Monday Medley

What we read while strategically placing our infield flies…

• The tragic but inspiring story of Tig Notaro, whose set you can now buy from Louis C.K.  Speaking of Louis C.K., is Jerry Seinfeld the anti-Louie?

• The San Francisco Weekly explains how Bleacher Report — home to, without hyperbole, the trashiest, most nonsensical sports “articles” on the web — grew to be worth $200 million.

• Some stuff from Noam Chomsky about Occupy Wall Street and the upcoming election. Glenn Greenwald also finds the election to be an illusion of choice.

• Speaking of which, there was a debate last week, which Mitt Romney apparently won. This drove some Obama supporters nuts. They can be an hysterical bunch. Meanwhile, the confessions of an anonymous partisan. And a great piece by Ta-Nehisi Coates from a few weeks ago.

• What did David Foster Wallace have to say about comedy?

• More reasons to get excited for Arrested Development‘s imminent return.

• Joe Posnanski apologizes to Yankee fans for doubting the team.

• Can good writing fix bad schools?

• The New Yorker covers the making of Korean pop.

• The New York film locations of North by Northwest, then and now.

Monday Medley

What we read while Billy Crystal sang…

• Bill Wyman explains the Oscas’ sequel problem, which is close to the point John S tried to make back in 2009.

• Baseball’s almost back! To get you excited, Sam Fuld relived last season’s riveting final day, SABR created a Google Doc of old-timey baseball articles, and NPI-favorite (at least on Twitter) Brandon McCarthy landed the cover of ESPN: The Magazine. In other baseball news, how did The Simpsons put together the famous “Homer At The Bat” episode 20 years ago?

• The NYPD has been spying on Muslim students throughout the Northeast, as part of a spying program the AP has been exposing for months. Which makes one wonder: Why don’t Americans riot anymore?

• On the origins of Ron Paul.

• Some TV critics have been bemoaning this season of 30 Rock for turning Liz Lemon dumb. Emily Nussbaum, though, has come bravely to her defense.

• In honor of David Foster Wallace’s birthday last week, here’s everything he ever wrote for Harper’s. The Point wrote about DFW’s relationship with Jonathan Franzen (referencing Franzen’s oft-discussed piece for The New Yorker last year). Also, did DFW hate AC/DC?

Monday Medley

What we read while accidentally scoring a game-winning touchdown…

• Ken Jennings broke down the 10 best Super Bowls for trivia fans.

• In preparation for Facebook’s upcoming IPO (which will make millionaires out of some unexpected people), Mark Zuckerberg wrote a letter declaring the company’s mission statement. But what does Facebook actually sell?

• Two excellent but sad magazine pieces on suicide amongst gay teens: Rolling Stone tells the story of one small town’s “war” on gay teens, while Ian Parker of The New Yorker dispels a lot of the myths surrounding the tragic suicide of Tyler Clementi in this in-depth story. The lesson: Suicide is more complicated than most people think.

• Frank Rich analyzes Mitt Romney’s strange emptiness (though this story certainly makes him seem human, and even admirable). Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich hates Muslims.

• This week in Tales of the American Police State…

• Bryan Caplan’s opening statement on how deserving the poor are…

• What’s the deal with Lana Del Rey? Why does everyone hate her (except for Whitney Cummings)? Is she terrible, underrated, or just boringly mediocre? If she’s making Pitchfork angry, she’s probably a force for good…

• Some interesting, if expected, findingson male-female attractiveness differentials.

Monday Medley

What we read while Irene thankfully didn’t affect the VMAs…

• NPI-favorite Michael Schur teamed up with The Decembrists to make a video based on the NPI-favorite Eschaton scene in NPI-favorite novel Infinite Jest by NPI-favorite writer, David Foster Wallace. NPI really enjoyed it.

• Speaking of DFW, the New York Times Magazine tried to blame him for bad blog writing.

• Steve Jobs resigned from Apple for health reasons. Whether or not you’re an official member of the cult of Jobs, there’s no denying his profound influence. This Rolling Stone interview, given during his decade-long exile from Apple, shows his intelligence and prescience. Apple, of course, is still in good hands, and new CEO Tim Cook has some great ideas…

• Miranda July has a new movie out, The Future,  which garnered a very positive review from Roger Ebert, who ranked July’s first film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, as one of the best of the Aughts. New York Times Magazine had a feature on July last month.

