The softest slurs. Why Human beings have always needed to avoid saying what they have to say. Read it here.
Consumer Products
On celebrity as world religion. Read it here.
Is Jamie Oliver the Biggest Loser of All?
He understands everything about America's public health crisis -- except why he can never fix it. Read it here.
Why Can't Kanye West Shut the Hell Up?
Whether he's mouthing off about George W. Bush or Taylor Swift, the rapper is rewarded for acting outrageously -- in his public life and in his art. Now it's getting harder to tell the two apart. Read it here.
Why Is Clint Eastwood Still the Man?
Because no other man's come along to unseat him. And even though he's eighty, we could use someone like him as the epitome of masculinity right now. Read it here.
Fudging the Truth: A Tradition as Old as Uncle Tom
Read it here.
Kim III meet Hank Cinq: Shakespeare on North Korean Succession.
Read it here.
Just How Crazy is Oliver Stone?
He doesn't make smart, sensible films about smart sensible people, because that's not who he is. And neither are we. Read it here.
When words go up in flames
In threatening to burn the Koran, that obscure Florida pastor evoked a horrible tradition with deep roots. Read it here.
The battle is over. Trouble begins
What should we expect with combat concluded in Iraq? Read it here.
Tales of Confinement
The story of the trapped Chilean miners taps into our primal fears of being buried alive. Read it here.
Might as well deal me in, Dalton. We're all gamblers, now
Gambling, like porn, has been completely normalized. Maybe not the thing to talk about at Sunday lunch, but not exactly a vice either. Read it here.
What's with all the secrets and lies?
Leading a double life used to make you pretty interesting -- until we all got one. Read it here.
The Conrad Black-black bloc connection
Some news stories transcend their mere information to become aesthetic performances, and the trial of Conrad Black long ago left its news value behind and transformed into expensive, elaborate public ritual. Read it here.
How a team loses actually matters
Unlike the French, the Germans and Italians owned up to their losses. They will be champions again one day. Read it here.
Have we all gone completely nuts?
If you think Mel Gibson is the worst of it, just turn on your television, which is making us all think we're crazy and, worse, that we can't be healed. Read it here.
In defence of the vuvuzela
The vuvuzela is a gift, drowning out the real auditory garbage. Read it here.
Byrd and the Bard
American politics loses more than just its greatest quoter of Shakespeare. Read it here.
Writing Here, Now
Canadian writers, poised on the edge of the world, have the best view. Read it here.
When Giants Stumble
Five of the world’s biggest soccer salaries are paid to English players—and now they’re eliminated? The answer may lie in the tension between club and national teams. Read it here.