October 2011 Archives
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At Your Service (Journalism)
Last-Minute Halloween Prep
Hear that knocking? It’s either Halloween or those are Buy Here Pay Here dealership reps here to kidnap a family member. Assuming the former, are your Halloween preparations...
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Gallery
The Eerie
From Simen Johan’s “Until the Kingdom Comes,” a fantasy world of animals dropped into unfamiliar settings, where the humans appear to have expired.
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My Contemporary British TV Detectives
Who Loves You, Lynley?
If you’ve been following this column and generally agreeing, and you haven’t already watched The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, take my word that Sharon Small as Sgt....
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Halloween Endings
The Monkey’s Paw
A foreign talisman holds great power, but those who use it do so at their peril. In the grand TMN tradition of celebrating Halloween, our editors and writers create new endings to a well-known scary story.
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Air Google
In Zarafshan
Cruising and boozing around Uzbekistan, a Canadian reporter winds up in a place that gives no logical reason to visit, where the question Why? has no answer. Fortunately, virtual travel remains risk-free, except for all the beer.
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Fieldwork
Danger Ahead
We asked you to show us how close the recession is to your doorstep, and here’s our first submission, straight out of Big D: Name: Lindsay Graham ...
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Crushes on Strangers
That Girl
I did not know the woman in question, though her face was plastered all around New York at the time, and my friend certainly wasn’t the only one...
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Guides to America
Arbotchery
To honor Arbor Day, an illustrated catalog of abuse taking place across the country, in cities large and small, where trees are being hacked, whacked, and chopped into unnatural shapes in the name of power.
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Bob Cassilly vs. Laszlo Toth
A Portrait of the Artist Standing Atop Michelangelo’s “Pietà”
Late last month the artist Bob Cassilly was killed in an accident on the grounds of Cementland, the 54-acre disused cement factory near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi...
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Gimme Fiction
Sex Lives of the Saints
Once you begin imagining yourself as the romantic lead in a novel—and convince others of it as well—you won’t want to stop.
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Explainers
How to Paint an Oak Tree
A man who spent three years painting the same English tree repeatedly—in all weather, day and night—explains how exactly, and why.
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Late Night Sports Radio
Homage to Terrence Malick, Part Two
This morning I went to the Old Town Country Kitchen in Bath to get something to eat. Bath has a population of 268. It was the first incorporated town in North...
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Men & Women / Men & Men / Women & Women
The Things She Carried
Once a relationship is past the point of repair, once her Go Bag is packed for leaving, some things are better set down on paper than spoken aloud.
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Sound Advice
Girl Talk
I’ve been thinking a lot about the state of modern girlhood lately. My husband and I have 10 much-younger girl cousins between us, mostly in middle and high school,...
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Following the Riots
The Barber Comes Around
When London’s Tottenham district fell to youth-driven chaos this past August, an elderly barber almost lost everything. Then other young people stepped in to keep him cutting.
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New York's Roadside Attractions
St. Paul’s Church
I decided to visit the site last weekend because of an event commemorating the Battle of Pell’s Point, fought about a mile from the church on Oct. 18, 1776. It...
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Letters From Tel Aviv
Marriage, Israeli Style
For Israelis of a certain age, marriage beckons. But in this cradle of so many religions, a tangle of ancient rules and modern laws makes things surprisingly complicated.
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My Contemporary British TV Detectives
Inspector, Find Thyself
Then Morse died and Lewis got a promotion and his own show, Lewis, to keep solving murder cases in Oxford, the university town he dislikes. You’d think they...
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Notes From #WallStreet
Meditations in an Occupation
I and the three students conversed. I asked Leo what he was reading. He said Crime and Punishment. I said, “That’s funny! I’ve just been...
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Spoofs & Satire
Remembering Anwar Al-Awlaki, a Mellow Cat
When al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a drone attack late last month, friends and colleagues were left to mourn a man of generosity, humility, and an amazing porno collection.
