Readers of the New York Times Travel section probably had trouble holding down their cappuccinos this past Sunday when they were greeted with a half-page color spread of volley-balling nudists. The photo accompanied an article titled "No Shoes, No Shirts, No Worries" about the growing popularity of nudist luxury hotels. Being the venerated institution that it is, the Times would never show indecency its pages, so the photo playfully engages in a game of what Slate calls "Hide the Salami."
Every penis, nipple and ass crack is shrewdly covered by a well-placed arm, towel or splash of water. Slate's Jack Shafer—when he isn't coming up with playground euphemisms ("love bags?" really?)—is reminded of the scene in Austin Powers where ridiculously out-of-place objects cover up the honey-mooning couple's naughty bits. (Except for, according to YouTube user 2008AndAYes, a brief glimpse of Elizabeth Hurley's nipple around the 1:10 mark.) The cover photo is just one of a series that photographer Adriana Zehbrauskas took for the Times. There is a slideshow on the Times website that offers more images for the porn-starved to pore over like an X-rated Where's Waldo.
Zehbrauskas's lucky snap.
"No, it wasn't posed," she tells Gelf. "I strictly follow the no posing rule and I approach a travel piece as any other story I photograph for the newspaper." While she didn't put the shot together, the subjects were aware they were being photographed. "When I arrived at the scene the game was already under way," says Zehbrauskas. "The ones who did not want to be in the shot left the pool. There was a lot going on in the pool as well as in the background and I couldn't possibly control it, but I could position myself in a way that I could cover at least something."
Like any good photographer, she positioned herself for the image she wanted. "I needed a photo that would be interesting in terms of framing. It was a volleyball game," she says, "so I needed the ball in the frame—and one that would clearly say 'nudism' and yet be fit to print." Seventy-one frames later, she was fortunate to find the perfect shot. "I knew what I wanted, but I guess that I could also say that I was lucky."
This past weekend, to promote the upcoming Simpsons Movie, 7-Eleven transformed a dozen of its stores in various parts of the country into full-fledged Kwik-E-Marts, the convenience store from the TV show. While these stores will go back to being 7-Elevens soon, several other stores first seen in television and movies have been reified as lasting tributes to the fiction that inspired them.
The most important news story of the year came and went last week with barely a whimper. The Vatican released the Ten Commandments of Driving, the first new commandments the Church has had since Moses sauntered down Mt. Sinai more than 3,000 years ago. The only other time the Church came close to adding another Commandment was when a fellow named Jesus introduced his Golden Rule. In the end, though, even He didn't have the political clout to get his Rule passed as a Commandment.
If Baltimore seems stagnant, it is only because the city has been moving in opposite directions for so long. For every progressive, radical idea that will alleviate the city's major problems and raise its citizens' hopes, two problems spring up that bring those dreams crashing down. For instance, the city's slogan, "Baltimore, the City That Reads," had to be reconsidered in light of news that 38% of the adult population reads at the lowest literacy level.
What does Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton have in common with former heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis? They're both famous athletes named "Lewis," of course, but they also have the distinction of being two of the most recognizable African-Britons on the planet. What, you've never heard the term African-Briton before? Perhaps you, like certain media outlets we know, need to learn how to use the term "black."
The next time you dine out in Manhattan or Brooklyn, beware. A New Yorker writer may be surreptitiously jotting down your mannerisms and bloviations in preparation for passing judgment on you in the front pages of his rag. That's because the magazine's relatively brief food reviews often devote as much space to eavesdropping on whoever happens to be in a restaurant the same night as the critic, as to the food itself. Here are a few examples from some recent Tables for Two reviews.
Ishmael Beah's book A Long Way Gone is enjoying its sixth week near the top of the New York Times bestsellers list and is receiving lots of sparkling reviews. The book is an autobiographical account of Beah's life in war-torn Sierra Leone, where he was given an AK-47 and strong drugs at age 12 and sent off to kill. (The Oscar-nominated film Blood Diamond is also, in part, about the trials of another child soldier in the same war.) But Beah's isn't the only story of children in an African nation struggling with violence, starvation, and civil war. Recently, books and films inspired, narrated, or written by young survivors of these conflicts have increased tremendously in number and popularity.
People toss the term "neighborhood restaurant" around lightly, but the folks at Frankies 457 in Brooklyn's Carroll Gardens take it seriously. Luckily for everyone, they know what they're doing.
Full article » | by Aria Sloss
We're tempted to embrace the triumphant notion that America is the richest country in the world. When major newspapers can, without hint of irony, routinely run articles on budget travelling that include lines like: "The massages run us $120 each," (Big Sur, Small Budget) either Something is Wrong with Travel Writing, or else everyone else is just a lot richer than we thought.
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