Monday Medley

What we read while waiting until midnight PACIFIC time…

• Season Four of Arrested Development went online at 3 AM EST yesterday, ending our long national nightmare of no new episodes of Arrested Development. But did fans binge-watch, or savor the new episodes as Mitch Hurwitz recommended? Hurwitz did the press tour to promote the show’s new episodes, and thank the fans for bringing it back. The cast also made the rounds.

• In other comedy news, Michael Schur talks about his new pilot getting picked up, and a history of Stella and the Internet comedy boom.

• The trials of the cop speaking out on stop-and-frisk.

• President Obama gave a speech about the war on terrorism, after acknowledging that four Americans have been killed in drone strikes. There was some to like in the speech, but it remains to be seen what, if any, actions will follow. The ACLU is not a fan.

• You might be a liberal imperialist if…

• This week in oral histories: The 2003 World Series of Poker.

• WikiLeaks is not happy about the new movie about WikiLeaks.

• How to fix Mad Men.

• A map of every place Bob Dylan ever sang about.

Monday Medley

What we read while not being Mirandized…

• So, uh, not such a great week. The carnage at last Monday’s Boston Marathon, which is such a cherished event in that city, shocked the country and brought back memories of 9/11. Luckily there were countless examples of heroism in the aftermath of the tragedy, including an impressive response by Boston’s medical teams. The city went into lockdown in order to find the suspects. One was killed early Friday morning, and the other was found later that evening, capping a turbulent week for one of nation’s oldest cities.

• Of course, there were mistakes along the way, from the rush to blame Islamic radicals without any evidence, to the misidentification of “suspects” based on their nationality and skin color, to false reports from news outlets, to confusing Chechnya with the Czech Republic. Once the proper suspects were identified, Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain rushed to abandon the Constitution, asserting that the Tsarnaevs should be treated as enemy combatants. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was not read his Miranda rights when arrested, with the FBI citing the “public safety” exception (despite repeated assurances from public officials that there was no more danger to the public). Emily Bazelton explains why this is so dangerous.

• Worth remembering this week: We just passed the 50th anniversary of MLK’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

• In other sad news, Pat Summerall, the greatest play-by-play announcer in football history, passed away at the age of 82.

• Joe Posnanski and Michael Schur wrote a baseball “preview” even though the season is already three weeks old. Posnanski also dismissed the notion of “pitching to the score.”

• A very interesting look at income inequality through New York’s subway system.

• How a meeting between Dickens and Dostoevsky that never happened became a part of scholarship.

• A long conversation between Julian Assange of WikiLeaks and Eric Schmidt of Google.

• Whatever happened to Allen Iverson?

• How 37 banks turned into four big ones.

• The top 20 Quentin Tarantino food scenes.

• Sabermetrics in tee ball, or: Why Mike Tanier Is the Best.

• Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign is not feminist.

Monday Medley

What we read before the sequester cuts set in…

• Bradley Manning admitted leaking documents and explained his motivations in court last week, though his plea was hardly covered by the media. What will Manning’s legacy be? And what are the legal ramifications of his prosecution?

• MTA fares are going up yet again. This map shows the impact of the fare hikes.

• The Times weighs in on tenting at Duke.

• Pat Jordan on the pain and pleasure of spring training.

• A guide to literary references on The Simpsons.

• An interview with a figure behind the Anonymous movement.

• Wealth inequality with a visual aid.

• A nifty guide to whatever this “sequester” is.

• Details on the Chipotle secret menu.

Monday Medley

What we read after knocking out Manny Pacquiao…

• Some great lists of the year’s best photographs, as well as an illustrated deck of cards for The Wire characters.

• The leaked audio of Fox News’ Kathleen McFarland talking to David Petraeus last year is sickening and revealing.

• Judd Apatow edited the first comedy issue of Vanity Fair, which featured, among other things, this oral history of Freaks and Geeks.

• The ongoing persecution of Bradley Manning continues, but most of the media, including The New York Times which benefited from his leaks, is still ignoring him.

• Joe Posnanski on breaking down the baseball Hall of Fame. Also, Will Leitch on Bob Costas.

• Everything you ever wanted to know about New York City candy shops.

• The militarization of America’s police forces, and some moral questions about the military itself.

• What happened to Google Reader?

• Why significant credit card bonuses are here to stay.

• Noam Chomsky celebrated his birthday this weekend.

• Why the fiscal cliff doesn’t really matter.

• Jay-Z on the subway.

• The worst free throw of all time.

Monday Medley

What we read while reapplying to the Lingerie Football League…

• An NYU/Stanford study on drones was released last week, illustrating the horrific effects of those weapons on other countries. In related news, Conor Friedersdorf explains why he won’t vote for Barack Obama. He has sparked a debate.

• An interview with XKCD’s Randall Munroe.

• The U.S. blew it again in the Ryder Cup, which Tim still loves.

• Chuck Klosterman on fantasy football. Joe Posnanski about RefGate.

• Why, Keith Hernandez, why??? (For charity, but still…) And on the topic of baseball announcers, which are the most biased?

• Arthur O. Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, died Saturday at the age of 86.

• Is WikiLeaks an “enemy”?

• Ridiculous words, illustrated.

• Rethinking the legacy of Robert Rubin.

• This week on oral histories: GQ on Cheers.

Monday Medley

What we read while Pussy Riot got legitimately raped…

• Some Julian Assange drama last week: First, Ecuador granted asylum to the Wikileaks founder. Then the UK threatened to storm the embassy and extradite Assange anyway. Ecuador did not like that one bit. Assange, while holed up in the Embassy in London, spoke to supporters and called on President Obama to end the witch hunt on Wikileaks.

