January 2012 Archives
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Spoofs & Satire
Life After Long-Term Unemployment
You wanted it. You were willing to give up BBC dramas for it. Now it’s time to readjust to the working life. Welcome back.
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Opinions
Enjoy the Silence
Just because no one uses payphones doesn’t mean the phone booth needs to go the way of the dodo. One man’s plea for preserving society’s greatest unused invention.
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End Zone
Season Retrospective
In Week 8, the Giants (5-2) and the Patriots (5-2) both had a worse record than the perennially disappointing Lions (6-2). What other team had a 5-and-2 record that week? The...
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This Week
As I Unexpected
Every Friday we take a look back at the week’s headlines, centering on a theme we’ve singled out as particularly important. While “interesting” is...
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Witch Hunt
The Devil’s Trumpet
History is an imperfect science—the truth often weaves within nuance and mystery. For those playing the role of historian, the trick is knowing what you’re looking for.
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TMN vs. Explodingdog
Just Keep Waiting…
Read the individual entries in this series, and find out more about Sam, in the archives.
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Letters From Tel Aviv
Herbivore, Carnivore, Omnivore
A grocery visit or dinner out in Israel can sometimes leave your stomach churning, but not for the reasons you might think.
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Gallery
The Four Temperaments
In Thomas Woodruff’s paintings, Hippocrates’s Four Humors afflict beasties, batterflies, and tigers on tender, spooky landscapes.
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End Zone
Conference Championships
Whatever the reason, something went horribly wrong for Green Bay at Lambeau on Sunday. It was as if, in a Freaky Friday-type incident, the Packers’ entire offense had switched...
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This Week
Soft Power Triumphs Softly
Every Friday we take a look back at the week’s headlines, centering on a theme we’ve singled out as particularly important. This week, despite all that...
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A Sort of Homecoming
Don’t Leave Me
World War II had veteran parades. Vietnam War vets were often ignored, if not shunned. For the current generation of war-weary Americans, solace comes on YouTube.
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TMN vs. Explodingdog
I’ve Been Wrong Before
Read the individual entries in this series, and find out more about Sam, in the archives.
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Birnbaum V.
Russell Banks
Our man in Boston sits down for the sixth time with Russell Banks to discuss his latest novel, the movie business, Mitt Romney, the emigration of investigative journalists, and why it’s wise to wait until your 70’s before writing about obsessive love.
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This Week
Finding One’s Self, Losing One’s Self
Every Friday we take a look back at the week’s headlines, centering on a theme we’ve singled out as particularly important. This week, when we weren...
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End Zone
Division Weekend
Of perhaps slightly greater significance, as we look ahead to this weekend’s Divisional Playoffs: It turns out that clichés, just like dreams, sometimes do come true...
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The Tournament of Books
Here Comes the Rooster
It is time to announce the contestants, judges, and brackets for the original, one-and-only, full-combat, oddly-predictive-of-the-Pulitzer-Prize, eighth annual TMN Tournament of Books, coming March 2012, presented by Field Notes.
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The Brakes
Beauty
I missed, barely. The metal wad hit him right between the eyes. He didn’t need stitches, but he bled all night during dinner. And he took off his...
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Excerpts
King of the Hyperpolyglots
On a quest to find the person who speaks the most languages on Earth, our correspondent encountered Emil Krebs, a German diplomat who knew, by some accounts, 65 of them—and happily swore in dozens.
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TMN vs. Explodingdog
Anywhere Is Better Than Here, Right?
Read the individual entries in this series, and find out more about Sam, in the archives.
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Gallery
Emergency in the Netherlands
In Jeroen Hofman’s new monograph Playground, the training facilities for Holland’s soldiers, firefighters, rescue workers, and police officers are photographed from a cherry-picker, turning dangerous scenarios into LEGO sets.
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This Week
World Falling Apart, Hope Unavoidable
Every Friday we take a look back at the week’s headlines, centering on a theme we’ve singled out as particularly important. 2012 is commencing with the reminder...
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End Zone
Wildcard Weekend
Watching football is a complicated pleasure, one distinctly tinged with discomfort, even guilt. You can’t watch James Harrison, the Steelers linebacker, head-butt Browns quarterback Colt McCoy to the...
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Gallery
Off Route 80
The pictures in Susan Lipper’s series may come from West Virginia, but they could be found off dozens of American byways.
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American Letters
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
When you’re 16 and searching, Jack Kerouac’s urge to hit the road can seem inspired, or at least inspiring. Later, you wonder if his literature was actually early-onset LiveJournal. Later still, On the Road deserves one more look.
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TMN vs. Explodingdog
Did You Just Hear That?
Read the individual entries, and find out more about Sam, in the archives.
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Spoofs & Satire
This Will Be the Year That Was
As 2012 hatches, many face the new year with trepidation and excitement. Whose political fortunes will shine brightest? Were the Mayans right? Here are startlingly accurate predictions for the year ahead.