December 2014 Archives
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Albums of the Year
The Top Albums of 2014
Music writing and music enthusiasm don’t mix—let’s change that. With the help of an army of YouTube commenters, we gush over our selections for the 31 best albums of the year.
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Navel Grazing
Editors’ Favorites From 2014
The staff choose their most-liked pieces published in 2014: a painting expedition through the Underground Railroad, a personal memory of Vivian Maier, and a restaurant review that isn’t a restaurant review.
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The Long, Long List for the 2015 Tournament of Books
But because our readers have requested us to do this, and because we enjoy doing this—telling you what books we loved in 2014—here is our long, long...
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Realpolitiking
Grading the President
As President Obama enters his final days in office, a proper assessment of his tenure requires a variety of measurable, non-political categories: golf, offspring, homebrewing, and more.
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The Travel Desk
The Mother Wave
Before the days of GPS, sailors navigated using the feel of the waves. On a mission to learn the ocean’s secret rhythms, a researcher discovers a coded message in a ship logbook.
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Dispatches
The Kings of Simcoe County
At an Elvis festival in rural Canada, scores of tribute artists (not “impersonators”) pay homage to the King. When searching for the meaning of it all, try not to overthink it.
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Gallery
Ghosts in the Sunlight
Female subjects painted in classics by Old Masters—Diana After the Hunt, The Rape of Europa—get their voices restored, and with them new narratives and powers.
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Spoofs & Satire
Admirable Restraint
Understatement can help us cope with disaster. But in the case of Paul McCartney, a little doesn’t always go a long way.
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Profiles
Um for the Holidays
It’s the most wonderful time of year, but for atheists and agnostics, it means something altogether different. We asked a group of non-believers to tell us how they’re spending their secular holiday seasons.
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Interviews
Painting the President
Twice the official portraitist of George W. Bush, painter Robert Anderson explains what it’s like to build a relationship with a president, separate the man from the legacy, and struggle with his smirk.
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Gallery
Magnetic Dust
Paintings made from commercial cassette tape can’t help but embrace a sense of decay that’s inherent to the material.
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The Rooster Wants You (and Your Favorite Novel)
Here’s your chance to nominate your favorite 2014 novel for consideration as a tournament contender—as well as apply to be our 2015 ToB reader judge. One vote and...
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Roundtables
Like Pushing an Elephant Into a Volkswagen
Writers who haven’t quit their day jobs, who cram in the writing hours around full-time work, discuss juggling office life, family, and creativity.
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Guides
The 2014 Good Gift Games
Board games are a gift that keeps on giving—the best of the bunch provide hours of fun for years on end. But when a new crop of great games arrives every year, how can you choose? This is how.
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Dispatches
Of Fish and Farmers
Consider the Delta smelt: an old fish in California, endemic to the upper Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary, now caught between its home and thousands of drought-stricken acres.
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Gallery
Woman in My Heart
Portraits of a queer community in South India treat gender, biology, art, and family with emotional nuance—no exoticism in sight.