Monday Medley

What we read while debating the merits of Spandau Ballet…

• Duke’s loss to Lehigh – the second 2-seed upset on Friday, after none for 11 years – pretty much killed our brackets. But President Obama is sitting pretty. Maybe he used this model for his.

• Though John S criticized Grantland’s The Wire bracket, he was happy for Michael K. Williams and Omar.

• This American Life has retracted one of its most popular stories, about Mike Daisey’s trip to an Apple factory in China. Apparently, Daisey made a lot of it up. So I’m sure Apple’s labor practices are totally fine…

• Greg Smith, a former executive at Goldman Sachs, explained why he left the much-maligned corporation. Will this be the end of vampire squid culture?

• Community is back! Here’s everything you need to know to start watching.

• It was a rough week for the guy from the “Kony 2012″ video. He made a less successful video.

• What ever happened to the cast of Boy Meets World?

• Advice from Jack Kerouac.

Monday Medley

What we read while Rush Limbaugh called us way worse stuff…

• Noam Chomsky inspected Iran’s nuclear ambitions as public rhetoric on Iran grows increasingly bellicose. Andrew Sullivan predicted that Israel would goad the U.S. into support of war with Iran before the election in November (Sullivan was, of course, deemed anti-Semitic for such a remark).

• The New York City media is apparently totally fine with the NYPD spying program, as is future mayoral candidate Christine Quinn, even as the program is motivating some Muslims to alter their behavior.

• There’s a new documentary about legendary drummer Ginger Baker.

• Yet another absurd drug law was thankfully blocked by Sen. Rand Paul. And Ron Paul tells Ben Bernanke why he’s the worst.

• Speaking of unnecessary drug laws, has Ryan Braun changed the public sentiment on steroids in baseball? John S would certainly welcome it…

• What makes President Obama cooler: his continued affection for Omar Little, or his daughter’s love of Parks and Recreation?

• This week in oral histories: Grantland remembers the Malice at the Palace.

• There’s never been a trash-talker quite like Martin Luther…

Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Rivals, Week 6 Power Rankings

“Everybody’s watching every move I make. It’s fun at this point. It’s like, let the games begin…” —C.T.

 

“We’re playing the game with a bunch of bitches and I’ve got the biggest one on my team.” —Nehemiah

 

Just a week after I broke down my problems with this season of the Challenge, Rivals had its best episode yet. Things that had been brewing all season long—fraying rivalries, the tension with C.T., C.T.’s love triangle—finally boiled over.

It seems that the moronic “D-Day” plan from two weeks ago did not die with its initial failure—the Wes/Johnny/Evan alliance put it in motion yet again last night. The plan was essentially the same: Evan would throw the challenge to get sent into the Jungle, where he would hopefully meet and defeat Adam/C.T. There were many obvious problems with this plan, the first of which was preventing Adam/C.T. from winning immunity.