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Crushes on Strangers
The Contradiction
Not surprisingly, the crush Wikipedia page is quite robust. There is the movie with Alicia Silverstone. There is a Dave Matthews song (of course). There is a Mates of State...
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Gallery
Swimming to Rio
A series of beach portraits from Ramos, an artificial saltwater lake surrounded by more than a dozen of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas—an oasis in one of the city’s poorest areas.
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Diversions
When the Legends Die
One of the most endearing things about old-fashioned maps is how wrong they can be. Sometimes maps are so divorced from reality that we wouldn’t know what they...
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The Writing Life
Picture Me Not Posting
If distractions poison a writer’s ambitions, then surely a summer with no internet access is the antidote?
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Fieldwork
How Close Is the Recession to Your Doorstep?
You may think the economy is bad right now. But you may also think it’s worse than it really is. To decide how bad is bad—or...
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Gonzo Geography
Handheld Time Machines
Cities are full of noise and scuffle, and they don’t always reveal their history. Armed with a fistful of maps from 1901 and a smartphone bristling with data-recording apps, one man tries to uncover a city’s secrets.
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Crushes on Strangers
The Married Man
That is well and good, but my own suggestion is that you never get a crush on a married person. It’s trouble. Leave it alone. My married...
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What I Drink
Explaining My Alertness
Right now I am drinking Nespresso. A cup—a very little cup—of the Dulsão de Brasil, currently my favorite variety. And I am about to...
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Eurozonia
Postcards From Europe, Hastily Scrawled
The subtitle of the international version of the book is “The Meltdown Tour.” Lewis acts as tour guide, showing us some ruins, dramatizing the fall with anecdotes, spouting...
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Where Dating Happens
The Places You’ll Go
For those of us who are single and looking, the world is full of opportunities and just as full of all sorts of regrets. Reviews of three places with three men.
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Late Night Sports Radio
Whose Fantasy Is This, Anyway?
That’s not my experience. In my home region of Raleigh-Durham, college basketball and college football are the main topics of discussion and in my transistor-delivered sports talk home...
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Gallery
Signs of the Times
During the 1990s, Steve Powers painted lauded graffiti across New York City as ESPO, and published the dorm-room bookshelf staple, The Art of Getting Over. A selection from his recent “Daily Metaltations.”
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#Can'tProtestTooMuch
Exile on Wall St.
The occupation of Wall Street has been heralded as a passionate grassroots movement (now beloved by celebrities) that is spreading nationwide and claiming to reflect America’s non-wealthy 99 percent ...
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My Contemporary British TV Detectives
DCI HBIC
Long before The Wire came along, Prime Suspect exposed the mental ant-farms of both criminals and police. The stories were great (top-notch casting), and also lasted very long, three hours...
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Americans Abroad
All the Gin Joints
The deserts of Morocco are wide and golden. Trust nearly 200 American college students to track down and guzzle whatever alcohol lurks in the sands of the Islamic kingdom.
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Crushes on Strangers
Yeah, You Know Him
And yet, I sat in the dark theater and felt a planetary pull toward him. I went all hot and melty during a scene in which he did little but...
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Personal Essays
The Secret Point of Money and Power
Over time, a couple shares a bed, a past, and money. But when the relationship ends, as accounts are counted and paid, some debts are more complicated than they seem.
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New York's Roadside Attractions
Hamilton Grange
The weekend of Sept. 17 the Hamilton Grange was being rededicated to coincide with Constitution Day. I won’t condescend to tell you who Alexander Hamilton was or why he...
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Local News
On the Beat
In a North Carolina mountain town, the cops are good old boys, the sheriff’s a teddy bear, and the chief conducts drug raids in his head. All of which spells nothing good for a Mexican caught with a carful of guns, or for the town’s “Cop Beat” reporter.
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Sound Advice
Educated Guess
Five years ago, I joined MetaFilter. MetaFilter began as—and primarily remains—an online space for members to share interesting links and comment on them. Period, end of...
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Gallery
Cruising
Chad States previously photographed men at their most masculine. His latest work finds them amid lush parks at their most discreet.