By Steve Rhodes

A weekly (usually – apologies for falling behind!) roundup of magazines laying around Beachwood HQ.
Bikini Journalism
As a Beachwood reader points out, Amy Jacobson is on the cover of the new New Yorker.
Mr. San Quentin
The must-read in this week’s New Yorker is “Dean of Death Row,” Tad Friend’s profile of Vernell Crittendon, who was ostensibly the spokesman for the famed California prison for 30 years but in reality held a variety of roles including, most importantly, orchestrating executions. What seems most striking about Crittendon to Friend is his uncanny ability to modulate his perfect tone of impartiality with a variety of constituencies, and thus wield an odd kind of power and influence. What struck me the most was Crittendon’s inability to tell the truth; he modulated with himself as well.

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Posted on July 26, 2007

By Meghan Van Leuwen

News from Chicago’s academic presses, and other intellectual developments.
1. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Off the presses
* The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Manual: The U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. . With a foreword by John A. Nagl, James F. Amos and David H. Petraeus, and an introduction by Sarah Sewall.

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Posted on July 23, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

A weekly look at the magazines laying around Beachwood HQ.
Simpsonsology
In an oral history of The Simpsons, Vanity Fair reveals that Fox Broadcasting went so far as to audition replacement voices in the midst of bitter contract negotiations. “You know, the show has made so much money, in so many ways,” says Hank Azaria, the voice of Apu, Moe, Chief Wiggum and Comic Book Guy, among others. “Eventually, we just wanted to get our piece of the pie. And Fox is tough. They’re very tough negotiators. Their business model is not to give money away. So it got a little intense at times.”
Rupert Murdoch’s view: “The voices, who have been there since the very beginning, are now getting very large salaries . . . I’m not saying whether they’re worth it or not. Or whether you could replace them or not, but Jim [Brooks] wouldn’t hear of that, because they’re all his friends.”

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Posted on July 19, 2007

By Meghan Van Leuwen

News from Chicago’s academic presses, and other intellectual developments.
1. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Off the Presses
* Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind. By Dorothy L. Cheney and Robert M. Seyfarth.
* No Caption Needed: Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy. By Robert Hairman and John Louis Lucaites.
* Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey. By James Attlee.

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Posted on July 6, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

June 30 – July 1.
Publication: Sun-Times
Cover: Well, the bikini’d woman’s arching body with the head of a shellfish certainly caught my attention. For a review of Joyce Carol Oates’ The Gravedigger’s Daughter. Secondary cover review: “Gallows Humor Falls Flat: Argentina’s Dirty War not the place for the author’s metaphysical hijinks.” I should think not.

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Posted on July 2, 2007