What we read while practicing torch lighting for 2012….
- John S reviewed Lauren Conrad’s latest book, the new best-seller Sweet Little Lies. Conrad went on Good Morning America to promote it. Meanwhile, her old nemesis Heidi Montag announced that she’ll pose for Playboy… again.
- Malcolm Gladwell on inebriation and the sociology of drinking. Tyler Cowen on Gladwell on drinking.
- French pop-philosopher Bernard-Henry Levi rips Immanuel Kant in new book; too bad basis for said ripping is a critique of Kant written by a non-existent philosopher who was invented by a satirist. Even if BHL had claimed it was for philanthropic concerns, Kant would not have approved of the lie.
- Leon Wieseltier on why the Internet is hurting young writers. Hey, Leon, help us out with a link! Also at The New Republic, Ruth Franklin on the fading idea of “American” fiction.
- Joe Lieberman is a flip-flopper, kind of.
- If you haven’t yet read the John Mayer Playboy interview–in which he throws out the N-word, calls Jessica Simpson “sexual napalm,” and treats masturbation with a reverence we haven’t seen since one Alexander Portnoy–here’s your chance to catch up for the watercooler. The interviewer to Mayer’s interviewee, Rob Tannenbaum penned his own reaction-to-the-reaction piece for The Daily Beast, criticizing the efforts of those like the usually reliable Stephen Marche at Esquire.
- And because we’re not entirely sure if 1988 was better than 2000 in the dunk contest, a bonus video:
