And the rivulets had you riveted.

Ever since college, I've made a habit of reading the annual compilation of The Best American Magazine Writing. I recently finished the 2012 edition, and as always, found truly great writing and articles. This is one of the best editions in years, and they are always good. I didn't find one piece skippable. The thing about reading it, though, is that I want to share it and talk to people about what I read! Here are the award-winning and nominated pieces from the book, I recommend them all. Save the links to some of the articles that may interest you for your subway ride, lunch hour, downtime, etc. (And then maybe come back here and tell me what you thought.)

01 "Joplin!" by Luke Dittrich, Esquire [Winner - Feature Writing]

The first piece in the anthology, I have to admit this made me cry on the subway. Dittrich paints a wonderful and terrifying portrait of a group of people who hide in a convenience store beer freezer during the tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri. It made me appreciate my life.

02 "The Apostate" by Lawrence Wright, The New Yorker [Winner - Reporting]

I remember spending an entire lunch hour reading this when it was first posted online, and I was not surprised when I opened the book to see it there as a winner. Wright talks to Paul Haggis, famous director and Scientology defector, and delves into the rumors about the religion--to the point where a group of Scientologists showed up at The New Yorker offices to debate his research.

03 Excerpts from "The Encyclopedia of 9/11" by New York Magazine [Winner - Single Topic Issue]

Ten years later, and it's still hard to read about. The encyclopedic structure made it almost scientific, but did not take away any of the emotion. Especially the entries for 'Blue,' 'FDNY,' 'Good-Bye,' 'Television News,' and 'Total Progressive Collapse.' Since not all the entries were featured in the anthology, I'm starting to go through the others online.

04 "Wall Street Isn't Winning--It's Cheating" by Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone [Finalist - Commentary, Digital Media]

I've read Taibbi in past editions of this anthology, and I admire his anger and the ability with which he is able to articulate his points eloquently. After he describes a writer on television news dismissing the Occupy Wall Street movement because he believes "the protesters are driven by envy of the rich," Taibbi states why this is a stupid assertion, quite clearly, and for much longer than below:

...the worse the economy got, the more being a millionaire or a billionaire somehow became a qualification for high office, as people flocked to voting booths to support politicians with names like Bloomberg and Rockefeller and Corzine, names that to voters symbolized success and expertise at a time when few people seemed to have answers. At last count, there were 245 millionaires in congress, including 66 in the Senate. 

And we hate the rich? Come on. Success is the national religion, and almost everyone is a believer. Americans love winners.  But that's just the problem. These guys on Wall Street are not winning – they're cheating. And as much as we love the self-made success story, we hate the cheater that much more.

I've added his column to my RSS feeder. The book also featured "Mike Bloomberg's Marie Antoinette Moment" and "How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the OWS Protests."

05 "Too Much Information" by John Jeremiah Sullivan, GQ [Finalist - Essays and Criticism]

A great piece on the late David Foster Wallace's impact on the literary world, what it has lost, and thoughts on his final, unfinished novel.

06 "Our Man in Kandahar" by Matthieu Aikins, The Atlantic [Finalist - Reporting]

Aikins reports from Afghanistan about Abdul Raziq, the police chief of Kandahar and U.S. ally. He spent two years investigating the rumors of Raziq's brutality; it's startling.

07 "Arms and the Dudes" by Guy Lawson, Rolling Stone [Finalist - Feature Writing]

So a couple of 20-year-olds win a military contract to buy and ship arms to the war efforts in Afghanistan.  This is so strange, I laughed as I read the opening paragraphs. I actually read part of it out loud to Jesse.

08 "The Invisible Army" by Sarah Stillman, The New Yorker [Winner - Public Interest]

If you read anything on this page, read this. There's a reason this is the public interest winner -- it's about something I had no clue was happening, and didn't even think about. Who are the workers at those far-flung U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan? The workers at the PX and who clean the barracks and run the salons? This is astonishing to read.

09 "The Secret That Kills Four Women a Day" by Liz Brody, Glamour [Winner - Personal Service]

A scary article that everyone should read, not only women.

10 "The Signature Wound" by Bob Drury, Men's Health [Finalist - Public Interest]

Currently only available online as a Kindle Single, Drury's report describes what it's like for soldier's to come back from war, not only without legs, but also without genitals--the injury rarely spoken about. Drury talks to soldiers at Walter Reed and explains why the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are producing more of these kinds of wounds. After this article was published, there were significant changes in military policy.

