Esquire articles from February 2003

Esquire archives from February 2003

The sound & the fury.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2003... Most of our special December issue was devoted to celebrating the Best and Brightest, forty-four emerging leaders in society, culture, business, and science. One of our choices--the charismatic young mayor of Baltimore, Martin O'Malley--stirred...

The CEO. (The Sound & the Fury).(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2003... Another of December's Best and Brightest, Tyco's new CEO, Ed Breen, has been handed the daunting task of cleaning up one of the moat notorious and scandalized companies of the New Economy. Writer at large Tom Junod provided a meticulous...

The Clinton effect. (The Sound & the Fury).(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2003... The introduction to our Best and Brightest issue was written by former president Bill Clinton, who eighteen years ago was recognized as a promising young leader in a similar issue of Esquire, which celebrated "The Best of a New Generation"...

Fitting tribute. (The Sound & the Fury).(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2003... In our November issue, Chris Jones told the story of Juan Dixon, who overcame come a star on the 2002 NCAA national championship basketball team and in the NBA (The Game). Jones's piece was right on the mark: a concise, resonant account of...

The bully revisited. (The Sound & the Fury).(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2003... In October, the Georgia Supreme Court denied Jonathan Miller's appeal of his murder conviction in the killing of fellow student Belluardo. Accordingly, Miller will stay in prison for at least the next twelve years, after which he will be...

Sarah Wynter *. (Man at His Best).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Among the many reasons to watch 24 this season--including the surlier-than-ever Kiefer Sutherland and the prospect of seeing Los Angeles blow up--perhaps the most compelling is the chance to gaze upon Sarah Wynter. The 29-year-old...

The 8 most remarkable things in culture this month. (The Awards).
February 1, 2003... 1. Best Vaudeville Routine Condi Rice: Hu is leading China. George W.: Now whaddya asking me for? Condi: I'm telling you Hu is leading China. George: Well, I'm asking you. Who is leading China? Condi: That's the man's...

The rules. (Man at His Best).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Rule No. 34: There is no better feeling in the world than the one you get from having a business lunch cancel. Rule No. 42: No one should be arrested for keying a car with vanity plates. Rule No. 55: A man whose office walls display photos of...

(The winterized man). (The Merchandise).
February 1, 2003... Don't hide from the harsh realities of winter. Conquer them! This year's foul-weather innovations are here to make it easy for even the weakest warm-blooded wimp to laugh at Old Man Winter's worst. [1] Boeri's Rage helmet is lined with a...

The collective: presents "what's in store" for spring 2003.
February 1, 2003... This advertising supplement is co-sponsored by TheCollective, the ultimate menswear exhibition held twice yearly in New York City for retailers and press only. Produced by ENK International. "Tell a man you like his necktie, and you will...

Two More Books for Your Shelf. (Books and Opinions).(Gilligan's Wake)(Book Review)
February 1, 2003... It's all Esquire all the time! Screen columnist Tom Carson mixes James Joyce with Sherwood Schwartz in his mad, swirling novel Gilligan's Wake (Picador, $25). Contributing editor Bill Zehme, in his collection intimate Strangers (Delta, $14),...

The Lost Art of Reading the Newspaper at Night. (Books and Opinions).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Here's how I used to start my days: Cheerios, coffee, death, destruction, biochemical weapons, more death, global recession, Justin Timberlake's solo album, financial scandal, death. In other words, I used to read the morning newspaper....

Big Important Book of the Month. (Books and Opinions).(The Devil in the White City)(Book Review)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... YOU'VE GOT TO RESPECT a book that makes you keep flipping to the back cover, double-checking that it is nonfiction. Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City (Crown, $26) seems like something from the mind of, say, Thomas Harris. But it is, in...

The complaint: butt cleavage. (Books and Opinions).(fashion trends)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... I AM NOT A BREAST MAN, although I like them well enough and would miss them dearly if evolution went awry. I am an Ass Man--and I'm frightened. I'm frightened by the ass crack placed on forced, public display by women who ought to know...

