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by David Pierson, Los Angeles Times
As Disneyland sputters, a revived Ocean Park is making a comeback as the local choice.
by Kathryn Harrison, New York Times
"House Lights" is a coming-of-age novel that casts a distinctly female eye on the form, not asking how far it's possible to travel from one's original self so much as considering the possibility that we may never really leave our child selves behind.
by Daisann McLane, Slate
Ten years on, the natives are restless.
by Cindy Price, New York Times
Before I go telling everybody that the secret to great iced coffee is already in the kitchen, my friend Keller wants me to confess: I didn't know from iced coffee until he showed me the light.
by David Brown, Washington Post
Your hunch is correct. Your cat decided to live with you, not the other way around. The sad truth is, it may not be a final decision.
by Garrett Epps, Salon
How the Roberts-led Supreme Court is setting the stage for bureaucrats to shape American culture from the top down.
by Stephanie Rosenbloom, New York Times
There have always been close-knit mother-daughter relationships. But socia, demographic and technological changes have made it more common for adult daughters to keep their mothers' apron strings tied tighter — and longer, say researchers who study the transition into young adulthood.
by Eric Pooley, Time
"They're taking five billion dollars out of me and want to keep control," Rupert Murdoch was saying into the phone, "in an industry in crisis! They can't sell their company and still control it — that's not how it works. I'm sorry!"
by David Whitehouse, Independent
We've been trying to make contact with aliens for years. Now the day is fast approaching when we might finally succeed. But will our extraterrestrial friends come in peace? Or will they want to eat us?
by Alison Arnett, Boston Globe
An almost mystical intensity suffuses Trevor Corson's face as he takes a bite of madai (red sea bream) sushi. He closes his eyes to concentrate. Then he reaches for a curl of toro over vinegared rice. "It's like the cherry blosoms falling," he says, "so transient that you just want to capture that moment."
by Dana Milbank, Washington Post
Vice president Cheney's recent declaration that he is not part of the executive branch has prompted hard questions. THe explanatory task fell to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, whose skin reddened around her neck and collar as she pleaded ignorance during the daily briefing.
by Ben Dolnick, New York Times
When i took a job as a zoo keeper one summer in college, I imagined it as a position of considerable, if perculiar, glory.
by Douglas H. Erwin, New York Times
Is Darwin due for an upgrade? THere are growing calls among some evolutionary biologists for just such a revision, although they differ about what form this might take. But those calls could also be exaggerated. There is nothing scientists enjoy more than the prospect of a good paradigm shift.
by Eric Lichtenfeld, Slate
The greatest one-liner in movie histry.
by John Markoff, New York Times
by Motoko Rich, New York Times
While fans take endless delight in spinning their own theories, bringing Talmudic fervor to the analysis of clues dropped throughout the previous books and in interviews with Ms Rowling, they tend to oppose spoilers violently.
by Peter Campion, Slate
by Nicholas Wade, New York Times
Historians often assume that they need pay no attention to human evolution because the process ground to a halt in the distant past. That assumption is looking less and less secure in light of new findings based on decoding human DNA.
by James Longenbach, New Yorker
by C. D. Wright, New Yorker
by Maxim Biller, New Yorker
by Benji Wilson, Telegraph
Having broken new ground with 'The West Wing', Aaron Sorkin cemented his reputation with a show that savaged American TV. Then American TV hits back...
by Mark Feeney, Boston Globe
How does an animation studio remain the picture of success?
by AA Gill, The Times
Where once we had the wit of Tynan and Levin, today's theatre critics are a joyless, detached bunch. And it's not only their readers who get a raw deal — culture is suffering too.
by Mike Weiss, San Francisco Chronicle
Why did I prefer women's cooking? The question was a persistent in its way as the sense memory of biting through the crunchy, piquant buttermilk-and-flour coating and experiencing the briney creaminess of the Hama Hama oysters heated up with a spark of fresh cayenne.
by Billy Baker, Boston Globe
I remember my first time with a clarity that makes my fingers twitch. I was barely a teenager, 13, maybe only 12. Today, the whole affair seems slightly hilarious: the mad struggle to fit the proper parts in the appropriate places, the false starts, the naked anxiety. Forget ecstasy. This was painful and humiliating, and it took forever to finish. But when the deed was done, I couldn't wait to do it again. I'm talking, of course, about my first crack at the crossword.
