The Conservative Art World, the Unimproved Speculum, and the Great Leveller

November 18, 2014

Is Texas about to kill an innocent man framed by a dirty cop?

“Despite the rambling, ‘humorous’ messages I left for my friends to prove that I WAS TOTALLY COOL, those bleeding lesions seemed more intimately real than anything else about me. I tended and nurtured that mood disorder with repetition and invented logic, and it did the same for me.”

Adam Sternbergh on how we're all using emoji to say things that words used to be able to do.

Also: are you using emoji wrong? Probably.

Just a reminder that Tuxedo Mask is an asshole and everyone knows it except Sailor Moon, for some reason.

“Poverty, my mother used to say, is a state of mind. She never stood in line to apply for welfare, or Medicaid, or food stamps. Then she would have learned, as I did, that it may be a state of mind—and to some degree I believe it is—but it is also a harsh daily reality for millions of her fellow citizens of this country and on this planet. And now for her son.”

Leakin Park is probably on your radar from Serial. Or maybe from one of the 66 other murder investigations that started there.

When did the art world get so conservative?

The history of the speculum and why no one has improved it.

The Butter, edited by Roxane Gay, is now a thing that exists.

"Willow’s been writing her own novels since she was 6." Willow and Jaden Smith, American Prophets, do a joint interview.

Be sure to update your Bible!

"I trawl my mouse across a chiaroscuro multilevel building that looks like a nihilistic Wes Anderson diorama with skittering pencil-sketched backgrounds. " Wired investigates This War of Minea new video game that in no way glorifies war

"You think you know someone. Then you find your college email account."