You'll need a beer. (Food and Drink).(micro brews)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... You'll need a beer to go with those chips. Try 90 Minute imperial India pale ale, from Delaware's Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, During brewing, Dogfish provides a constant dose of Pacific Northwest hops throughout the 90-minute boil, The result...

The best potato chips you've never tasted. (Food and Drink).
February 1, 2003... THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF WOMEN in the world, the sweet and the savory. I represent the latter, happy to pass up chocolate for chips any day of the week. Especially Sunday. Especially Super Sunday. For this year's Super Bowl party, I've decided to...

34 Reasons to be optimistic about 2003. (The List).
February 1, 2003... 1. Five hours of Carrie-Anne Moss in tight black rubber, otherwise known as The Matrixes (Reloaded out in May, Revolutions in November). 2. The continuing existence of the Minnesota Twins. 3. Pontiac is resurrecting the GTO from...

The suggestion. (Answer Fella).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... THE SUGGESTION: It was recently revealed that the heir to the Eli Lilly fortune intends to leave $100 million to the publishers of Poetry magazine. Here are three better ways to spend that money. 1) Donate it to the National Opossum Society. 2)...

Popeye's accent, halitosis & sly Stallone's porn career. (Answer Fella).
February 1, 2003... ESQUIRE'S ANSWER FELLA believes that there are no stupid questions, just stupid people who don't ask questions, fearing they'll look stupid. So ask Answer Fella anything. If he doesn't know the answer, he'll find out who does, or who has a...

The guide. (What to Wear Now).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The Peaked Lapel We're not knocking the notched lapel. There's a time, a place, and a body shape for every style of suit. But the peaked lapel has a universal virtue: It's long points shoot up and out toward the points of the shoulders,...

Elements of the evening-wear solution. (Solutions).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Two-button single-breasted custom-made wool suit ($1,660) by GUCCI; cotton-and-polyester shirt ($37) and silk tie ($35) by GEOFFREY BEENE; leather belt with silver buckle ($75) by MARTIN DINGMAN; cap-toe leather lace-ups ($215) by JOHNSTON &...

StepXStep. (Solutions).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Question: What can I wear to a black-tie event other than a tuxedo? White straight-point-collared shirt + Black woven-silk tie Plain black leather belt + High shine, cap-toe lace ups Plain silver watch ...

Get your suede on. (The Over-Under).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... * Get your suede on. Like De Niro himself, the tan suede sport coat is one of the great classics; it leans a little to the outlaw, but the new, refined models are so clean and crisp, you can wear them to church. They're a perfect stand-in for a...

High. (The Over-Under).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... High $995 Suit maker Corneliani started with Spanish baby-lamb suede and then poured in all the detailing of a fully tailored jacket, like a passport pocket with leather piping, working button closures for inside pockets, and...

Five things to say to sound smart this month.
February 1, 2003... Five Things to Say to Sound Smart This Month (1) Dark Blue is riddled with more jaded-cop cliches than an entire season of Law & Order. (2) Costa-Gavras's treatment of the Vatican in Amen was a bit ham-fisted, no? (3) Jimmy Kimmel is to...

(Seven ways to be entertained in ...) Feb. (The Index).
February 1, 2003... A Stirring Performance So moved were we by Audrey Tautou's turn as a love-struck art student in He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not that when we sat down to pen this review, the words came out in our seventh-grade French. We ran the text through...

Bug season: what is the freakin' deal with the flu? Or even your damn winter cold? Why is this so hard? (The Body).
February 1, 2003... IF ALL GOES ACCORDING to the odds, at least one out of every five of you reading this has either already had the flu this season or will soon. That includes, by the way. some of you who got a flu shot. As for colds, most of the rest of you will...

