December 2012 Archives
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Announcements
The Most Tweetable Sentences of 2012
We asked Paul to choose his favorite articles published on TMN in 2012. We had a pretty good year, we like to think: Many stories we loved, many reprints and nods...
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Guides
2012 Holiday Survival Guide for Slackers
‘Twas the day before Christmas, when all through the house still no presents were purchased—again, you’re a louse. Gift ideas for the ungifted.
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Closing the Door
The Year That Was and Wasn’t
We gathered writers and thinkers to consider everything that happened over the past 12 months and asked them: What were the most important events of 2012—and what were the least?
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End Zone
The Kickers Stink
Nevertheless, the NFL is still struggling to get used to the radical idea that the player who usually throws the football might also be able to tuck it under his...
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The Rooster
Announcing the 2013 Tournament of Books
The ides of March may be four months away, but a certain rooster is sick of waiting. Introducing the finalists and judges for TMN’s ninth annual Tournament of Books, presented by NOOK® by Barnes & Noble.
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Day of the Sparrow
Living With Bears
Once I saw a bear dragging the black plastic garbage bag across the road, walking backwards—exactly like a bankrobber backing out of a bank, with a bag of...
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Albums of the Year
The Top 10 Albums of 2012
A year’s worth of music listening, whittled down to the core. Because in the end, there can be only 10.
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Cloud of Atlases
We Traverse Afar
(One clue to get you started: The map doesn’t represent gross national anything.) [Answer]
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The Holidays Desk
Liner Notes for Christmas
Christmas is a time for family and friends and very weird songs that only get played once a year. Eleven holiday songs researched and fact-checked to explain their appeal, including the mystery behind endorphins solely released by Mariah Carey.
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Reading Roulette
Mikhail Shishkin
This is it, friends—the last round of our Reading Roulette series of contemporary Russian literature in translation, with one shot left in the chamber. But we’ve saved the best for last.
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Spoofs & Satire
Words Fail
This is the essay for your community college poetry class, the essay that encapsulates your thoughts on the assigned work in written form, the essay you started this morning, the essay that is due today.
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End Zone
The QBs Stink
My sins of fandom don’t end there: I was a late convert to the phenomenon of the running QB. Instead, I’ve always favored quarterbacks in the...
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TMN Weekender
Rapture
Still, so many people dread the holidays that it seems appropriate to consider Doomsday scenarios. Here are five stories about the apocalypse—or lack thereof—ready to read...
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Spoofs & Satire
Stop, Don’t Shoot
You witness an incident occur directly in front of you. You see every detail. There’s time to help—but should you get involved? A handy guide for photographers.
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The Global Desk
The Perfect Forecast
Predicting the weather is an incredibly complicated task. Stopping it altogether is even more difficult—but that doesn’t mean scientists aren’t trying. Obsession, cloud seeding, and very powerful storms.
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Cloud of Atlases
Es Ist Ein Map Entsprungen
(One clue to get you started: The map doesn’t represent gross national anything.) [Answer]
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Day of the Sparrow
A Letter to My Daughter
Sylvia: Enclosed is a check from my parents, consisting of “Hanukkah gelt.” (Suddenly it occurs to me that “gelt” must be Yiddish.) Are you familiar with...
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Opinions
A Spot for Tea
It’s easy to hate Starbucks until you admit it’s responsible for nearly everything good in today’s coffee culture. Now the behemoth is poised, with a recent acquisition, to introduce America to hundreds of years of tea culture. A tea maker is grateful.
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Gallery
By the Bus Stop
From a 10-year study of London’s bus stops, photographs that resemble Renaissance tableaus—brief congregations of people never to be repeated.
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TMN Weekender
Away We Go
In other news, Voyager I, the space probe launched in 1977, may finally be crossing the boundary between the solar system and interstellar space. To celebrate mankind’s wanderlust, here...
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The Future Case
Touching From a Distance
Technology is moving so fast, it’s easy to overlook that what’s to come is already right in front of us. Stop for a moment, and you’ll see the future.
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End Zone
The Panthers Stink
So when actual tragedy touches the sport—as it did last Saturday when Kansas Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend, then drove to Arrowhead stadium and shot himself...
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Day of the Sparrow
Tony Kushner
Tony speaks very fast, has an excellent memory, and is entirely a Jewish overachiever. “Are you a Jewish writer?” Rinne asked, at one point. “Oh, yes,”...
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Personal Essays
Habitat for Humanity
Manhattan is rife with lumberjacks, Los Angeles is hot for Appalachia, and the latest trend in pornography is cabins. Yes, cabins. But when a woman leaves New York for a log structure of her own, a metamorphosis occurs.
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Contest
Judge Lest Ye Fear the Rooster
This contest is now closed. Thank you to all who entered. The ninth annual Tournament of Books is right around the corner. Since it keeps working out so well (e...
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Cloud of Atlases
Take the Leap
(One clue to get you started: The map doesn’t represent gross national anything.) [Answer]
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Guides
The 2012 Good Gift Games
Oh look, it’s the holidays and time to interact with humans again. Thankfully, there are board games to facilitate or replace conversation. Here are 10 of the year’s best to get you started.
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Gallery
Street Skew
Plenty of artists take inspiration from Google Maps. But Arden Bendler Browning’s abstractions of urban landscapes convince us the city—riotous and tamed, growing and decaying—is more alive than we think.