“Somewhere in this Book I Broke” — a review of Mean Free Path by Ben Lerner

02.09.10

"If you have to buy a ticket, it’s modern. If you are already inside and you have to pay to get out of it, it’s more modern," writes Ben Lerner in his book Angle of Yaw, a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award. He has followed it with his latest collection Mean Free Path. Taken from physics, its title refers to the average distance traveled by an electron between two successive collisions with other moving particles, an idea which — along with the Doppler effect — Lerner uses to explore 21st century distraction, the military industrial complex and love. Jeff Johnson reviews this ambitious new work.

Happy Rock

Matthew Simmons

02.08.10

Matthew Simmons is the author of the short story collection A Jello Horse and a recurring contributor to the Believer. Here he limns that eternal question: Is humanity regressing or did I just move back to my hometown?

Accompanying images of "Graybows" are from artist Joe Hardesty.

Rupaul’s Drag Race

Bradford Nordeen

02.05.10

The growth of positive depictions of gay chracters and themes on television likely has as much to do with advertising demographics as recent shifts in public opinion and, true to form, Rupaul’s Drag Race is packed with as many product placements as the other reality TV shows it mirrors. Bradford Nordeen, author of Fever Pitch, highlights the pleasures and frustrations that the show has to offer as well as how it literalizes Warhol’s maxim about fifteen ~~minutes~~ seconds of fame.

Book: Eat When You Feel Sad

Casey McKinney

02.03.10

Lately, been reading lots of things about things, like books, things about books, and as they say, afterwards the words have been taken out of my…

Super Bowl XLIV Preview: Saints & Colts in Miami

Adam Underhill

02.03.10

I never thought about the double entendre of awfulness that would have fell on earth had Bret Favre beat New Orleans last week and gone on to (maybe even win?) the Super Bowl. No I’d forgotten about the cheeseheads and the humiliation that would haunt them had THEIR guy won on that damn Vikings team (I like Favre btw – ^_CM). Was just pondering New Orleans, still Katrina repairing, rushing to their first Super Bowl ever by beating a fellow borne and bred gulf coaster… that game was a team vs an individual right? the twilight of a heavyweight? the phoenix-like rise of a city? or did I get confused? Well Adam Underhill, long time Green Bay fan didn’t miss anything. Here’s his preview for Super Sunday, ‘tween the Saints and oh yeah, the Colts. And speaking of drama, keep an eye on Colts receiver Pierre Garçon, the Haitian descent player who played with incredible gusto in the AFC championship. Prediction? Well read on…