11 "Fractured" by Susan Ince, Good Housekeeping [Finalist - Personal Service]

Another article that changed policy, you should read this if you have a mom, and probably pass it along to her (I did!) just in case she's taking preventative medicine for osteoporosis. The article demonstrates that a certain type of medicine actually has far worse side effects.

12 "Dewayne Dedmon's Leap of Faith" by Chris Ballard, Sports Illustrated [Finalist - Profile Writing]

I look forward to the sports pieces in this anthology ever since I was introduced to the great sportswriter Gary Smith in an earlier edition. For all the terrible things that are reported about in sports these days, there are still great stories. Ballard's profile of a seriously tall young man who wasn't allowed to play basketball due to religion is a just one of those great stories, told over the span of years.

13 "Paper Tigers" by Wesley Yang, New York Magazine [Winner - Essays and Criticism]

In this critical take on Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Yang writes as himself, an Asian-American, talks to others, and reports on the stereotype of the studious, successful Asian-American. The 'tiger mother' upbringing and test-taking ends at some point. An insightful piece.

14 "Game of Her Life" by Tim Crothers, ESPN the Magazine [Finalist - Profile Writing]

The unlikely story of a teenage chess champion from a slum in Uganda. Crothers juxtaposes her impoverished home life and the opportunities learning chess has given her -- like a flight to Russia to face off against other great chess players.

15 "He Is Anonymous" by Tim Rogers, D Magazine [Winner - Profile Writing]

The computer hacker group Anonymous has been making headlines ever since their crusade on Scientology began years ago, and most recently about the terrible Steubenville 'Rape Crew.' This winning profile talks to one of the 'Anonymous' hacktivists, and it's at times funny (sometimes reminding me of that '90s movie Hackers), but mostly informative. Here's your look at what makes up Anonymous.

16 "The Right to Write" by William Zinsser, The American Scholar [Winner - Commentary, Digital Media]

Zinsser is in his late eighties, and if you took any writing classes, you may have had to read his book. I thoroughly enjoyed the three columns here, but mostly this one, for this: "Sorry to be so harsh, but I don’t like people telling other people they shouldn’t write about their life. All of us earn that right by being born; one of the deepest human impulses is to leave a record of what we did and what we thought and felt on our journey." See also: "Looking for a Model" and "Content Management" (unavailable online).

17 "America's Next Top Weiner" by Joel Stein, Time [Finalist - Columns and Commentary]

Witty columns about pop culture, obviously I laughed along. See also: "Duck Tape" and "The End of Kardaschadenfreude."

18 "The Hox River Window" by Karen Russell, Zoetrope: All-Story [Winner - Fiction]

When I first started this short story, I was a bit bored after all the non-fiction I'd been reading up to this point. However, by the third page I was riveted and by the end I had goosebumps. Unfortunately, the whole story is not available online.

19 "From Abbottabad to Worse" by Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair [Winner - Columns and Commentary]

I didn't always agree with the late and great Hitchens, but I will always be in awe of his eloquent writing and rhetoric. His opinions are displayed rationally and with a certain distinguished emotion--he never lacks conviction and passion for what he believes in (or does not believe in, as it were). This column is about Pakistan, "When the King Saved God" is about the beginnings of the English-language bible (he is a famous atheist), and most poignantly is "Unspoken Truths," about being diagnosed with cancer and facing, unexpectedly, losing one's voice. (Unfortunately, this column is not posted online.)

---

I KNOW THAT'S A LOT. But like I said, come here if you are ever for lack of reading. Sometimes I'm at work and I think I've 'conquered' the internet, but then I look up any new works by authors I've read in past editions. I recommend all of these, but if you wanted to narrow it down I'd read (as numbered above): 01, 04, 08, 09, 10, 11, 13, and 19. Okay, that's still a lot.

Hope you enjoy!


Photos by artist Thomas Allen

SUNDAY!

Pre-game: READY FOR ACTION!

HALFTIME: STAYING FIERCE

WE WON!

It was a good day to be a Patriots fan--Sean, Jesse, and I were certainly excited. We watched the earlier Atlanta-Seattle game with a group of really great, fun, football-loving Seattle fans that we recently came to know in the neighborhood. The tension was palpable in their apartment during the second half, and when they lost by such a small margin after that comeback we were all sad. They are good people though, and even though they were sad, they walked over to our apartment to partake in the Patriots win. Here's to taking down the Baltimore Ravens next week!!!!!

