Jordan Sayle
Dear Diary — It’s Paul’s Alter
Have you been acquainted with a Mr. Elyot Vionnet? You may not think so, but he’s actually someone we have all experienced at one time or another. For instance, remember the time when that woman with the cell phone and the couture shopping bags slammed right into you on the sidewalk and then gave you […]
Squara Meets Squier
Even if you don’t know it, you’ve probably already heard the music ofOrba Squara. The New York City-based singer-songwriter Mitch Davis’ one-man band is responsible for the effervescent tune featured in the iPhone commercials that have been blanketing the airwaves for the last couple of years. The song is called ‘Perfect Timing (This Morning),’ and […]
Doo-Doo Doo-Doo
Errant kid-carrying balloons, planes that overshoot the runway by 150 miles — these days, preternatural occurrences are the stuff of cable news. But 50 years ago, viewers tuned in to ‘The Twilight Zone’ to get their weekly eeriness fix. Before the ‘The Twilight Saga,’ and before ‘Paris Hilton’s My New BFF’ became the creepiest show […]
Original Sin
Kids never do as they’re told. The lauded novelist Vladimir Nabokov asked that his unfinished manuscript The Original of Laura be burned upon his death. But lucky for us, his son Dmitri didn’t listen. This week marks Laura’s inflammatory publication, which means that fans of Nabokov’s will now have to decide whether to respect the […]
Rhymes With Australopithecus
British poet Ruth Padel shares Charles Darwin’s DNA — she’s his great-great granddaughter. Inspired by the life of her (relatively) early relative, this descendant of the Descent of Man author pays tribute to her forefather in verse to commemorate the 150th anniversary of On The Origin of Species and the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth. […]
Music That Speaks to You
Here’s a Black Friday deal that the big-box retailers can’t beat. Buy the new album from the up-and-coming indie bandEzra Furman and the Harpoonsand you’ll get a personalized song thrown in, for no extra charge. Just send them a letter with your life story (or a condensed version, perhaps), and they’ll churn out a folk-rock […]