• The New Yorker details the politics and impact of Clarence Thomas and his wife. Reason Magazine points out Jeffrey Toobin’s inconsistent position on Thomas’s influence on the Court.

• Jeffrey Sachs discusses the dishonest debate about America’s deficit.

• Is the Colbert Super PAC funny or serious? Or both?

• Joe Posnanski talks about pitchers and the MVP award, Jonah Keri tries to figure out how the Angels keep winning, and Joe DeLessio tries to figure out if Jeff Nelson ever effectively used “the old Jeff Nelson.”

• An interview with Paul Rudd.

• Inspirational posters from The Wire.

Monday Medley

What we read while maintaining NPI’s AAA credit rating…

• The riveting and detailed account of the plan to kill Osama bin Laden.

• Larry David made the cover of Rolling Stone.  The issue has several features on David, including Cheryl Hines’s take on their fictional divorce, an interview with Susie Essman, and a discussion with current Curb and former Seinfeld writers.

• Another prominent TV misanthrope, Louis C.K., was profiled in GQ.

• The most common specialty for blind mathematicians? Geometry.

• Geoff Dyer pens the book review of the week.

• How did you celebrate the tenth anniversary of one of the best comedies of last decade?

• Anthony Bourdain was on Real Time with Bill Maher, thankfully supplementing some incredibly annoying panelists. He was apparently making the rounds this week, also appearing on The Colbert Report. Political theorist Michael Sandel also recently made a Colbert Report appearance.

• Spencer and Heidi are now willing to admit some mistakes.

Monday Medley

What we read while gays finally felt welcomed in New York…

• New York passed a same-sex marriage law last week, and President Obama’s views on the subject are now “evolving” (for anyone who believed his previous opposition was anything other than political). It looks like public opinion is finally turning, not that it should matter.

• Harris Wittels ranks the world’s best Humblebraggers.

• Louis C.K. was interviewed by Pitchfork. Josh and John S reacted to last week’s premiere of Louie.

• Joe Posnanski’s profile of presumptive AL MVP Jose Bautista.

• The New Yorker breaks down the Galleon insider trading case.

• Eamonn Brennan captured our thoughts about the NBA Draft, even before it happened.

• The culture wars in Europe, including usage of the term zeitgeist, early and often.

• Finally, the sports aesthetic links: the Bills got new (and better) uniforms, they’re officially the Winnipeg Jets, and this is a really cool graphic of MLB logos.

Monday Medley

What we read while winning Best New Artist at the Grammys…

• One of NPI’s favorite shows of all-time, Friday Night Lights, came to an end last week. And while we haven’t completely caught up to its DirecTV run, we enjoyed the critical nostalgia about the greatest sports-centric television series of all-time (narrowly passing Hang Time). Alan Sepinwall, as usual, had a great breakdown of the series’ best moments (he even helpfully separated the ones containing spoilers), as well as an interview with showrunner Jason Katims and not one but TWO retrospective podcasts (including one with Bill Simmons).

• Slate‘s Farhad Manjoo adroitly and aptly addresses AOL’s acquisition of HuffPo.

• Speaking of SEO, we’re behind anyone who goes after Bleacher Report, even if they’re Phillies’ fans.

• In baseball news, the Albert Pujols Countdown is quickly approaching zero, as Will Leitch panics. And while we’re usually a fan of Baseball Prospectus, even we think this is nerdy…

• The New Yorker offers a fascinating look at Scientology through the lens of Paul Haggis’ split from the church. And, with eerily coincidental timing, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Scientology movie got funding on the same week.

• As Jeopardy! gears for Watson (TONIGHT!!!), a breakdown of the most common categories and “questions” (i.e. answers).

• The tickets for LCD Soundsystem’s final show at Madison Square Garden mysteriously vanished, so James Murphy went to his blog to offer a “Fuck You” to scalpers and announce four new dates.

• Can this actually make the NCAA Tournament better?

• It’s going to be tough to get a better win probability graph this season. (Although this one from last year is dear to our heart.) (And this one is just ridiculous.)

