Malibu
David Thomson on Films: ‘Midnight in Paris’
In the Belly of the Beast
"World's Most Interesting Man" Talks
Nick Paumgarten interviews the actor who plays "The World's Most Interesting Man" in a series of Dos Equis commercials. He turns out to be, if not the most interesting man in the world, pretty interesting: READ MORE >>
Traitors to Their Class
For Barack Obama’s inauguration, Washington Dulles International Airport had to close a runway to accommodate private jet traffic. According to aviation authorities, the D.C. area had never before experienced so large an influx of corporate jets—around 500 in total, or almost double the number for George W. Bush’s second inauguration. And this was to celebrate the presidency of someone who had run on a platform that included tax hikes for the rich and a crackdown on Wall Street. READ MORE >>
Dispatches From the Blago Trial (Part 4)
Click here to read Margo Howard’s first dispatch from the Blagojevich trial. Click here to read her second. And here for her assessment of the opening statements. READ MORE >>
They All Seem Like Game Show Hosts To Me
Via The Washington Examiner: READ MORE >>
Cock and Bull
There is an obscure publishing doctrine known as "the small penis rule." As described in a 1998 New York Times article, it is a sly trick employed by authors who have defamed someone to discourage their targets from filing lawsuits. As libel lawyer Leon Friedman explained to the Times, "No male is going to come forward and say,`That character with a very small penis, `That's me!'" This gimmickwas undoubtedly on the mind of Michael Crichton, the pulp science-fiction writer of Jurassic Park fame, when he wrote the following passage in his latest novel, Next. (Caution: Graphic imagery. READ MORE >>
GOPtopia
Surry Hill. So reads a plaque at the end of the long, winding private road that leads to the crown jewel of McLean, Virginia: the 18,000-square-foot mansion that Republican lobbyist Ed Rogers and his wife Edwina call home. To get there from Washington, you drive across the Potomac River and along a parkway that, in the summer, is canopied by lush green trees. Shortly before the guarded entrance to the CIA, you turn off McLean's main road and then down a private lane, passing through brick gate posts adorned with black lanterns and into a grand cul-de-sac. A massive brick Colonial with majes READ MORE >>
