This week’s ambience: A neural network generates infinite technical death metal.

Welcome to the 2023 Tournament of Books presented by Field Notes. New for 2023: a brand new website! It's time to Rooster!

↩︎ The Tournament of Books 3w

For your weekly wanderlust: Video of exploring a new bikepacking trail in northern Scotland.

2d

Sarula Bao shows how she drew her gorgeous recent cover for The New Yorker magazine.

↩︎ Twitter 2d

A ghostwriter behind multiple bestsellers by famous doctors may be “the biggest serial plagiarist of all time.”

↩︎ Los Angeles Magazine 2d

In 17th-century Paris, transfusing the blood of lambs and calves into humans “held the promise of renewed youth.”

↩︎ The Public Domain Review 6d

Out of 20,063 adults surveyed in the United States, nearly a third said they were “somewhat confident” or “very confident” that they could safely land a passenger airplane in an emergency.

Pilots explain why you definitely wouldn’t be able to land an airplane in an emergency.

↩︎ The Washington Post

6d

A long article on being a Premier League referee. “It’s like, ‘what are you doing?”

↩︎ The Guardian 6d

Justin Heckert explains how an old, untorn ticket to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls debut game became a priceless artifact.

↩︎ ESPN 6d

Seoul is building the world's largest (also spokeless) Ferris wheel.

↩︎ Uncrate 1w

The script opened with a huge battle around the Greeks’ beached ships. For that spectacular scene, Susan and I had meticulously assembled ships, five hundred shields, two thousand costumes, and the other requisites. The Greek government had been most cooperative.

A college student in the 1960s, in pursuit of a young woman, attempts to make a movie with Marlon Brando to impress her.

↩︎ Lapham’s Quarterly

1w

A researcher uses GPT-4 to measure the passage of time in fiction. "This is a preliminary report on a very strange world."

↩︎ Ted Underwood 1w

For your midweek wanderlust, some photos and a diary from a bikepacking trip between México City and Oaxaca.

↩︎ The Radavist 1w

When I told people about my semaglutide stash, they were intrigued. “Should I take it and be your guinea pig?” a friend asked. I reminded him that he was already skinny. “I’m Gigi Hadid skinny,” he replied. “I could be Bella Hadid skinny.”

Jia Tolentino: Drugs like Ozempic may help people see appetite as a biological fact, not a moral choice.

↩︎ The New Yorker

1w

An excellent story about the entwined plights of a Phoenix sandwich shop and a homeless encampment.

↩︎ The New York Times 1w

“Pedro Pascal’s coffee order is a cry for help.”

↩︎ Sprudge 2w

“What Time Do You Wake Up? Write It in the Comments and I Will Tell You Why You Are Bad and Lazy Compared with Me, a 3:15 a.m. Waker-er Upper Who Owns Not One but Two Vitamix Blenders”

A round-up of satirical headlines for stories about supposedly life-improving morning routines.

↩︎ The New Yorker

2w

A brief letter to publications that want your email address to read free content. “Not reading is easier than reading."

↩︎ The Verge 2w

After 29 years of neoliberal failure, xenophobia appears a satisfying answer for a national bourgeoisie that has thus far avoided redistributing sufficient wealth to the majority of South Africans.

Thomas Lesaffre: Across post-colonial Africa, foreigners are an easy scapegoat for an elite that’s failed to redistribute wealth.

↩︎ Africa Is a Country

3w

In the Bay Area, eight households hold more wealth than the bottom 50% of residents (nearly half a million households).

↩︎ SF Gate 3w

The professor who called Bret Stephens a bedbug bets Twitter only has six months left.

↩︎ The Future, Now and Then 3w