• R.I.P. Guitar Hero

Monday Medley

What we read while they got really excited for the Pro Bowl in Cairo…

• Man, how about that Pro Bowl?! Almost makes Super Bowl Sunday look anticlimactic, huh? Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders has been helping the hype over at Hulu, where he has been counting down the 10 Greatest Super Bowls of All Time. Meanwhile, Ben McGrath wonders if football has a future, Rohan Cruyff takes a different approach to pace in the NBA, and The Atlantic puts forth another curious (in a bad way) offering with James Parker’s amateur exploration of SportsCenter.

• We just discovered Bob Bender’s Press Box Daily, which is a must-read for those interested in sports broadcasting. Bender breaks down the calls of games’ biggest plays from various announcing crews earnestly and articulately–providing video and audio along the way. Some highlights include his ode to the music of WFAN and his analysis of what makes Kevin Harlan such a good radio announcer.

• Bill Keller, editor of The New York Times, breaks down the papers dealings with WikiLeaks and Julian Assange last year. Assange, predictably, comes off a little weird.

• Bryan Caplan (who is now on Twitter) argues that there’s a difference between formal and informal Rand.

• A dead spot on a tennis court. Strange.

• It’s been 17 years since this very sad interview Rolling Stone interview with Kurt Cobain, in which he declared that he’d “never been happier in his life” less than three months before killing himself.

• Atul Gawande does more excellent reporting about the cost of health care.

• President Obama has shaken up his staff, presumably to help Win the Future.

• The Mets may carry on the Civil Rights Movement legacy.

• Kevin Smith is really just a fat, male Sarah Palin…

• …and speaking of Sarah Palin, Louis C.K. talks about his infamous tweets about the former V.P. candidate (man, comedians love making sex jokes about her), among other things, in this interview with HitFix.

Monday Medley

What we read while eating a goddamn snack on Revis Island:

• So what’s the state of political discourse in the week after the tragedy in Tucson? Some want us to tone it down, while others think that’s a silly overreaction. Tom Junod at Esquire and Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone have each offered intriguing thoughts on the debate about debate.

• Less seems to be more in football announcing.

• Wikipedia celebrated its tenth anniversary last week.

• CalTech: In a class by itself? Speaking of intelligence, Jeopardy may have for itself a perpetual winner.

• Only one of us still occasionally puts two spaces after a period. It’s such an editing hassle.

• Roger Ebert’s best documentaries of 2010.

• What was more awkward: Ricky Gervais’ monologue at last night’s Golden Globes, or Bill Murray’s speech to Sofia Coppola at the NBR awards?

• Shake Shack’s different locations are compared by Serious Eats.

• Agree to disagree on this one: SplitSider on why the Arrested Development is a lousy movie AND why that’s OUR fault.

• Jill Lepore dissects America’s relationship with the Constitution.

• We don’t agree with all of their choices over at This Recording (there’s no way DFW is the White Swan), but this is obviously a great game…

• A breakdown of pretty much every funny tweet you’ll ever read.

• It may be in Spanish, but this graphic of The Simpsons‘ demise couldn’t be clearer. And as far as gifs go, they don’t get much better than Homer’s Night Out (h/t on each to Dead Homer Society, as usual).

Monday Medley

What we read while regifting…

• In honor of the greatest holiday ever, here’s Esquire‘s “What I’ve Learned” interview with Jesus H. Christ. And Ron Artest’s conjecture on the Savior’s basketball box scores.

• Your Christmas spirit may have distracted you from the big news from last week: Paramore broke up! Regardless of your opinion of the band, the blog statement of two ex-band members is an interesting look at how the record industry works today. One might call it a Misery Business…

• The Millions‘ fun annual series “A Year in Reading” has come to a close.

• The “Baseball Economist” answers questions on the Freakonomics Blog, including a question about why the Mets have been so lousy. And Jason Gay explains to parents what to tell the kids about this year’s Jets.

• Michael Weinreb’s 29 favorite things of 2010.

• In other best of 2010 news, there’s the Wall Street Journal‘s best photos and Give Me Something to Read‘s best, umm, reads. No matter what movies you’ve seen this year, these are the ten best. On a more serious note, here are Roger Ebert’s ten best feature films of 2010.

• If you are worried about the upcoming world war between Google and Apple, it’s worth reading this to decide which side you’ll take.

• The man behind Super Mario Brothers talks about what makes Nintendo special.

• Social media tips with help from The Wire.

• Ricky Gervais explains why he’s an atheist.

• Coolest foul shot ever.