping for people who like books, you have noticed that booksellers are loaded up with books that used to be called “...
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Gallery
Quiet As Kept
Robert Pruitt’s butcher-paper drawings give us complex characters, full of personality but limited in how much they share. It’s art as tease, pose, and challenge. Refreshingly, it’s also very engaging.
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Watching
Video Digest: December 8, 2006
As if VH1 weren’t bad enough, YouTube has turned us into nostalgia-grubbing monsters, willing to sink hours tracking down some vaguely remembered scrap of childhood fun. And I, for...
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Celebrity Magazine
The Lost Weeknight
Dismayed at the idea of collaborating with Vince, Drew needs cheering up. McConaughey orders the shots. A new episode in our fanfic series.
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Listening
Out With the Old, in With the New
Maybe Bill Drummond is right. Maybe we are inundated with a glut of music nowadays via mp3s and too much of it is nostalgic. Rather than obstinately avoiding all...
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Guides
The 2006 Good Gift Games
Around the holidays there are always two to four players within earshot. Every year dozens of board games are marketed into existence, but some are so fun they stand alone.
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Personal Essays
Chicken
Don’t know art but know what you like? How would you like to buy some art and never receive it? Falling for a painting and getting something unexpected in return.
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Reading
Book Digest: December 4, 2006
Last month I was in New York for a week and among the many small humiliations I endured—my husband and I were auditioning our family for preschool—was this...
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Gallery
Los Angeles
These photos tell the story of Adam Bartos’s move to L.A. in the 1970s, when he arrived expecting Hollywood glitz and glamour and instead discovered the serene and all-American images in this series.
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Watching
Video Digest: December 1, 2006
Every parent thinks their kids are the best, the cutest, the brightest. So when you click on a link called “Best Baby Breakdancer in the World,” you think—feh, no...