Esquire articles from November 2007

Esquire archives from November 2007

The three positive letters we got about Sean Penn.(This Way In: THE SOUND AND THE FURY)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... For the September issue, writer at large Scott Raab profiled resurgent actor, director, and activist Sean Penn. Thanks for such eloquent insight into Penn's character. He seems to shirk the frills of celebrity simply because, in the grand...

And a brief but exemplary sample of the other thirty-eight.(This Way In: THE SOUND AND THE FURY)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... What an insult to your readers. Here is someone who pals around with the world's most brutal dictators, and you put him on the cover? I threw out the issue without even opening it. STUART J. PASTRICH Plainview, N. Y. You can ram...

A radically honest reader.(This Way In: THE SOUND AND THE FURY)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... After editor at large A.J. Jacobs critiqued the August issue as part of his experiment with radical honesty--the act of being completely truthful regardless of consequence ("I Think You're Fat," August)--Jesse Gordon wrote us a letter. He...

Five things you might not know about the font stag sans.(This Way In: THE SOUND AND THE FURY)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... (1) Esquire commissioned Stag Sans from Christian Schwartz, one of a relative handful of type designers in the world. (2) It's based on another of Schwartz's Esquire fonts, Stag, which is now oddly popular with Scandinavian...

The dateline story.(This Way In: THE SOUND AND THE FURY)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... Writer Luke Dittrich investigated the death of Bill Conradt, an assistant district attorney in Murphy, Texas ("Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die," September). Conradt committed suicide as police-working with NBC's "To Catch a...

Depends how good they are from the shotgun.(This Way In: THE SOUND AND THE FURY)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... Also included in the September issue was our annual list of superbly dressed men ("The Best Dressed Men in the World 2007'9, topped by New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Don't get me wrong: I love Brady, but George Clooney is far...

One possible fix: more boxers with doctorates.(This Way In: THE SOUND AND THE FURY)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... In his September column, writer at large Chris Jones examined the declining appeal of boxing, as revealed by the much-hyped--and equally disappointing--superfight between Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya (The Game). I assumed this would be...

Least likely sequel.(CONTRIBUTOR AWARD)
November 1, 2007... "Really Really Really Old Yeller Old Yeller's back! With the original cast! You're guaranteed to shed some tears during Old Yellers walk to the mailbox in this 322-minute epic." --From "Canine Films Currently in Production," a satirical...

Sports and food.(This Way In: EDITOR'S LETTER)
November 1, 2007... WE HAVE AN ODD, fraught relationship with athletes these days. We're fascinated by their physical potential and almost invariably disappointed in them as human beings. Even if they're not criminals or lowlifes like Michael Vick or Pacman Jones,...

Mayors, even more of them.(This Way In: THE SOUND AND THE FURY)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] C. Jack Ellis, 61 | Second term MACON, GA., POP. 94,316 Best thing about Macon: I don't want to steal Spokane's slogan--"We're near nature and we're near perfect"--but we're near Atlanta and near perfect....

Changing the world? Even easier when you dress well.(This Way In: THE SOUND AND THE FURY)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... September's style section featured images of mayors from around the country as photographed at the 2007 mayors convention in Los Angeles ("Hizzoner"). Once again, you knocked it out of the park. Each mayor was a direct reflection of his...

Okay, now go change the world.(This Way In: THE SOUND AND THE FURY)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... The Esquire style rules say that men should not wear cell phones on their belts. With these new enormous business phones, where should we put them? WILLIE J. FITZPATRICK III Sunrise, Fla. Esquire fashion director Nick Sullivan...

Elsewhere in the bin.(This Way In: THE SOUND AND THE FURY)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... The two main characters in September's fiction ("The Turnaround Is at Hand") appeared in other sections of the magazine: Hookerdicker on the Books page ("In Failed-Consultant News," Man at His Best) and DeCloud in The Sound and the Fury (This...

Raising Nick Wojtasik.(This Way In: THE SOUND AND THE FURY)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... In September's This Way In, we printed a letter from Nick Wojtasik, a fifteen-year-old in need of advice on dressing like a man. We asked readers to help. Here, some of the best tips. * Go to those two good clothing stores in your town. Try...

Degrees of Charlize.(This Way In: THE SOUND AND THE FURY)
November 1, 2007... One of September's hints about this year's Sexiest Woman Alive was that she is 0 degrees from Kevin Bacon. (And to you naysayers, 0 degrees does not mean that she is Bacon.) So we thought of a new game for people who appear in this issue, one...

The complaint: my favorite director, Wes Anderson.(Film)(The Darjeeling Limited)(Movie review)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There's a scene in The Darjeeling Limited, the story of three brothers reconnecting on a train ride through India, in which an exasperated sleeper-car hostess asks a barefoot, bandaged, and neurotic Jason...

Accidental brilliance: the first movie about the way we actually use technology has nothing to do with the way we actually use technology.(Man at His Best: 1 THE CULTURE)(Reservation Road)(Movie review)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MOVIES AREN'T always about what they seem to be about--that's one of their glories. Case in point: Reservation Road, the latest film by Terry George (Hotel Rwanda), which stars Mark Ruffalo as Dwight, a smalltown...

