Low Orbit: “Packing for Mars” by Mary Roach
Rob Tennant08.04.10
First human-made satellite in orbit, 1957, first person on the moon, 1969, and. . . Despite its focus on the physics of defecating in space, Mary Roach’s latest leaves Rob Tennant salivating for his trip to the Red Planet. Is sending humans to Mars an unjustifiable waste of resources at a time when they already seem plenty scarce or a surreal and beautiful fulfillment of our species’ odd ambition?
Revisiting the Catholic Worker Movement: Dorothy Day and Anarcho-Socialist Christianity
Kaya Oakes07.21.10
Dorothy Day was a radical socialist single mom who founded the Catholic Worker movement. Catholic Workers are more likely to be found cooking food at your local punk house or at meetings of the I.W.W. than at the Vatican. Should she be nominated for sainthood or your next tattoo? Here, Kaya Oakes, author of Slanted and Enchanted: The Evolution of Indie Culture, makes a strong case for the tattoo.
Small Gains in My Ability to Picture Internet Infrastructure
Ben Bush07.17.10
Other than some mental of image of a highly air-conditioned server farm full of droning hard drives, I have a pretty limited ability to actually…
Some words for Harvey Pekar
Michael Louie07.13.10
It seems like every time I go to write something for the magazine these days it’s because somebody died. Today (6/13)…
Revenge of the Soccer Bridesmaids: The 10 Most Interesting Stories from The World Cup
Pete Hausler07.12.10
Now that the World Cup is over and a winner has been crowned, it’s time for us to count the ways we the viewers have won or been cheated. Pete Hausler recaps and reviews the 10 most memorable moments and events of the 2010 World Cup tournament, with a trenchant and critical eye, aimed particularly at soccer, er football’s governing body FIFA. Like lots of us Americans watching the World Cup, Hausler has no shortage of examples of FIFA’s woeful inadequacies to keep the world’s game an honorable one. But there’s more than just an excoriation of FIFA: there’s the fairytale storyline of two teams who met World Cup-less in all their history, the implosion of France, the laziness of the Italian squad, the (near) rise of the United States in International competition, the let down of the home country, and of course, the persistent vuvuzela buzz still ringing in our ears. [Also, according to my calculations, my cousin owes me $2400 from a bet on the final. —mkl]
Tooting the Vuvuzela for Spain!
Ben Bush07.10.10
There’s no end of good things to be said about the Netherlands. Nobody trompes the oeil quite like Vermeer. They gave us Van Gogh and their brave…
People In San Francisco
Wyatt Williams07.10.10
In San Francisco, as a protean breed/brood/batch of entrepreneurs keep floating through a misanthropic freelancer’s life, the writer realizes the only person he hates more than his subjects is himself.
Solex vs. Pandora: Elisabeth Esselink Reviews Her Own Pandora Station
Elisabeth Esselink07.06.10
Dutch musician Solex a.k.a Elisabeth Esselink reviews her own Pandora radio station. Solex’s sample-based albums are not to be missed. Low Kick, Hard Bop is filled with thwarted, fractured jazz, while on The Laughingstock of Indie Rock she samples and duets with recordings of a man she’d never met who sent her his accapella rendition of the entire White Album. Esselink is also a former record store owner, which made her seem an ideal person to evaluate Pandora — a company that, after years of losing money hand over fist, has recently become one of the few entities in the music industry to turn a profit. Solex also has a new album out – Amsterdam Throwdown, King Street Showdown, a collaboration with Jon Spencer of the Blues Explosion and Christina Martinez of Boss Hog, featuring this stylin’ video.
Kelis Has Gone All Fourth Of July On Us Mofos
Bradford Nordeen07.04.10
"Nothing I’ll ever say or do will be as good as loving you," croons Kelis on "4th of July (Fireworks)" from her new album. Francis Scott Key couldn’t be prouder, were he not some gross ramshackle of bones. Darling diva (and should be bigger, capital D, Diva) Kelis is releasing a new album this week in the States, on the heels of America’s Independence Day anniversary (been out in England a month, the LP). Bradford Nordeen looks back on a somewhat checkered career, like a bare knuckled butterfly pretending to be a moth to the fame flame…(ok blame us for that lame analogy). Nevermind…All hail Kelis! Torch the neighbors’ houses with bottle rockets!
Comfort the Afflicted Food and Afflict the Comfort Food: an Interview with Aimee Bender
Amy Meyerson07.03.10
In Aimee Bender’s most recent novel, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Rose Edelstein discovers at her ninth birthday party that has the ability to understand people’s feelings through the foods they make. In this conversation with Amy Meyerson, Bender discusses the culinary traditions of close-knit families, 19th century French theories of gustation, genre-slipping and why it can be useful to make your characters friendless.
