Finished With Greatness
Several people have remarked to me over the past year that the overarching storyline in Conversations With Greatness since January or so—Karl Marx fading into obscurity—had a swan song–ish quality to...
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It's Hard to Keitel the Difference
Has anyone else noticed the striking resemblance between Academy Award–nominated actor Harvey Keitel, and the exiled first President of Lithuania Antanas Smetona?Also, the Lithuanian Vikipedija entry...
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Epizztemology
Got the following through my letterbox last night:They bill themselves as a "noodle and pizza house" so I guess the "noodle" part is as in, "you will have to use your noodle to figure out just what the...
View ArticleCorrection of the Week
Seen on this HuffPo article about a man at Dallas airport who started trying to beat up another guy while yelling homophobic slurs:Update: An earlier version of this story noted that Wonkette.com had...
View ArticleBurying the Hachette
From NYTimes.com: Amazon and Hachette Resolve DisputeAmazon and Hachette announced Thursday that they had resolved their differences and signed a new multiyear contract, bringing an official end to a...
View ArticleIn Which The Author Appreciates Why Amazon Might Sometimes Be Not SoBad, or,...
Two months ago I wrapped up Conversations With Greatness, which for the last two years has been pretty much the only regular content on this blog. The plan was to start putting the time I'd been...
View ArticleThe Defense Calls Pepé Le Pew
From the New York Times: Strauss-Kahn Expected to Defend Legality of Lust at TrialLILLE, France — Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund who is accused of...
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Clooney Would Actually Make This Film, Too
From BBC News: Al Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed freedAl Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohammed have left prison in Egypt following their release on bail. They spent...
View ArticleA Further Open Letter to Andrew Ladd
Dear Andrew Ladd,Hi there. Sorry it's beenawhile. I've been pretty busy, I guess; I moved to London; I published my book in the U.K. (to some greatreviews, incidentally); and I got shortlisted for the...
View ArticleWilly Jokes
From The Scotsman: Hidden in the Clinton painting[In] an interview which the American portrait painter Nelson Shanks gave to the Philadelphia Daily News... he admitted to slipping a secret image into...
View ArticleHe Was A Featherweight
From the Glasgow Herald: Edinburgh Zoo urged to cancel "party" nights after Peta claims bird punched at similar event at another zooThe Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) [has reassured]...
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Breaking: Earning Less Than Similarly Qualified Men Just A Bunch Of Whining Too
Last October, researchers at the Open University of Israel published the results of a study investigating the factors influencing how women recall the pain of labour. According to their rather dry...
View ArticleAnd Other Katy Perry Songs
Here are some statistics about my night at the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award Benefit on Monday:Drinks I had to calm down before the event: 3Additional drinks I told myself I would...
View ArticleGet Your BAPs Out
If you're one of those people who likes to keep on top of the latest poetry controversies (and who isn't!), you might be having conflicted feelings right now about Yi-Fen Chou, aka Michael Derrick...
View ArticleRat Race
I would like to begin by acknowledging the obvious irony in me, a white man, saying the following:WHITE MEN ARE THE FUCKING WORST.Of course, you know, I'm a liberal guy with a sociology degree. I've...
View ArticleThings Andrew Can't Believe Today, In No Particular Order
1. America is a real place.2. Brooklyn Beckham is old enough to leave school.3. No, really. America is a real place?4. The lengths people will go to get a ticket for a free event.5. Seriously, though....
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Meanwhile, In The Ivies
Today I would like to take my quarterly break from Total Blog Silence to talk about this story from The Harvard Crimson: Berries Sour Debate Over UC FundingOn Sunday, Freshman Class Committee Treasurer...
View ArticleYour Brexit Questions Answered
After Britain's vote to leave the EU, some members of the public are understandably worried about the consequences for their day-to-day lives. This guide covers some of the most frequently asked...
View ArticleIt's Fine, We're Already Making More Whine Than Europe
Dear sore losers,1. You do not value diversity and condemn marginalization and exclusion above all else, because ever since the result you have been acting like people who think differently from you...
View ArticleIn Which The Author Wonders How These People Find The Time To Actually Give A...
Top ten sentiments ACTUALLY expressed by REAL PEOPLE at my building's shared ownership residents' meeting this evening.IMPORTANT CONTEXT FOR NON-BRITISH READERS: In Britain, as in most places, and...
View ArticleIn Loving Memory
A dear old friend of mine died today.Beyond the obvious depressingness of that, I've also been depressed, since I found out, at how hard it's been coming up with a fitting way to commemorate him. It...
View ArticleOn Trump, Normalising, and Bike Paths
I had a somewhat delayed post-election epiphany about a bike path the other night that I feel like sharing, but before I do, full disclosure: I, perhaps like you, am pretty tired of hearing about...
View ArticleTaking the Low Road
I've found myself on what I can most charitably call the unpopular side of most arguments about politics, lately. I like to tell myself it's because I'm being relentlessly reasonable, which may well be...
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Gopnik vs Gopnik
I've been unusually prolific on my blog since Trump's election (I mean, three posts, but that's prolific compared to my previous months-long streak of nothing). If you don't want to take the time to...
View ArticleWhy You're Entering The Immigration Debate Without The Proper Documents
Or, "The Time Andrew Couldn't Quite Bring Himself To Write A Clickbait Headline"Let me begin with the requisite disclaimers on a post like this: I don't like Trump, I'm a white guy so probably don't...
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