Arts + Culture

Mark Lamster|Essays

Pastrami on Rye

A new project: documenting some favorite New York dining establishments.

Mark Lamster|Essays

Complaint Dept. (Redux)

Most complaints in sixty seconds, a new world record. You've read the transcript. Now watch the video.

Mark Lamster|Essays

A Letter to the President

A letter to Barack Obama the day after his inauguration.

Lorraine Wild|Dialogues

A Babylon of Signs

Installation of a digital billboard in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood catalyzed environmental design protests that led to a proposed new sign ordinance in this city.“There is no reason…why the methods of commercial persuasion …

Lorraine Wild|Dialogues

A Babylon of Signs

Installation of a digital billboard in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood catalyzed environmental design protests that led to a proposed new sign ordinance in this city.“There is no reason…why the methods of commercial persuasion …

Kerry Saretsky|Reviews

Curious Case of the Better Adaptation

Tales of the Jazz Age, the collection of stories in which The Curious Case of Benjamin Button first appeared in 1922. Illustration by John Held, Jr. Now that I am comfortably “well-read” in my twenties with a Master’s in modern …

Mark Lamster|Essays

Master of Shadows: The Cover

Behold the cover for Master of Shadows, which releases this coming October.

Mark Lamster|Essays

Who Needs Two?

In this brutal economy, the Yankees have enlisted Prudential Douglas Elliman to help them move high-end seats at their new stadium.

Mark Lamster|Essays

Mooses

Billy Crystal is one of those guests talk show producers adore, and if you were watching Letterman last night you know why.

Mark Lamster|Essays

If the Wire Cast Was a Football Team

The Baltimore Ravens look pretty formidable going into the AFC Championship game, but I wonder if this squad from Charm City could give them a run for their money.

Mark Lamster|Essays

Complaint Dept.

The complaint has always been my great metier, the form in which I am a non-pareil master. Last night I became an honest-to-goodness world record holder in my favored idiom.

W.S. Merwin|Poetry

"Unchopping A Tree"

"Start with the leaves, the small twigs, and the nests that have been shaken, ripped, or broken off by the fall; these must be gathered and attached once again to their respective places..." A prose poem by W.S. Merwin about how to unchop …