So Pinterest Is A Woman’s World. Does That Matter?
Unless your Internet connection has been disabled for the past month, you’ve undoubtedly heard of the new darling of the social media world: Pinterest. The simple and highly visual site lets users save — or “pin” — coveted outfits, recipes, home décor ideas and do-it-yourself projects on virtual bulletin boards, for their own use and [Read More]
How New York Pay Phones Became Guerrilla Libraries
John Locke thinks people should read more. So in the past few months, the Columbia architecture grad has slipped around Manhattan with a sack of books and custom-made shelves, converting old pay phones into pop-up libraries. The concept, sponsored by Locke’s imaginary Department of Urban Betterment, is that New Yorkers will pick up unfamiliar titles [Read More]
ENEMIES: A history of the FBI
Any history of the FBI is inevitably a mini biography of J. Edgar Hoover, the controversial longtime director who stands at the center of the twentieth century “like a statue encrusted in grime,” in the words of New York Times reporter Tim Weiner, author of Enemies: A History of the FBI. And yet some of [Read More]
An Interview with Paula Deen
Americans love Paula Deen, and they love her recipes. That’s why Novo Nordisk, one of the world’s largest makers of diabetes treatments, thought she’d be the perfect person to reach the tens of millions of diabetics and pre-diabetics in southern and middle America – where her recipes are widely popular – and teach them how [Read More]
New chapter for Real Housewife Taylor
“Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Taylor Armstrong, whose husband committed suicide last summer, insists she isn’t dipping her toes back into the dating scene yet — despite what you might read in the tabloids. The reality TV star insists that, despite being spotted out on the town with a couple of different dashing gentlemen, [Read More]
Curiosity about ‘what’s normal’ leads to book deal
Chrisanna Northrup had a big idea based on a simple question: What’s normal? She thought the question could be expanded to make a strong Internet survey, and the survey results would make a great book. Interactive questions could travel the world, and if the survey and the book detailed relationships and finances, she believed, women, [Read More]
George Washington’s Favorite Drink: Chocolate
President’s Weekend and what better way to celebrate than with the George Washington’s Favorite Drink: Warm Chocolate Cream. George Washington definitely liked his chocolate. A favorite breakfast for him was cornmeal hoe cakes with honey and butter, washed them down with Warm Chocolate Cream, according to a new cookbook, Dining with the Washingtons, by the [Read More]
Why Books and Movies Are Better the Second Time
New research reveals why people like to reread books, re-watch movies and generally repeat the same experiences over and over again. It’s not addictive or ritualistic behavior, but rather a conscious effort to probe deeper layers of significance in the revisited material, while also reflecting on one’s own growth through the lens of the familiar [Read More]
Power of Fading Advertising Signs
I have always loved the sight of old painted advertising signs on the sides of buildings. Such murals bring history alive, revealing once popular but now forgotten cultural products. In 1997, Frank Jump decided to begin photographing New York City’s fading advertising murals. Jump made photographing old murals his life work after being diagnosed in [Read More]
The Why We Broke Up Project
Burned by a bad romance? Scarred from a messy relationship? Need to unload after a Kardashian, Klum or Kutcher-type split? Instead of drowning your sorrows, author Daniel Handler asks that you post them online. The man formerly known as Lemony Snicket has created a Tumblr page, the Why We Broke Up Project, which invites visitors [Read More]