Her cat was clawing the floorboards.

Yesterday the clouds hung low over Manhattan.

My friend Jess and I decided to embark on a New York Saturday on the west side of Manhattan. We took advantage of the cloudy, cool weather conditions and walked the Highline to various galleries in Chelsea. It's a popular destination on clear days and warm days--we rather enjoyed the dead plants and the chilled urban vista.

We stopped by an exhibit entitled 'Suburbia Hamburg 1983' by Nils Karsten, which featured woodcuts of album covers and facts from that old era of punk rock. Then we wandered over to the Jonathan LeVine gallery intending to see Haroshi's repurposed skateboard decks, but it wouldn't open until later that night. We decided to seek out art in other venues of the 529 Arts Building to fill our afternoon.

We climbed back up to the Highline and headed south towards the west village to the IFC Center. We bought tickets to the next showing of the French movie Holy Motors and then looked for an eatery to kill the hour we had before the film. Luckily--another reason to love New York--a nearby restaurant was still serving brunch and limitless mimosas at four in the afternoon.

Why not see a strange, weird, Lynch-ian French film with a couple of mimosas in you?

Jess and I were swept into the world of Monsieur Oscar and his 'appointments.' He dressed in different costumes in the back of a limousine, and proceeded to act as these different characters in different situations--sometimes murdering or kidnapping or consoling his daughter or dying as an old man or simulating for video games, etc. We were never always sure what was really happening during the film, but we talked about it the entire way home on the walk and the subway ride. Was it a treatise on technology? The film business? Reality television? I enjoy films that leave their insinuations to the viewer.

How we perceived reality after Holy Motors:

When I arrived home, I sat on my bed for a few minutes, still thinking about the movie.

Then Jaime texted me and I headed out to Williamsburg to meet up with her, our friend Jenni who was visiting from Boston, Dave, Amber, Mike, and the cantankerous Granville (a profile for another day). It was great fun and ended with attempted dance floor antics. I arrived home only a few minutes past midnight, and fell asleep waiting for Jesse to return home from his own adventurous day in Philadelphia.

I do love New York. I love waking up and not knowing what I'm going to do for that day, but being assured that here, there is always something to do. It's just a matter of seeking it out. And having the right friends around to spend it with always helps.

Short and sweet to the soul.

I went to school for journalism, and I haven't had much chance to make use of my degree since graduating. Working at a corporate fashion label, I'm complimented on my clear and concise e-mails (thanks?). In my personal life, I'm that person that asks a lot of questions. One of my high school teachers told me that I should look into writing as a career at a time when I was considering being a forensic pathologist--figuring out how a person died. I'm beginning to think my true calling would be a detective. Veronica Mars-turns-30-style.

I haven't had many 'cases' to work with. If my friends start dating someone new, I'm to find out if they have a criminal record, or other unsavory facts. Have any doubts? Somebody acting shady? E-mail Jessica! Easy enough; one did and I had to pass along the headshots for multiple DUI arrests in another state. The other day my friend started reading a new blog and couldn't figure out who the blogger's vaguely referenced-to husband was (he was hanging out with famous people)--after two minutes of perusing the blog, I sent my friend the husband's Wikipedia page. Mere Googling work. Elementary, as RDJ would say.

On New Year's Eve, my best friend's husband Jon decided we should play 'Mafia' in which one person is randomly and secretly selected as a mafia hitman, and while everybody's eyes are closed he/she kills another person. The narrator, who sits out, then tells everyone who was killed and the living are left to deduce who may be the mafia hitman. I was the first killed--somebody knew my prowess in deduction--and I knew it was my best friend Kelly immediately. Smart move, Kells! In the second game, I also guessed the killer based on clues (a laugh when everyone's eyes were supposed to be closed). In the third, I had no clue because it did not make any logical sense. It was down to four of us and the hitman killed the person everybody suspected most at that moment--why would the killer choose to kill the person that could make him get away with it? Turns out, the narrator wasn't wearing her glasses and was not calling the right 'dead people.' I felt vindicated.

I know, this is really riveting detective-work.

