The latest issue of Fire to the Prisons: An Insurrectionary Quarterly is out. From Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture, Mike Meloy (Loyola): From Kid Nation to Caste Nation: Mobility, Privilege, and the Paradox of Class on Reality Television; Young Hoon Kim (Alberta): The Justice of Melodrama: The West Wing's Coping Strategies in a World of Violence and Terror; Becca Cragin (BGSU): Noirish Inversions: Investigation and Victimization in The Silence of the Lambs and Basic Instinct; and an interview with Philippa Gates, author of Detecting Men: Masculinity and the Hollywood Detective Film. From The Rumpus, Ethan Watters on 10 things you should know before going on The Daily Show. Patrick Egan on Perry v. Schwarzenegger: Is being gay a fixed trait or chosen identity? (but so what if sexual orientation is a choice after all?) From The American Scientist, a review of The Unimaginable Mathematics of Borges' Library of Babel by William Goldbloom Bloch; and knowing when to stop: How to gamble if you must — the mathematics of optimal stopping. From Haaretz, a review of The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich by Daniel Ammann; and a review of A Cracking of the Heart by David Horowitz. A look at the 6 most statistically full of shit professions. Franklin Bruno on Flarf Poetry: Since coming together on private Listserv exchanges in 2001, the writers of the Flarf Collective have attracted critical attention — oh, and readers — more rapidly than is deemed seemly for contemporary poets. Bundles of Cable: James Surowiecki on the ill-advised battle between the networks and the providers.
