Remember this post about how a stranger gave Chantal Adamson a kidney after reading her mother's plea on MatchingDonors.com. The kidney is still working, but the donor is in the news again--on a decidedly unrelated matter. It seems she's charged with hiring someone to kill her estranged husband before their divorce went through. From the local news article: "How could a woman who donates a kidney to a stranger also plot a murder? The State Police detective investigating the case says 'bizarre human behavior happens every day.'" That's the truth.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on December 04, 2006 • Comments
Remember when "It's a Small World" was a cute fairytale?
The resignation of John Bolton is as good an excuse as any to share Sandra Tsing Loh's delightful reminiscence of the innocent internationalism I remember so well as part of my 1960s childhood. (I revisited this passage while researching my next Atlantic column, on airline glamour, but the quotation didn't make it into the final version.) From Depth Takes a Holiday
International--what a guileless, friendly world. As a kid in the sixties, I remember drinking up everything international: Expo 67! UNICEF! The five intertwining rings of the Olympics! International...House of Pancakes! "Come in!" international people always seemed to be saying. 'We don't care where the hell you're from. Have some flapjacks!"
Ah, when "looking like the U.N." was a compliment, suggesting a nicely harmonious mix of costumes and skin colors--Star Trek with smoother foreheads.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on December 04, 2006 • Comments
"Once in a blue moon a reporter meets a man who changes the world by sheer force of will, character, and vision," writes Jonathan Rauch, in a column explaining why Franklin Kamen, whose papers were recently added to the Library of Congress archives, fits that description.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on December 03, 2006 • Comments
Publisher's Weekly reports on an appearance at NYU by the great Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics. On the basis of his previous brilliance, I bought his new book Making Comics, even though I have no interest in making comics myself. Here's a bit:
In his talk McCloud covered the heart of his book, explaining his theoretical position that the comics artist faces five major areas of decision making when creating a new work: choice of moment (which moments of an action to show), choice of frame (how to frame what is being depicted), choice of image, choice of words and choice of flow (how the reader's eye follows the sequence of images). McCloud classifies comics artists in four "tribes": the classicists (like Alex Raymond), who value beauty and mastery of craft; the animists (like Jack Kirby), for whom art serves story content; the formalists (including himself), who experiment with the medium; and the iconoclasts (like Robert Crumb), whose foremost goal is to vividly convey reality. McCloud also narrated an entertaining montage of images illustrating his life story and showed examples of various online comics, demonstrating the new experimental forms that comics can take once freed from the printed page.
McCloud then turned the lectern and the screen over to his teenage daughter, Sky, who used the same words-and-pictures format to deliver an amusing presentation of her family's nationwide tour, blogging as they go. At one point she explained that each of them only brings two suitcases, one for clothes and one for electronic equipment, which is "pretty much all you need in the McCloud family."
Posted by Virginia Postrel on December 03, 2006 • Comments
The WaPost's David Segal reports on the tough question of who's too obscure even for the Wikipedia. Apparently a lot of people try to write their own bios. Not me. Yuck, what a job. Mine is officially a "stub," and it is indeed quite stubby, though I notice that someone has added my birthdate and Atlantic column since the last time I looked.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on December 03, 2006 • Comments
One of the most interesting business articles I've read in a long time. And it's short.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on December 03, 2006 • Comments
The Ball of Whacks is sold out at Amazon, but Roger von Oech, its inventor, emails to say that if you don't want to wait four weeks, you can order one directly from the online store at www.creativewhack.com.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on December 03, 2006 • Comments
The LAT's Jerry Hirsch reports on El Pollo Loco's plans to expand into New England, in part by selling its wares more as chicken than as Mexican food. The story made me think of an interesting cross-cultural moment. We were in a busy part of Tokyo with my parents and needed to find a quick bite to eat before catching a train. The answer: El Pollo Loco, a new experience for my parents. The main difference I remember is that in Japan they take the corn off the cob.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on November 28, 2006 • Comments
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North
You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
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| The Northeast |
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| The Midland |
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| Boston |
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| The West |
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| North Central |
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What American accent do you have?
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[Via Jane Galt.]
I would have had different results 30 years ago--and wildly different if the quiz captured just how different Southern vowels are.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on November 27, 2006 • Comments
My latest Atlantic column (link good for three days) defends the virtues of chain stores and restaurants against critics who complain that "every place looks the same."
Posted by Virginia Postrel on November 27, 2006 • Comments