• Pussy Riot, the Russian punk band, was sentenced to two years in a prison camp for something called “hooliganism.” The New Republic had the definitive account of the trial two weeks ago — “Question is struck!” — and N+1 translated the Dostoevskian closing statements from the band.

• Judge Richard Posner discusses leisure time and the misery of old England in a book review.

• Joe Posnanski discusses the challenge of writing Joe Paterno’s biography.

• Simon Rich tells us how to write in any medium.

• The worst insurance company ever…

• The worst idea for a restaurant ever…

• How should we evaluate the reliability of online reviews?

Monday Medley

What we read while being “questioned by the Secret Service,” if you know what I mean…

• The great Levon Helm, former drummer for The Band and lead singer on such classics as “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” and “Ophelia,” died last week at the age of 71. Helm helped put The Band (originally The Hawks) together, as the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins and then Bob Dylan, and Martin Scorcese famously turned their last concert into the best concert film of all-time (which Helm personally was not a fan of). Helm then went on to his own great solo career. Robbie Robertson, who reached out to Helm while the latter was sick, and Bob Dylan were among the many grief-stricken by Helm’s death.

• Mitch Hurwitz discusses the upcoming new season of Arrested Development. Speaking of which, in honor of Fox’s 25th anniversary (celebrated yesterday), what are the 10 best shows it cancelled prematurely? And its best overall?

• Julian Assange launched his new talk show (watch out, Conan!), which was roundly mocked by the media for not featuring Amy Winehouse’s relatives.

• The Mets’ hot start hasn’t kept Elena Kagan from bashing them in her opinions.

• Another piece on America’s incarceration problem. Speaking of incarceration, here is some fascinating bargaining in a prisoner’s dilemma game show.

• Take a look at shakin’ 3D 1930s Paris.

• Will Wilkinson reviews two happiness tips and takes down Michael Sandel.

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 telling WikiLeaks they couldn’t use our server….

• Sean Wilentz reviewed Bob Dylan’s pre-Thanksgiving shows at Terminal 5 in New York, but his love of all things Dylan may have skewed the objectivity. On the other side of the spectrum,  John Jurgensen wonders if Dylan should retire.

• In other classic rock news, if you like The Rolling Stones, “Gimme Shelter,” or just music, you should listen to this.

• John Paul Stevens was interviewed on 60 Minutes.  Even more interesting is the full transcript of his April interview with Jeffrey Rosen.

• A Chuck Klosterman profile of Jonathan Franzen? John S is literally giddy.

• Deborah Solomon’s live interview with Steve Martin had to be refunded because it was too boring. We at NPI have had our own run-ins with Ms. Solomon, but her interviews always have the potential to be delightfully uncomfortable.

• If you somehow missed it, LeBron James returned to Cleveland last week, leading many to pontificate on how his absence has affected the city and how his time in Miami is beginning.

• We don’t always read Sports Illustrated‘s longer features, but we usually find it worth our time. The latest case in point? Chris Ballard’s look at UC-Berkeley rower Jill Costello’s battle with cancer.

• To prep you for the now official BCS Championship Game, Michael Sokolove of The New York Times Magazine dives into Oregon’s point-a-minute offense while Michael Weinreb penned a guest piece for The War Eagle Reader on why it’s fine to root for Cam Newton and Auburn.

• An in-depth (if largely hypothetical) look at the NBA in the 1990s had Michael Jordan not existed, with Roger Pimentel suggesting that there may have been a few more youngsters wearing No. 22 than 23 these days.

• IFC continues its efforts to shamelessly pander to comedy nerds everywhere. Last year it began showing Arrested Development in syndication, and now, in addition to picking up The Onion News Network pilot, it has added three cult classics–The Larry Sanders Show, The Ben Stiller Show, and Mr. Show–to its lineup.

• Someone must be really excited about Broadway’s newest show (c/o here with a h/t here).

Monday Medley

What we read while you were thankful for your favorite blog…

• R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen.

• And R.I.P. diplomatic cables?

• If you were patted down by TSA agents this weekend, take comfort in this: They don’t like it any more than you do.

• John Paul Stevens on the death penalty. And he still looks great in a bowtie.

• After releasing his new album to critical and commercial success, Kanye West performed all of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy at Bowery Ballroom last week. He ended the show with a beautiful, dark, twisted rant.

• You knew someone was going to do it–that someone was gonna go all, “Hey, doesn’t the decade really end in 2010?” and put out another encompassing review of the Aughts, 2010 inclusive. That someone turned out to be Time, which is attempting to launch an annual “Timeframes Issue” with its glance back at the last 11 years. Of special note (IOHO, of course and taking into account that some stories are not online) is James Poniewozik’s shortie on news tickers.

• Slate‘s Tom Scocca, while on a cruise vacation over Thanksgiving, was inspired to post a 1998 interview he did with David Foster Wallace in several parts. The focus is primarily on Wallace’s non-fiction work, specifically his cruise essay, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.”

• Looking for a way to procrastinate? Here are the funniest “Watch Instantly” options on Netflix.

• How To Use Extremely Negative Reviews of Your Customer Service to Your Advantage: A Primer.

• Say what you will about Obama’s policies, but the man is cool.

• Does Wall Street produce anything of social value?

• Boy, we’re glad we weren’t alive for the most boring day of the 20th Century.

• What exactly do sportswriters mean when they refer to “relevance”?

• Tim’s excitement for the return of Pretty Little Liars in January was officially ratcheted up with the release of this trailer.