10 Things you don't know about women.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... 1. Don't ask us what time it is. When was the last time you approached a gorgeous girl with the old "Do you have the time?" line and she responded with, "It's two-thirty... and, by the way, are you free for dinner?" 2. Never follow us....

The self-titled debut from The Coral is a record you simply can't live without. (Music).(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2003... BAND: The Coral ALBUM: The Coral LABEL: Deltasonic/Columbia IT'S TROUBLING, but a federal search warrant might expose me as an Anglophile with a midget fetish. Lately, I've browsed maps of English port cities on the Internet and...

Another five great albums worth your lunch money. (Music).(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2003... Calla Televise Imagine listening to Nine Inch Nails on horse tranquilizers and you've got the fatalistic flow of Televise, a terrifically intense and surprisingly sexy collection of songs for a seriously long night with your beloved....

The Sopranos have passed on. Alias, with Lena Olin channeling Hannibal Lecter, deserves another look. (The Screen).(Television Program Review)
February 1, 2003... IF MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE meeting Felicity isn't your idea of perfect television, you're reading the wrong column. If The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show with guns doesn't do it, either, why you don't stick to radio is a mystery to me. As it...

The Q&A the Hoffman brothers. (The Screen).(Brief Article)(Interview)
February 1, 2003... Hollywood is turning into one big brotherhood--the Coens, the Weitzes, the Wachowskis, and now the Hoffmans. Love Liza, a touching film about a man with a gas-huffing addiction, written by Gordy Hoffman and starring his brother, Philip Seymour...

2004 Oscar predictions. (The Scouting Report).
February 1, 2003... IF YOU WANT PREDICTIONS about this year's Oscars, turn on Entertainment Tonight (inevitable bonus: a behind the-scenes look at Just Shoot Me!). But here at Esquire, we're ahead of the curve. we're ready to talk about the 2004 Oscars. We polled...

The best reason to see bowling for columbine. (The Screen).
February 1, 2003... CHARLTON HESTON has stayed famous for half a century without ever inspiring any real public warmth. This would be an achievement for a politician, but it's downright remarkable for an actor. Magniloquence like his somehow precludes ordinary...

The schmuck with a thousand faces. (The Screen).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... BY THE GLEEFULLY stupid standards of Jackass-era guy culture--its youth division, anyhow, still reveling in what we might call the postdiaper but pregolf years--The Jamie Kennedy Experiment is almost, um, dandified. That's because this WB...

Brandnew stuff.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... (COOL GADGET 1) Tablet PCs? Please. They're so '02. And while they do offer a complete computing experience, letting you type from the couch or surf from the can, they also require their own software and cost as much as a high-priced...

8 ways to build a better league--why we love arena football.(The Game).
February 1, 2003... [1] Hire the biggest commissioner in sports. No, really. At six foot nine, 407 pounds, C. David Baker could fashion a handsome set of chaps out of Messrs. Selig and Stern. Walk the streets of Manhattan with him and you'll spy some of the...

Sportswear.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Sliding snowshoes are essentially short, fat skis with snowshoe-style bindings. Ideal for backwoods sojourns (or for anyone who wants to avoid onerous lift-ticket prices), Rossignol's Free Venture Expeditions ($299) include climbing skins that...

The annotated man: C. David Baker: Commissioner, Arena Football League, 49. (The Game).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... The commish needs just four hours of sleep per night. "I use Hostess Sno Balls and Diet Coke to keep me awake," he says. "Here at the AFL, we say that we can sleep when we die." The suit and shirt are custom-made. Collar size: 23 inches....

How to beat the Bookie on Super Sunday. (The Betting Man).(Column)
February 1, 2003... I NEVER BET THE SUPER BOWL in the traditional manner--by giving or taking points--and neither should you. Bookmakers have millions at stake on the Super Bowl, and they focus all of their powers on setting a bulletproof point spread. They know...

