Monday Medley

What we read that wasn’t about Michelle Obama’s hair…

• Did Nate Silver get something wrong?

• A veteran of the war in Afghanistan reflects on what he did.

• In defense of the post office.

• In the same week that PBS aired a great special on the lack of major prosecutions in the finance industry, President Obama nominated a new head of the SEC who illustrates the revolving door between regulators and the regulated.

• Some growing evidence of President Obama’s war on whistleblowers, as John Kiriakou was sentenced to more than two years in prison and a former government expert now works at the Apple store.

• Obama’s second inauguration was a significant moment for gay rights, but will his words translate into action?

• On the origin of Siri.

• Vanity Fair profiles the refreshingly candid Jennifer Lawrence.   And Roger Ebert discusses the year’s best documentaries.

• Fruitvale was the big winner at Sundance.

• Still more about the life of Aaron Swartz, his recent funeral, and the prosecutorial persecution that likely contributed to his death.

• Michael Weinreb on Donald Westlake, whose novels serve as the source for the new movie, Parker.

• Child labor and bonded workers help make your Apple products.

• Will the military ever stop growing?

• Slavoj Zizek on Zero Dark Thirty.

• A typical college syllabus.

Monday Medley

What we read while Newt Gingrich started quoting Dragon Ball Z…

• The comedy world lost another great comic last week, when Patrice O’Neal passed away at 41. Comedians from Greg Fitzsimmons to Jon Stewart to Mike Birbiglia paid tribute to O’Neal and his comedy.

• Sports Illustrated will unveil its Sportsman of the Year this week. To be honest, our two favorite candidates have already been eliminated: Here are Tim Layden on Aaron Rodgers and David Epstein on Eric LeGrand.

• A judge finally put a stop to the SEC’s policy of settling with financial firms. Many observers were quite pleased with this development, but others wondered what Judge Rakoff’s problem was.

• In these turbulent political times, it’s nice to know that some things still have bipartisan support, specifically the military’s right to detain people, including American citizens, no matter where they are captured! The draconian National Defense Authorization Act passed with support from most Republicans and many Democrats, because we are obviously at war, all the time, with everyone.

• Jonathan Chait doesn’t think paying college athletes is feasible.

• Tim and John S have been known to argue about the BCS. Now that the title game is set, Michael Weinreb makes his case for Boise State.

• Even we at NPI (who’ve been known to wax poetic about alternative rock of the 1990s) might consider this analysis of Semisonic’s “Closing Time” a little too much…

Monday Medley

What we read while rioting in Happy Valley, resigning in Italy, and, um, what’s the third one?

• The story coming out of Penn State is one of the worst we’ve seen in sports in a long time. We’ve read a multitude of takes on former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky’s abuse and the University’s oversight. Sara Ganim of the Harrisburg Patriot-News has spearheaded the coverage with the even hand so often lacking in the media these days. The paper overall has done a tremendous job in exposing the story and seeing it through to its climax over the last week.

• While ESPN has drawn its share of criticism for being late to the story, its secondary platforms have had a strong week. Jane Leavy’s introspective look at the ramifications of abuse is one of the best things we’ve read on Grantland. Michael Weinreb, a Penn State alum, also provided insight into the culture at State College on Grantland. Luke Cyphers, writing for ESPNW, wisely connected PSU’s oversight to a similar case with former women’s basketball coach Rene Portland at the school.

• NPI favorite Joe Posnanski finds himself in an awkward position, having moved to State College this fall to write his biography of Joe Paterno. Posnanski quasi-defends the coach at SI.

• Jonathan Lethem v. James Wood: It’s a Literary Battle!

• Malcolm Gladwell tries to figure out what made Steve Jobs so special.

• The passing of boxing legend Joe Frazier gives us a chance to link to two terrific SI profiles: Mark Kram’s in the wake of the Thrilla in Manila and William Nack’s retrospective on Frazier’s rivalry with Muhammad Ali two decades after it ended.

• John S and Tim’s inaugural Double Bonus podcast for the 2011-2012 season did not, unfortunately, discuss Storm Clonch or Dundrecous Nelson.

• Speaking of college basketball, we should find ways to play more games on ships.

• Rolling Stone details how the GOP became the party of the rich.

