“There are bigger issues here. There are questions of real consequence, such as why the F.B.I. got so thoroughly involved in what has been vaguely described as a case of e-mail harassment, whether the bureau waited too long to tell lawmakers and White House officials about the investigation, and how much classified information Broadwell, by dint of her relationship with Petraeus, was privy to. The answers matter.
Her “expressive green eyes” (The Daily Beast) and “tight shirts” and “form-fitting clothes” (The Washington Post) don’t.
”
“The upper middle class (i.e. the NYT reader) is WORKING MORE HOURS and having to stay more connected TO WORK than ever before. This is a problem with the way we approach labor, not our devices. Our devices enabled employers to make their employees work 24/7, but it is our strange American political and cultural systems that have allowed them to do so.”
Yes. Read the whole thing on The Atlantic’s web site.
Alexis Madrigal is fast becoming one of my favorite writers
Immutable/Inscrutable: Radiohead wouldn't exist without early major-label funding. The future won't bring new Radioheads. All I want to say...
Mike Doughty’s smart take on the current discussions around the changes in the music industry.
In the wake of recent future-of-music discussions—Louis CK’s direct-ticketing move, which may indeed revolutionize touring for artists with that large of an audience, and the Emily White/All Songs Considered/David Lowery thing—I’ve been having arguments about record labels and money.
I was kind…
“In the wake of the Tea Party, the Occupy movement, and a dozen or more episodes of real rebellion on the streets, in the legislatures of cities and towns, and in state and federal courthouses, this presidential race now feels like a banal bureaucratic sideshow to the real event – the real event being a looming confrontation between huge masses of disaffected citizens on both sides of the aisle, and a corrupt and increasingly ideologically bankrupt political establishment, represented in large part by the two parties dominating this race.”
“The Meaningless Side Show Begins”: Matt Taibbi, as usual.
“[F]or much of the day, my Twitter feed was a cornucopia of rapture humor, much of it very witty. “I feel fine,” one friend dryly noted. But … the overall tone was aggressively mocking—a roomful of comedians one-upping each other to belittle the morons and hysterics who’d wrapped their lives around the notion of apocalypse.
[…]
When the storm came last night, and the fingers of cloud descended from the sky, Mike faced it alone. I wonder what it was like, watching his house break apart and scatter across the earth. I wonder what he saw, crouched in that bathtub with his life swirling around him. The opening skies? The angel visitant?
”
Wow.
(From The Awl.)
“What these shows have in common is a snotty attitude. Kids address each other and adults with a sassy, casually hurtful tone peppered by laugh-track laughs. Many of these shows posit celebrity as the ultimate value.
[…]
A huge number of the shows’ plots focus on being attractive to the opposite sex. Kids who are bookish, have unusual passions like ventriloquism (Victorious), have asthma (Good Luck Charlie), are chubby (Suite Life), or wear glasses (Victorious) are subject to ridicule by the heroes. (It can’t be bullying if the heroes are doing it!) Parents, if they exist, are generally portrayed as dimwitted. When kids mock them to their faces, the parents react with helpless frustration or goofy, rueful acceptance.
[…]
And these shows are dumb. The writing isn’t witty. The plots are predictable. The characters are pancake-flat. Why put up with stupid TV writing when good TV writing is out there? A single musical number on Phineas & Ferb, for example, recently featured the words infernal, invective, abhor, ambivalence, subjective, atrocious, and apathy. Do not tell me all cartoons rot children’s brains.”
Must read: the great Marjorie Ingall on the problem with tween TV. I couldn’t agree more.
“At some point, I guess, all you can really do is expose them to the world, push their curiosity, teach them to say please and thank you, help them with the school project they only just remembered, and try to help them navigate their way through the rights and wrongs and massive gray areas in between.”
This is a must-read…Joe Posnanski is one of the best baseball writers in America, but he’s just as good — maybe better — when he’s writing about parenting.
“After the third such incident, Duquette ventured down into the locker room. “I said, ‘Manny, let me ask you something. I was just wondering why you get back in the batter’s box after ball four.’ He said, ‘I don’t keep track of the balls.’ He said, ‘I don’t keep track of the strikes, either, until I got two.’ Then he said, ‘Duke, I’m up there looking for a pitch I can hit. If I don’t get it, I wait for the umpire to tell me to go to first. Isn’t that what you’re paying me to do?’ ”
On the occasion of Manny Ramirez’ sudden retirement, I went back and re-read Ben McGrath’s excellent New Yorker profile from 2007. Highly recommended.
Must Read: Michael Lewis on Baseball in Cuba
Jonah Keri calls this “the best baseball article you’ll read all year,” and he’s right. Michael Lewis (of ‘Moneyball’ and ‘Liar’s Poker’ fame) writes about the state of baseball in Cuba.
Commie Ball: A Journey to the End of a Revolution
This is reporting at its best. Do yourself a favor and read this over the weekend — you’ll be glad you did.
