Stranger things have happened:

“On this matter of criticism, something that appalls me is the idea going around now that the practice of criticism is opposed to the literary impulse. Is necessarily opposed to it. Sure, it may be a trap, it may destroy the creative impulse, but so may drink or money or respectability. [...]

1. “Let us begin with a simple construct: a solitary slave sings. The singing is heard as enigmatic noise by an overseer on the ship at sea moving somewhere along the middle passage; or heard by a young and enslaved Frederick Douglass, and remembered (differently in the process of reflection and critical interpretation) [...]

“SOMERSET, NJ—In what local authorities are calling a ‘near tragedy,’ Charles Wentworth, a 17-year-old Rutgers Preparatory senior and member of the affluent Wentworth family, came perilously close to suffering a consequence resulting from his own wrongdoing Saturday.…‘A lot of kids in Charles’ situation would have confessed and accepted punishment for their mistake, but my son [...]

(from the archives)
marathonpacks (3:44 pm): i don’t put much stock in the idea that too many “obscure” songs on a mix is inherently an “elitist” endeavor, or a sign of trying to “prove” one’s taste. sure, exchanging mixtapes/cds/playlists/whateverz are social processes, which means that we care about what the other person thinks about [...]

I don’t care about Airborne Toxic Event as a band (I don’t care about most bands, so nothing specifically against these guys), but I do think this recent kerfluffle they’ve puffed up with Pitchfork proves that there are still ways for indie rock bands–especially those not subject to Brooklyn’s non-stop, barely-filtered publicity machine–to imaginatively try [...]

matthew: have you seen this one clip with McCain talking about “President Putin of Germany”eric: what?eric: is that on the onioneric: has life turned into the onionmatthew: the Republican party has turned into the Onionmatthew: last night he said something to the effect of confusing the Prime Minister of [...]

“Of course we should have seen Sarah Palin coming. All we had to do was look at the music charts. Which song dominated American radio airplay this summer? Not M.I.A.’s ‘Paper Planes,’ despite the deserved critical excitement when it jumped into the top five on the back of Pineapple Express; not Miley Cyrus; not the [...]

“…I spent some time digging up what I could of Writing on Professional Wrestling. There was that pro wrestling class at MIT, which had a blog, and I read that all the way through. A few university presses have put out essay compendiums on the subject, and there are a few pieces scattershot on the [...]

A Super-8 camera bearing a supposed snuff film accidentally floated away on some balloons (used as a cheap crane effect), was found and watched by a farmer, who freaked and gave it to the authorities, who tried to solve the case for a year before acting on a tip from an art student and [...]