Monday Medley

What we read while wondering where they found this Jaden Smith kid…

• Last week was Spelling Bee week, and as if John S didn’t love the Spelling Bee enough, they made an Arrested Development reference.

• A new lobbying group that can stand up to the NRA. Of course, handguns might not be the cause of America’s high murder rate anyway.

• Where the atheists live!

• As tornadoes struck Oklahoma again, native Oklahoman Ben Montgomery delivers a story from the scene.

• Is Megan Draper going to die?

• This week in troubling criminal justice stories: How three pacifist protestors became “terrorists” and 10 facts about racial injustice in prison. On a somewhat related note, fire Eric Holder.

• Against intervention in Syria (no matter what The Onion says).

• Bradley Manning and Amnesty International.

• The heaviest sixth grade metal band ever.

• Ever wanted to see 42 takes of one scene dissected?  Here you go.

• On Nassau Coliseum.

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Monday Medley

What we read while getting used to writing “2013”…

• New Year’s around the world.

• A New Year’s Resolution from Norm Macdonald.

• West Virginia is finally being put on the map.

• Adrian Lamo tries to explain himself.

• As Lance Armstrong contemplates a confession, just how altruistic is LiveStrong?

• The 20th anniversary of one of the greatest playoff games in NFL history.

• Alan Sepinwall talks about his new book and the crucial episodes in the last decade of television.

• An unconventional example of criminal justice.

• Some thoughts on Quentin Tarantino’s revisionary history.

• George Saunders has ended the race for best book of 2013.

• Nobody does obituaries like The Economist, and this one, on British speaking clock Brian Cobby, shows why.

• This week in oral histories (two!): A look back at Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay”, plus an oral history of Good Will Hunting.

• The coolest iPhone case that doesn’t really work.

• Bill Wyman exposes the myth that Michael Jackson has sold “a billion” records.

• Matt Taibbi revisits the bailout over four years later.

• The best lede of the week, and it’s not even close.