2009

The New York Times Magazine has a great online feature called Obama’s People, showing pictures of some of the members of the new administration and his allies in Congress. There’s a slideshow and some narration by Narav Kander (photographer), and Kathy Ryan, the Times Magazine’s director of photography. Basically, the idea was to get them photographed in a small, confined space and to let their gestures to the talking. Also, they asked each person to bring (if they wanted?) a…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on the launch of the new BBC Persian television service is airing today. It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): New York – 3 pm Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 8 pm Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 12 pm Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston – 4 pm Eastern –…

My brilliant and beautiful fiancée, Rebecca Guyon, has just been published (twice!) in the latest issue of Press 1, an online poetry journal. Here’s my favorite of these two: Brocaded Your bready eyes would float if I threw you in this pond. The koi circling, sucking you in with tunnel mouths. Who will touch me then? The garden heaves us onto a screen – remember that little Japanese painting? The clawing wave, the mountain under grip men rowing and sliding…

The Washington Post, January 14 2009, by Bob Woodward: The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, interrogating him with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a “life-threatening condition.” “We tortured [Mohammed al-]Qahtani,” said Susan J. Crawford, in her first…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on the “refocusing” of the One Laptop Per Child project is airing today. It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): New York – 3 pm Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 8 pm Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 12 pm Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston – 4 pm Eastern –…

via Accordion Guy

I spent a couple hours this weekend making this map based on info collected by Lucy Vanel and by the city of Villeurbanne. Feel free to send me updates, tips, or suggestions!

The Atlantic’s Michael Hirschorn, January/February 2009: But what if the old media dies much more quickly? What if a hurricane comes along and obliterates the dunes entirely? Specifically, what if The New York Times goes out of business—like, this May? It’s certainly plausible. Earnings reports released by the New York Times Company in October indicate that drastic measures will have to be taken over the next five months or the paper will default on some $400 million in debt. With…

Apparently in early 2001, David Manilow, one of the creators of “Check, Please!” sold his idea for a food TV show to Chicago’s WTTW. One of the early episodes, filmed in August 2001, featured a young state senator named Barack Obama, who was one member of the four-person panel to review Chicago’s Dixie Kitchen. According to The Internet Food Association: The episode was never broadcast. Obama didn’t seem “amateur” enough, and he dominated the show. But on [January 16 2009],…

Dear Friends, My piece on the American release of Alan’s War aired on The World on December 22. I apologize for the late notice — this got caught up in my vacation backlog. Audio is here. Happy New Year to all!