archive

Entertainment has come to mean junk

From The Walrus, an article on Latrine Graffiti, Kuwait and Afghanistan. From PopMatters, a review of You Call This the Future? The Greatest Inventions Sci-Fi Imagined and Science Promised by Nick Sagan, Mark Frary, and Andy Walker; and an article on the persistent politics of the Olympic Games. From Newsweek, Barack Obama is a Niebuhr-reading ESPN watcher — the origins of his troubles with the "other" tag. The Natural no more: The greatest mystery in a mystifying campaign — what happened to Bill? Entertainment has come to mean junk, but its definition also should include everything pleasurable that arises from an encounter with literature. From Argentina to Canada to France, Alberto Manguel crossed a planet of stories, a world champion of books (and a review of The Library at Night and a review of The City of Words; and more from Bookforum). From Reason, an interview with entrepreneur Peter Thiel on liberty and scientific progress (and a look at Floating Burning Man, "jurisdictional arbitrage," and other adventures in anarchism). From CQ Politics, here are make or break moments on the presidential campaign trail. A review of Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World Food System by Raj Patel. Rearming the world: Why nations are suddenly locked in an arms race unseen since the early days of the Cold War.