 

On Monday at the office, I did exonerate someone from a co-worker's ire. I work in a room with three other people. Jon likes his coffee; he drinks it all day. I like my coffee too, but I put a lid on it so I don't spill between the kitchen and the office. Jon goes lid-less. When we came into the office on Monday morning there were splats of coffee along the floor. Our resident clean-freak and OCD'er Scott was miffed and told Jon he should clean that up, it was extremely messy of him. Jon was mystified that he could spill so much, as was I. But I kept out of it. Later that morning, walking down the hallway I noticed more drips. Next to my trash can I noticed a different spilled-coffee pattern. I turned to my co-workers and declared: Jon did not spill coffee on Friday, it was the janitor and a leaky trash bag. Somebody had thrown away a cup with coffee still in it, the janitor had gone from desk to desk pulling out the trash bags, not realizing he/she was leaking. Next to my desk they had put the leaky bag down, as I could see the trashbag wrinkles in the coffee stain. Scott apologized to Jon, and the office went back to normal. I relaxed in my swivel chair and crossed my legs on top of my desk, relaxing with a cigarette and ready to take a nap as I shoved my fedora over my eyes.

Just kidding about that last part.

Sigh. My job is really boring.


Photos by Berndnaut Smilde for his Nimbus series via Colossol

Strong animals know when your hearts are weak.

OSCAR NOMINATION DAY! AKA my favorite "hit refresh" day at work. They started this morning at 8:30am, and I usually get to work between 8:30 and 9am. Until last year, the CBS Early Show studios were on my walk into work and I was able to stand in front of their window monitors and see the nominees live--unfortunately, they moved! Work doesn't have livestream capabilities (it hardly lets me use the blogger site) but soon enough I was refreshing a news site to get the full list. There were definitely a few surprises, but overall I was happy. Sure, it's just another awards show, but I've been watching the Academy Awards since I was a kid, and now I even have an annual party with corresponding appetizers to movies. It's fun!

Here are my thoughts -- what do you think about this year's nominees?

Best Motion Picture

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Lincoln
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Amour
Django Unchained
Argo

The only film I haven't seen on this list is Lincoln. I am most excited to see Amour and Beasts of the Southern Wild appear, and while I shouldn't be making guesses just yet, my first instinct is that Best Picture will go to Lincoln.

Achievement in Directing

David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Michael Haneke, Amour
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

What a category! My rant from Tuesday has been dignified -- NO TOM HOOPER NOMINATION! All these directors are better than Hooper, and also better than Affleck. Everybody is calling Affleck's non-inclusion as a "snub," but I'd pick any of these films' directing over Argo. I would have to say I'm disappointed Katherine Bigelow was left off the list for Zero Dark Thirty. If it was me, Russell would be left off for her -- he made a nice film, but Bigelow's directing surpasses his. Again, I haven't seen Lincoln, but y'know, SPIELBERG. Which is why this award will probably go to him.

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Denzel Washington, Flight
Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables 
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Ho ho! Bradley Cooper! I think John Hawkes in The Sessions was better than Cooper and even Jackman (and I love Jackman), but I've also loved Cooper since he played Will Tippin on ALIAS. Daniel Day-Lewis has this on lock, PER USUAL, but, maybe, perhaps... a Phoenix upset? Nah, the voters may nominate him but then they're all like "remember when you were maybe crazy or not?" Having not seen Lincoln or Flight, I would give this to Phoenix, personally--what a performance. 

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty 
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook 
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild 

Hooray for some truly great performances this year... I HAVE seen all of these films and ALL of these performances are great and deserving. I think Jessica Chastain has my ultimate vote--and not because we share a name! Zero Dark Thirty hinges on her character, it's really a character study, and she's brilliant. But I can't overlook Emmanuelle Riva in Amour (the oldest nominee for Best Actress ever) OR Quvenzhané Wallis (the youngest nominee for Best Actress ever). They're both stunning performances!

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained 
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master 
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook 
Alan Arkin, Argo
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Surprises! I am so glad to see Christoph Waltz nominated again (come to think of it, all of these guys have been nominated and won an Oscar in the past!), and I thought we might see Leonardo DiCaprio win a nomination over him. I think Waltz was truly the better of the two in the film, but I know Leo really wants that Oscar. I still can't believe he wasn't nominated for Revolutionary Road, or even The Departed. This will probably go to Jones. I know I'm the only person that was bored by Hoffman. Arkin was good, but not great. I was surprised by De Niro's performance--it was the best I've seen him in years.

