Tourist Turbulence
Summer approaches, travel increases--and some people will kill you for photographing butterflies. Here's recent news on sightseeing, from Bangkok to Lars von Trier.
Mike Deri Smith
Gaming Confidence
MIKE Deri Smith summarizes recent news, studies, and gaffes concerning overconfidence, from competitive running to the N.F.L. draft, even socialist firemen.
Water Fight!
Around the world, water stirs up unexpected conflicts. Here's a dip into the latest headlines, and finds that beyond the haves and the have-nots are the want-mores and the take-yours.
The Corruptibles
Sitting at our new surveys desk, Mike Deri Smith rounds up the recent trends in global corruption, from Berlusconi to Jersey Shore, to New Yorkers paying rent to the Shah of Iran.
Dead of State
Where politics and democracy fail, nature eventually wins. A number of tyrants and world leaders are currently sick. Ranking the illest.
Police and Thieves
Having biked with the protesters, drank with the locals, and trained in a battalion to fight riot police, Mike Deri Smith sums up the clusterfail that was Copenhagen.
Smiling Happily in the Evening of Life
Drawn to Denmark to observe the U.N. meeting on climate change, our man in Copenhagen is somewhat waylaid, eating blazing fire and drinking liquified koala.
By Any Other Name
Writer seeks pen name: something simple, nothing dippy, and preferably one that avoids implying a lawyer who savors puns.
Freelance Whales
Freelance Whales cut their teeth playing jaunty pop music on the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Recently, the Metropolitan Transit Authority granted the band a license to play in subway stations as an official member of Music Under New York, complete with banner. We spoke to one of the band’s
Sacha Gervasi
Sacha Gervasi is a British director, screenwriter, and journalist. His screenwriting credits include The Terminal, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Steven Spielberg. Gervasi’s directorial debut, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, a documentary about an aging Canadian metal band for whom he was a roadie in the early 1980s,