You've got questions, she's got answers. (Sex).(Column)
February 1, 2003... How do I tell her, "It's not you, it's not your body--it's those enormous four-year-old cotton underpants that are killing it for me"? First and foremost, know this: The female ass is compositionally identical to that of the male. Now ask...

Sex toy of the month. (Our Expert).
February 1, 2003... THE ASSIGNMENT: To test-drive Durex's new Performax condom, the tip of which contains a benzocaine-fueled "climax control lubricant" that's supposed to desensitize your unit and allow you to last longer than an episode of according to Jim. ...

CZJ: Catherine Zeta-Jones has three names, two long legs, one big voice, and a world at her feet. And she was a star long before she was anything else. (Cover Story).
February 1, 2003... A BLACK PEUGEOT WITH TINTED WINDOWS purred along a narrow, winding road on the south shore of Bermuda. following impatiently behind a trio of puttering minivan taxis and a shiny red motor scooter--an impromptu convoy rolling at a stately...

The hurried man.
February 1, 2003... How to Walk Faster By Therese Iknoian, racer and author of Walking Fast > Glide, don't bounce. > Take shorter, faster steps, as opposed to longer steps. > Steps start from the hips, not the knees. > Bend your arms at the...

Not guilty by reason of Afghanistan.
February 1, 2003... Was Nathan Powell's business partner a film director trying to shed himself of an ineffective producer? Or was he "in league with the Taliban" and a threat to Powell and his family? Either way, Jawed Wassel ended up dismembered, and Nathan...

Robert Evans. (What I've Learned).
February 1, 2003... [Movie producer, 72, Los Angeles] Cojones! Either you're born with 'em or without 'em. Mine have done me as much harm as good. They've given me an interesting life. But it's much easier to read about it than to l lye it. Someone once...

Close-up: the summer-weight suit everything you need to know to buy and wear the season's light wools well.
February 1, 2003... Three-button single-breasted wool suit ($2,125), cotton shirt ($240), silk tie ($130), and linen pocket square ($80) by Ermenegildo Zegna; leather wing lips ($470) by Salvatore Ferragamo; 18-karat white-and-pink-gold watch ($4,650) by Rolex....

Gigolo revisited.(male clothing)
February 1, 2003... (esquire style) More than twenty years after Paul Schrader brought '80s excess, male prostitution, and Richard Gere to the nation's attention, American Gigolo's slick SoCal style is back. In the spirit of the movie, Esquire asked Paul...

The five-minute guide to ... ping-pong.
February 1, 2003... It's time someone stood up for the great game of Ping-Pong here in America. In France and Sweden and China, table tennis gets its proper due as a sport of the gods. We say it's time for a stateside revival. We can't wait for the day when the...

Adventures in my bed: this story is just like the dreams that inspired it: lucid, erotic, and not terribly long. One man's quest to control his dreams.
February 1, 2003... It's night. Tallahassee. I'm walking uphill toward the English-department building on the campus of Florida State University. Ahead, beyond a parking lot where a few cars gleam out of the shadows and across a street lined with tall oaks, rises...

The war. On drugs: the Pentagon wants to keep soldiers awake indefinitely. For now, they're using pills. Soon, they may have something Petter.
February 1, 2003... In the beginning, there was speed. Cheap speed, Dexedrine, about the same as diet pills. Too much made the soldiers nauseated, too little just made them grind their teeth, but it was all they had, so they ate it and powered through the night....

Dubious Achievements 2002! Priests without pants, a killer pretzel, John Ashcroft's nipple problem, Anna Kournikova's nipple problem, Martha's salad problem, Saddam's bitter feud with Whitney Houston--what a dubious, dubious year it's been.
February 1, 2003... GOOD TO SEE MICKEY ROURKE WORKING AGAIN One of the hottest videos for sale on the Internet is Bumfights, which features real homeless people fighting each other and being pushed down cement stairs in a shopping cart. YET, ODDLY, NO ONE...