Member of all-white waitstaff barks at member of all-Hispanic busboy staff in way that makes customers feel like those who just stood by and watched in Vichy France.
Paul Simms had a pretty funny short piece in the April 23 New Yorker.
All posts by James
Analyzing the Avengers
Designer Jer Thorp breaks down membership trends in the Avengers in far more detail than anyone needs (i.e., enough for a Marvel fanboy to go gaga over).
Edited to add: It reminds me of this X-Men relationship chart, which is also great.
ht Flowing Data
Into the Clouds
The April 26 New Yorker also published an excellent short story by Colum McCann. “Transatlantic” shares an attempt to be the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic. I thought it was restrained and wonderful, calling up all the promise of the new, technological world establishing itself through a great gamble undertaken by two scarred, matter-of-fact men.
Reading more, it turns out it’s a true story! But I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Meals from the Museum
The New Yorker has had some great features lately exploring the heritage of regional cuisines. In the April 16 issue, Julia Ioffe has an excellent article about Maksim Syrnikov, a Russian chef who’s dedicated to exploring and recreating that nation’s traditional diet, going as far as to build one of the massive brick ovens that used to dominate peasant homes. Borscht and potatoes aren’t really Russian he argues; the meals he does cook are fascinating, even if critics charge they’re unhealthy or anachronistic.
The Ioffe article called up a 2011 story by Burkhard Bilger about Homer Sean Brock, a Charleston chef committed to rediscovering classic southern recipes, going as far as to establish his own farm to grow the right ingredients. That one’s also top-notch.
Colbert at the Time 100
But perhaps the most influential person on the list is here, Sara Blakely. The inventor of the Spanx. Give it up.
No one, no one has done more to control women’s bodies, except maybe Cardinal Dolan.
Cardinal, congratulations, sir, you are a feminist icon.
Stephen Colbert’s White House Correspondents address is probably my favorite bit of comedy ever, but his recent talk at the Time 100 Gala is pretty great too.