by Jia-Rui Chong, Los Angeles Times
The pages of a medieval prayer text also contain words of ancient Greek engineer Archimedes. It takes high-tech imaging to read between the lines.
by Emily Nussbaum, New York Magazine
The Sopranos creator David Chase turned us all into Tony's srink, then duped us into believing he could be saved. It took us eight seasons to figure out we'd been had.
by Michael Barbaro, New York Times
The science of keeping lines moving, known as queue management, is a big deal to big business.
by Alexandra Alter, Wall Street Journal
Parents are feeling intense pressure to pick names that set their kids apart. Some are even hiring consultants.
by Richard Harries, The Guardian
It is dangerously wrong to lay the blame for the world's evils at the feet of organised religion as Christopher Hitchens does in God Is Not Great.
by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu
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by Julia Chaplin, New York Times
Such hidden nightspots have become all the rage among a certain Tokyo set — weaned on anime and text messaging — that has graduated from dancing under the strobe lights at big western-style nightclubs.
by Barbara Ehrenreich, The Guardian
The question of who Hiliary is seems almost too anthropomorphic.
by Nina Zagat and Tim Zagat, New York Times
When authentic Chinese cuisines reach our shores, we can expect a revolution in ingredients and styles that will change the way we prepare food for years to come.
by Robert Dreyfuss, Salon
Do we really need to spend more than a trillion dollars a year to defeat small groups of terrorist fanatics?
by Danuta Keane, Independent
J K Rowling's finale is a big loser for the little stores.
by Frank Bruni, New York Times
These are times of bold temptation, as well as prompt surrender, for a carnivorous glutton in New York.
by Adam Kirsch, New York Sun
In one sense, the democratization fo discourse about books is a good thing, and should lead to a widening of our intellectual horizons. But book bloggers have alos brought another, less salutary influence to bear on literary culture: a powerful resentment.
by John Burgess, Boston Globe
When it comes to eating, I have one good child and one bad child. Oh gosh; that sounds like abeling, doesn't it? "Bad," I hasten to tell you, actually stands for "battling appetite deficiency" (ceding that phony acronym was the only way daughter A would permit me to quote her for this story. And no, she's not anorexic; that's nothing I would joke about).
by Richard C. Paddock, Los Angeles Times
They go to class, stay in dorms, fool their new friends. But why? They can't graduate because they're not enrolled. They are imposters.
by Garrison Keillor, Salon
Everyone knows the comedy version of Los Angeles. Imagine my surprise when I found myself speaking up for the despised city.
by Joanne Kaufman, New York Times
Although excerpts from high-profile books routinely appear in national magazines, some publishers have been having second thoughts about the strategy.
by Regina Schrambling, Slate
Why is what's served at weddings so wretched?
by Jeffrey Skinner, Slate
by Samuel R. Gross, Los Angeles Times
Just because a vast majority of prisoners were rightly convicted doesn't mean we shouldn't look for those who weren't.
by Cornelia Dean, New York Times
The science photographs of Felice Frankel turn phenomena like water repellance, nanotechnology and magentism into art.
by Natalie Angier, New York Times
As the scientists who study male germ cells will readily attest, sperm are some of the most extraordinary cells of the body, a triumph of efficient packaging, sleek design and superspecialization.
by Robert Denker, Newsweek
The world would be a better place if we could all tkae off our clothes and look each other in the eye.
by Scott Adams, Dilbert Blog
Ah, those were the days.
by Kevin Maher, The Times
They're back! They're toting guns, they're kicking ass, and they're old enough to draw a pension!
by RIck Perlstein, The Nation
China has become rather like Israel: No matter the party, no matter the leader, certain de rigueur formulas must be uttered.
by Preston Lerner, Los Angeles Times
Remember when cup holders were just for your soda?
by Rachel Donadio, New York Times
Today, most novelists don't venture beyond the word processor — and many still write longhand. But others are finding that sophisticated software is invaluable to the literary enterprise.
by Peter Birkenhead, Salon
Doubt is a virtue, JFK told students 45 years ago. Without it we have the tragic bluster and empty optimism of political culture today.
by Alastair Macaulay, New York Times
A ballerina represents beauty; is an exalted ideal; exerts authority over the world onstage and her audience; holds the key to the meaning of each ballet. That's quite a list of virtues.
by Michael Powell, New York Times
We are reminded again of the strange ambivalence that comes with being a New Yorker in a post-9/11 world.