Monday Medley

What we read while reinterpreting Longfellow…

• Count us among those really excited about the NHL’s return to Winnipeg. The National Post’s Bruce Arthur has been terrific with what it means to the city and the NHL (Arthur is quickly becoming one of our favorite sports columnists, and almost certainly our favorite Canadian sports columnist), and The Awl‘s Jim Behrle steps up with 11 possible team names, complete with logos.

• For more on Shaq’s retirement, just check out Quickish’s thorough compilation of stories, including a fun one involving a different Connar Oberst.

• SplitSider hands out awards for the TV season. And BuzzFeed ranks the minor Arrested Development characters.

• Eugene Mirman wrote a letter to Time Warner Cable.

• An oldie but a relevant-ie: the top 100 shots in NBA history, complete with video. We don’t think the list has changed since it was made during the season.

• Michael Weinreb’s weekly top five on his personal blog has become a quick-stop must-read.

• Posner and Becker defend legacy admissions at colleges. Speaking of the academy, some journals are doubting the gold standard of a double-blind review process.

• NYT Magazine takes on another notable sports columnist, Bill Simmons.

• Michael Ian Black and Meghan McCain are writing a book together.

• Can we all get behind Attorney General Eric Holder on this one? 

Monday Medley

What we read while wondering if the winners of the Lingerie Bowl play the winners of the Puppy Bowl…

• Michael Weinreb explores the American bacchanalia that is the Super Bowl…

• Michael Kruse starts examining the constitutionality of Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd’s sting operations, but doesn’t dive deeply enough into the crux of the issue for our tastes.

• Over in the movie world, Stephen Tobolowsky explained how Groundhog Day changed his life, while Tara Reid apparently announced plans for a nonexistent sequel to The Big Lebowski. The Writers Guild Awards happened (on two coasts!) and Kristen Schaal hosted the east coast version.

• Speaking of comedy, Dana Carvey was back hosting SNL. Also, old people don’t understand why David Brent is funny.

• Our favorite part of FOX’s NFL broadcasts–referee majordomo Mike Pereira–did an online chat with the Wall Street Journal, hinting at possible changes to the league’s challenge system.

• Chris Jones goes after Jason Whitlock! And Phil Simms goes after Desmond Howard!

• The Onion strikes again, this time on puppies. Man, we love the Puppy Bowl.

• Tyler Cowen enters the fray on the Chinese mother discussion. He also has a controversial new book out.

• We stumbled upon two websites that attempt to explain the endings of two notoriously impenetrable TV classics.

• Michael Lewis went to Ireland to figure out why the country’s going bankrupt.

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.

Monday Medley

What we read while fleeing the Metrodome…

• We didn’t watch last Sunday’s Muppet-infused Simpsons episode until the middle of the week, so by the time we thought up something angry to write about it, our pals at Dead Homer Society had already hit the nail on the head. And while we’re at it, Bill Oakley on how classic episodes of the show were written.

• Watching Ben Roethlisberger get beat up in yesterday’s win over the Bengals only reinforced the point Michael Weinreb makes here.

• Bill Hancock may be a little late the party, but he’s right: The BCS works (kind of)!

• We don’t always agree with Aaron Sorkin, but we can appreciate his takedown of Sarah Palin’s publicity-stunt moose killing. In other vaguely political news, New York magazine wonders how the last decade would have played out if Al Gore had won the 2000 election.

• In political philosophical news, we present you the political philosophy of Julian Assange.

• I guess you’ll just have to settle for Celine Dion in Vegas (and miss excellent Jay Leno impressions).

• Necco’s wafers may be atrocious, but they do make at least one good food product.

• Some NPI-favorites, specifically Hannibal Buress, are featured on this list of the 10 best comedy albums of the year.

• With a title like “Why does most modern sports broadcasting suck so bad?” you knew it was only a matter of time before Colin Cowherd is mentioned. More sports: The Nieman Foundation did an interview with feature writer Michael Paterniti, which prompted Gangrey to post Paterniti’s 1999 piece on Thurman Munson. And more good, long stuff from Sports Illustrated this week, with Alan Shipnuck’s investigation into the mysterious suicide of LPGA golfer Erica Blasberg.

• If there’s one thing everybody loves about Santa, it’s creepy jokes about child molestation!