Collecting illustration

Our Obsession with the Passion of Possession  

Adam, the first collector, got to label every other creature, creating the first taxonomy. Collectors ever since have catalogued their finds, documented their history, identified subtle differences. By the nineteenth century, people saw collections as symbolic worlds, full of clues to other places and other times.

Carry That Weight

Unlike most McCartney biographies, which seem to have little to say about the man’s actual music output, The McCartney Legacy focuses on how Paul went about constructing and recording his work, giving an invaluable history that helps illuminate how he re-conceptualized his art in the wake of the Beatles’ break-up.

Can Grant Hill Save Basketball?

Although Game may lack the scandal and drama of other basketball autobiographies, it is an important story that allows readers to appreciate Hill’s unique basketball skills and accomplishments as well as the ways he successfully navigates the often-contested worlds of Duke and the NBA.

Pea Soup with Art Garfunkel

I watched Art Garfunkel smell the diner and think about walking away from it. Then he stood up, put a small pile of money on the table next to a white bowl with what appeared to be the dregs of pea soup, and prepared to walk away.

Pulp Fiction is Officially an “Old Movie” Now

Quentin Tarantino’s most identifiable feature as a writer-director is his characters’ talking, talking, talking, often followed by violence triggered not by the talking, really, but by accident, coincidence, or stupidity.

One Tree Is Enough

The tensions that wire our lives do not go dead. Every time I try to look away, they crop up again, disguised or insidious. But Sylvia Plimack Mangold fixed her gaze and stared them down.

The Conspiracy of Bad Coffee Is Real, but Ending Soon

(Jakub Dziubak via Unsplash)         Every so often the forces of new scientific findings and opinion columns align to produce a certain sense of dread and unease. In this case, that dread and that unease are acute if you believe in the power and pleasure of a…

Will Our Hyphens Join Us or Divide Us?

This is a concept country, like one of those cool demo cars that never get made because they are too flawed to be practical. Except, the nation did get made. We are still figuring out how to punctuate that reality.

New Documentary Shows Steve Martin’s Lonely Art and Happy Life

Fans of Martin’s will be rewarded for watching more than three hours of documentary about his life. What emerges is a portrait of an anxious introvert acting like an extreme extrovert for fun and profit.

Steinbeck and the Baby Bunny

Nature is red in tooth and claw, I mutter to myself. But how could our gentle dog be so cruel?

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