Search results for “why's this so good”

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"Why's this so good?" No. 17: Meyer Berger delivers on deadline

"Why’s this so good?" No. 17: Meyer Berger delivers on deadline

The Pulitzer Prize for breaking news tends to go to a massive team effort, often one in which a dozen or more reporters feed material to one, two or even…
October 25, 2011

“Why’s this so good?" No. 16: David Foster Wallace on the vagaries of cruising

For seven days and seven nights in mid-March of 1995, David Foster Wallace took a cruise. He did not have a very good time. The results of the voyage are…
October 18, 2011
“Why's this so good?” No. 13: Gene Weingarten peels the Great Zucchini

“Why’s this so good?” No. 13: Gene Weingarten peels the Great Zucchini

The Great Zucchini has a secret. And in “The Peekaboo Paradox,” Gene Weingarten exhumes the history that haunts the most popular children’s entertainer in Washington, D.C. The story, which ran…
September 27, 2011

"Why’s this so good?" No. 2: McPhee takes on the Mississippi

When the Mississippi River recently surged down through the middle of the country, a lot of people I follow on Twitter took the opportunity to point to John McPhee's marvelous 1987…
July 7, 2011
"Why's this so good?" No. 1: Truman Capote keeps time with Marlon Brando

“Why’s this so good?” No. 1: Truman Capote keeps time with Marlon Brando

Truman Capote’s profile of the depressive, incoherent, brilliant Marlon Brando is one of the greatest of all time. Published in 1957 in The New Yorker, it nominally takes place one…
June 27, 2011
"Why's this (sentence) so good?" Jason Silverstein on Matt Taibbi on Goldman Sachs

“Why’s this (sentence) so good?” Jason Silverstein on Matt Taibbi on Goldman Sachs

The sentence: The world’s most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.…
June 18, 2014
"Why's this (sentence) so good?"

“Why’s this (sentence) so good?”

Editor’s note: This is the inaugural installment of our “Why’s this (sentence) so good?” series, in which a writer analyzes a favorite line from a piece of journalistic storytelling. As…
April 28, 2014
The theme of the week is death, so it's time to listen to a little Al Green and feel better

The theme of the week is death, so it’s time to listen to a little Al Green and feel better

Just in time for the weekend, here’s a little list of some of the things I’ve been listening to and reading this week, some of it online — Storyboard included,…
December 2, 2016
Celibates and e.e. cummings and "Creep" -- a weekly roundup of some favorite things, for your reading and listening pleasure

Celibates and e.e. cummings and “Creep” — a weekly roundup of some favorite things, for your reading and listening pleasure

Just in time for the weekend, here’s a little list of some of the things I’ve been listening to and reading this week, some of it online — Storyboard included,…
June 24, 2016

Why’s This So Bad? Confirmation Bias and Failed Narratives

There’s a scene in Evelyn Waugh’s scathing journalism send-up “Scoop” where Wenlock Jakes, the world-beating American reporter (based on John Gunther of the old Chicago Daily News), is sent to the…
March 11, 2016