“Most people in any field don’t do a very good job”: Pauline Kael at ninety-nine
If you woke up this morning feeling, oh, cinematic, it may have been because today marks the ninety-ninth anniversary of the birth of the legendary Pauline Kael. Kael is best known for her time… Read more »
To the Research Committee of the American Association for George Plimpton Studies—
Friends, Recent months have been exciting ones in the burgeoning academic discipline of Plimpton Studies, as you know. Researchers have uncovered a steady stream of ever-more surreal commercials starring Paris Review founding editor… Read more »
Let us hold a symposium. It shall be titled, “What was George Plimpton?”
In December, we reported on our discovery of a heavenly trove of TV arcana: commercials in which Paris Review co-founder and good-natured self-aware tie rack George Plimpton extolled the surpassing graphics and… Read more »
Lorin Stein has quit his job, presumably to head off a meeting today at which his board will discuss a months-long investigation into his sexual misconduct
In October, we wrote about the “SHITTY MEDIA MEN” doc that had been making the rounds, unofficially tallying some names for possible inclusion in 2017’s crimson tide of men discredited by their sexual… Read more »
I cannot stop watching these eighties video game commercials starring George Plimpton; please help
George Plimpton could sell anything. Wait, sorry, that’s not quite right. Let’s rephrase it: George Plimpton would sell anything. Plimpton, of course, was the inaugural editor of the Paris Review and… Read more »
National (Pastime) Poetry Month
Ahh yes. The fresh-cut grass. The crack of the bat. The roar of the crowd. These can only signal one thing: National Poetry Month is upon us. And in a happy coincidence,… Read more »
Ali’s death offers a moment to consider sports writing
The passing of Muhammad Ali last month spurred reminiscences and sentiment across media. Ali was as famous for his activism as he was for his boxing, and his mighty cultural… Read more »
Burn This Letter: The Correspondence of Ernest Hemingway
Before his death in July of 1961, Ernest Hemingway wrote a letter to the executors of his estate saying, “It is my wish that none of the letters written by… Read more »
Two for Tuesday: Would Robert Giroux Publish the 300 Sandwiches book?
Topics discussed: the Giroux Index, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Beatles, the U.S.S.R., being back in the U.S.S.R., being from the U.S.S.R., the time Alex called Mark a communist agent,… Read more »