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role 

Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Amy Adams, The Master

I'm so glad Helen Hunt got nominated, and I'd give the Oscar to her. She's so great in The Sessions and I would think it was a lead role, but that's neither here nor there now. It's been so long since I'd seen her on screen and it reminded me what a great actress she truly is. I'm a bit perplexed by Jacki Weaver's nomination, and while I think she is a great actress (see Animal Kingdom), her role didn't merit much in the film as a whole.

Original Screenplay

Flight, John Gatins
Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal
Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
Amour, Michael Haneke
Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola

Okay, now I really need to see Flight I guess! The four I have seen are all masterful works... Boal with his research, Tarantino with his dialogue, Haneke with his economy, and Anderson/Coppola with their nostalgic take on youth. I really liked all of these scripts... it's hard to choose! I won't choose. Until later.

Adapted Screenplay

Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
Argo, Chris Terrio
Lincoln, Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell
Life of Pi, David Magee

Lincoln will most likely win, but all of these are great adaptations -- right now I want it to go to Beasts of the Southern Wild for giving us the force that is Hushpuppy.

Best Foreign-Language Film

Amour (Austria)
No (Chile)
War Witch (Canada)
A Royal Affair (Den)
Kontiki (Norway)

I haven't seen any of these except for Amour, but I'm not sure any of them can beat the foreign film that was nominated for overall best picture...

Original Score

Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli
Argo, Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi, Mychael Danna
Lincoln, John Williams
Skyfall, Thomas Newman

HURRAH! The soundtrack that I've been playing on repeat -- and which I mentioned in my Top Albums of 2012 post -- was Dario Marianelli's score for Anna Karenina. And while I would have loved for Jude Law and Keira Knightley to be nominated, I'm glad it wasn't completely shutout (lo siento, The Dark Knight Rises!). The music is a true component of the storytelling in this film...I vote for it! I suppose I will have to take another listen to the other scores, though. I will say none of them stuck with me after the movie like Marianelli's did. The only other soundtrack that stuck out was the music for Beasts of the Southern Wild by Dan Romer--listen to "Once There Was a Hushpuppy." So much love...it still makes me all kinds of emotional.

Original Song

"Before My Time," J. Ralph; Chasing Ice
"Pi's Lullaby," Mychael Danna & Bombay Jayashri; Life of Pi
"Suddenly," Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boulil; Les Misérables 
"Everybody Needs a Best Friend," Walter Murphy & Seth McFarlane; Ted
"Skyfall," Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth; Skyfall

Ugh, Ted got nominated? On the real? Okay, I suppose this has to go to Adele and "Skyfall," because that song really is great. Here's what that Les Miserables song was like to me... I have never seen the broadway show, heard the music, nor seen another film. When the movie gets to "Suddenly" I definitely perked up because it was not that great of a song (that's how bored I was), took place in a carriage ride, and could have been cut from the film entirely and nobody would have noticed... then I was like, "OH, this is the Oscar bait." (Since only original songs, not songs that have been written for other productions can be nominated.) It's not a good song.

Achievement in Cinematography

Anna Karenina, Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained, Robert Richardson
Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda
Lincoln, Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall, Roger Deakins

ANNA! ANNA! ANNA! But: all of these are great. Deakins is a legend without an Oscar yet despite ten nominations, perhaps this will be his year. Life of Pi is also worthy. I might have replaced Django, however -- with The Master, which was not even nominated. Though it is a flawed film, the cinematography was breathtaking. If it was in this category, I'd give it the win.

Achievement in Costume Design

Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables, Paco Delgado
Lincoln, Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror, Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman, Colleen Atwood

I knew we'd see Colleen Atwood's name here, and that's because she made some truly awe-inspiring costumes for that film. They were WOW when you look at the details. I'm talking ravens skulls as part of the evil queen's dress above... gorgeous. Of course, I wanted every single dress that Anna wore. ALL OF THEM, GIVE THEM TO ME. Those are my votes.

Achievement in Visual Effects

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life of Pi
Marvel's The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White and the Huntsman

Ah, visual effects! The only place we see The Avengers and Prometheus. These all had stunning effects... I think Life of Pi will probably take it, but I can't stop thinking about those effects in Prometheus...

Again, I think it was such a great year in film that there were quite a few surprises, and I'm excited for the awards (minus the host). Good thing the Golden Globes are this week (after the Patriots take down the Texans!), and I'm looking forward to it mainly because Amy Poehler! Tina Fey! As the Oscars near I'll post my final predictions...until then, may the odds be ever in your favor!