by Howard W. French, New York Times
I can still perfectly recall those moments, a handful of times late in my first year here in Shanghai, when the late afternoon light was at its limpid best and the very special beauty of this city seemed distilled for me in all its clarity.
by William Saletan, Slate
What dad didn't tell you about the birds and bees.
by George F. Will, New York Times
Ever since mass affluence, a phenomenon without precedent in the human story, exploded upon postwar America, social and political theorists have wondered, and worried, about the moral and even the spirital consequences of material conditions. Putting scarcity behind us has been pleasant, but has it been good for us — meaning good for our souls?
by Maria Finn, New York Times
In an astronomy village, a hush falls at night as the sky turns dark and the stars appear. Roofs roll back and telescopes aim for the heavens. All the neighbors are stargazing, and nobody turns on the lights.
by Michelle Tsai, Slate
How a dirty word gets that way.
by Gillian Reagan, New York Observer
Taxes, weight gain, depression, loneliness — book advances are like lottery payoffs.
by Leigh Lambert, Washington Post
In his new book, Trevor Corson shares the secrets of the best sushi and dispels popular sushi myths.
by Steve Hendrix, Washington Post
This is not a tale of a crazy cat lady. ("I may be a crazy cat lady one day, but I'm not one yet," she said.) It's the story of a successful career woman with many interests who, admittedly, takes her responsibility as a pet owner further than most.
A lot further.
by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, New York Times
If you've ever suspected that meatballs were a dead end for a restaurant's leftovers, you no longer have reason to fear.
by Alan Jacobs, Books & Culture
And learning how to make sense of his renunciations.
by John Tierney, New York Times
If students are going to read "Silent Spring" in science classes, I wish it were paired with another work from the same year, 1962, titled "Chemicals and Pests."
by Annie Gowen, Washington Post
Families simplify lifestyles in quest for meaning that constant hustle obscured.
by Laura Blumenfeld, Washington Post
The world of the interrogator is largely closed. But three interrogators allowed a rare peek into their lives — an American rookie who served witht he 202nd military intelligence battalion adn two veteran interrogators from Britain and Israel. The veterans, whose wartime experiences stretch back decades, are more practiced at finding moral balance. They use denial, humor, indignation. Even so, these older men grapple with their own fears — and with a clash of values.
by Dennis Overbye, New York Times
Our successors, whoever and wherever they are, may have no way of finding out about the Big Bang and the expanding universe, according to one of the more depressing scientific papers I have ever read.
by Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker
There are two kinds of books about Clinton. The first tries to prove that she's really much worse than you think she is, the second that she's really no worse than you think she is.
by Dana Goodyear, New Yorker
by David Hoon Kim, New Yorker
by Daniel Gross, Slate
Their stocks are down. Should we worry about the rest of the economy?
by David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times
Rick Caruso got us walking and communing at the Grove. Why has his Disney-esque vision proven so successful?
by Michael Leahy, Washington Post
For their commutes of up to four hours a day, the Hierses of West Virginia and Marc Turner of Charlottesville enjoy cheaper housing and better pay. But at what price?
by Randy Kennedy, New York Times
Lately, it seems that a slight virginal breeze has been blowing through the worlds of publishing, theater and Hollywood.
by Eli Sanders, The Stranger
Nineteen and gay, too effeminate to hide, and persecuted by haters in his small town. Chris Crocker turned to the web to vent. Now he's a huge YouTube celebrity. Is the internet Chris Crocker's ticket out?
by Jason Cherkis, Washington City Paper
Inmate Robert Hawkins wanted his life to end at home. In D.C., that wasn't an option.
by Amy E. Boyle Johnston, LA Weekly
L.A.'s august Pulitzer honoree says it was never about censorship.
by Joe Queenan, New York Times
Forty years after being pistol-whipped by Thomas Hardy, I am amazed that the summer reading list continues to exist.
by Josh Levin, Slate
Watching my neighbors watch on-demand television.
by Annie Groer, Washington Post
6:30 shower 6:55 dressed 7:30 children's breakfast.
by Tim Shorrock, Salon
The U.S. government now outsources a vast portion of its spying operations to private firms — with zero public accountability.
by Lisa Belkin, New York Times
A crotchety boss might say that we're working longer because we're wasting time, but the opposite may also be true. We are wasting time because we are working harder.
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