October 2008 Archives
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Andrew Sullivan and Marc Ambinder discuss the difference between playing hardball and crossing the line in campaign advertising.
Marc Ambinder describes the challenge of reporting on two very different campaigns, and Andrew Sullivan discusses his evolving thought process about Sarah Palin.
Andrew Sullivan and Marc Ambinder reflect on the narcotic appeal of blogging and the occupational hazards of thinking quickly.
"You end up writing about yourself, since you are a relatively fixed point in this constant interaction with the ideas and facts of the exterior world. And in this sense, the historic form closest to blogs is the diary. ... But a blog, unlike a diary, is instantly public. It transforms this most personal and retrospective of forms into a painfully public and immediate one."
Rosanna Warren reads a poem by Arthur Rimbaud
"'Marine' mingles land and sea in a series of parallelisms and puns: the chariots are placed symmetrically with the prows, likening the ships' prows to plow blades cutting through soil."
Rosanna Warren reads a poem by Arthur Rimbaud
"Modernity always defines itself in relation to a past that it attacks and transforms. Here, the self-proclaimed poet of modernity (“We must be absolutely modern,” he had written in A Season in Hell) presents us with the figure of a faun: just the sort of neoclassical kitsch we'd expect him to despise. What does he do with it? He brings it to life, awakening a myth."
A journey through a thawing region with Scott G. Borgerson and Michael A. Levi
"The opening of a new waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans is akin in historic significance to the opening of the Suez Canal, in 1869, or is Panamanian cousin, in 1914. With this sea change will come the rise and fall of international seaports, newfound access to nearly a quarter of the world's remaining undiscovered oil and gas reserves, and a recalibration of geo-strategic power."
Charles C. Mann leads a tour of Japan's mountain baths and hot springs.
Music: "Onsen" by Vector Lovers
"The Japanese are great at inventing complex systems of rules, and not so great at explaining those rules to foreign visitors. ... Cleaning and soaking are two distinct activities, and baths are emphatically not for cleaning. Instead, you first go to an area outside the bath, where you sit on a little stool and wash yourself with fanatic thoroughness. ... The goal is to be so meticulously clean before climbing into the bath that you will not share any dirt with the other participants. If you fail to clean off, as I did the first time I went to an onsen, you will be rewarded by an unusual sight: half a dozen annoyed, naked people simultaneously exiting the water."
Christina Davidson explores the ancient treasures of a city soon to be submerged in water.
"Hasankeyf may soon be hit by another conquering wave—this time, a watery one that could drown its history. Fifty miles downstream, near the village of Ilisu, a consortium of German, Swiss, Austrian, and Turkish contractors is preparing to build a massive hydroelectric dam that would catch water from the Tigris just before the river spills into Syria and Iraq. If all goes as planned, most of Hasankeyf will be submerged by a reservoir. Ali pointed out the projected waterline—about halfway up the spire of a 15th-century minaret."
The evolution of a magazine's design
(Play this slideshow automatically using the play button on the left or click through the images individually using the arrows on the right. Push the button in the lower right-hand corner to enter full screen mode.)
"Every magazine that you and I like has a personality. We are drawn to it, issue after issue, by a combination of the comfort of familiarity and the promise of surprise. The process of redesign, then, is simply one of discovering the right visual analogue for a distinctive editorial voice, one that allows for both constancy and change."