Visual argument: the pageboy is the most disconcerting male haircut.(Man at His Best: 1 THE CULTURE)(Brief article)(Photograph)
November 1, 2007... DEPP, J. (in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] PHILIPS, E. (in the 1980s) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SPECTOR, P. (in court) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BARDEM, J. (in No Country for Old Men) ...

The false start: if the Great American Century began eight years after it was supposed maybe there's hope for the follow-up.(Man at His Best 1: Books)(America 1908)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2007... The most recent turn of the century was a considerable letdown, especially by millennial standards, which are considerable, but also by the standards set by the turn of the last century. Jim Rasenberger's America 1908 (Scribner, $27)...

Extreme author stunt of the month.(Man at His Best: 1 THE CULTURE)(Alexander Roy's The Driver)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THERE'S ONE road record that's so dangerous and elusive, few people ever attempt it: New York to L. A. in less than 32 hours. It's a crazy, ridiculous record. And it's the record that powers outlaw street-race driver...

What's so awful about Dinesh D'Souza, Part II: another open challenge to the author.(Man at His Best 1: Books)(What's So Great About Christianity)(Book review)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Dear Dinesh, Poor Jesus. In reading your latest offering, What's So Great About Christianity (Regnery, $28), I can't help but think of the scene from Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, in which Max von...

A book you should destroy.(Man at His Best: 1 THE CULTURE)(On the Beach)(Brief article)(Book review)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It look more than a year to get the print quality of Richard Misrach's book On the Beach (Aperture) to the photographer's satisfaction, but it was time well spent: Each of Misrach's trademark aerial landscapes is...

A watching Mr. Untoachable, the new documentary about Nicky Barnes, a Harlem junkie turned kingpin, who ratted out his business associates. 1 hour, 31 minutes.(THE LEISURE METER: How to allocate your free time this month)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... A WATCHING Mr. Untoachable, the new documentary about Nicky Barnes, a Harlem junkie turned kingpin, who ratted out his business associates. 1 hour, 31 minutes B WATCHING American Gangster (see page 64) to see if Cuba Gooding Jr.'s...

On the overlooked utility of poetry.(Man at His Best: 1 Verse)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] He bore her away in his arms, The handsomest young man there, And his neck and his breast and his arms Were drowned in her long dim hair. That's Yeats, dude--William Butler Yeats, from a poem called "The Host of...

The principles of a happy, successful life.(Man at His Best: 1 Music)(Dave Grohl)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DAVE GROHL IS 38 going on 15. He loves four-letter words, drinking, and volume knobs. And he's the classiest rock star alive. There's zero attitude to suggest he's also one of two men left on the planet who knows...

Unlikely excerpts: musings from four new musician biographies.(Man at His Best 1: THE CULTURE)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Jimi Hendrix "[I] will put as much effort into this as I can. I'll fix it so the whole family of Hendrix's will have the right to wear the Screamin' Eagle patch of the U.S. Army Airborne!" --Jimi Hendrix in...

You will like this band.(Man at His Best: 1 THE CULTURE)(Ghostland Observatory)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... THE POLICE? No, Ghostland Observatory was the year's most notable live-music story. Each of their shows at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and Sasquatch! started as a small gathering and ended with a gyrating mass of thousands. Aaron Behrens...

Soundtrack to this issue: go back to the cover begin music, start flipping. This story will $9-90.(Man at His Best: 1 THE CULTURE)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... "The General Specific," Band of Horses: A welcoming, clap-along jingle from South Carolina's finest. (This Way In) "You and I," Cut Off your Hands: A jubilant chorus grounds an instantly catchy scornfilled kiss-off. (Books) "Execution...

Buying a ticket for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Sidney Lumet's film about two brothers who rob their parents' jewelry store. 5 minutes.(THE LEISURE METER)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... BUYING a ticket for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Sidney Lumet's film about two brothers who rob their parents' jewelry store. 5 minutes RECOVERING from the first scene, involving a bare-ass Philip Seymour Hoffman having sex. 2...

Boring paparazzi videos.(Man at His Best 1: Nascent Trend)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On TMZ.com, there's a video of former astronaut Buzz Aldrin and his wife supposedly arguing as they sit in their car outside Spago in Los Angeles. The unedited video clip was shot by a paparazzo, uploaded to TMZ's...

The angry German: the workplace.(Man at His Best: 1 THE CULTURE)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... (This article is best read aloud in a German accent) WHAT'S WITH all the friendliness? Everybody in America seems to want to make sweet love to all the their colleagues while behind their backs they want to ram rusty screwdrivers down their...

Things we won't be covering this month.(Man at His Best: 1 THE CULTURE)
November 1, 2007... * Bambu White Rum, "the first and only rum designed for women." Sexy Beast signature fragrance for dogs. Music from the Mound, a CD of Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka's favorite inspirational songs. The new book Laces: 100s of Ways to Pimp...

Funny * joke from a beautiful woman.(Man at His Best: 1 THE CULTURE)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AFTER A LONG NIGHT OUT at the bar, a man stood up to leave and fell flat on his face. Thinking he might just need some fresh air, he crawled outside. But when he tried to stand again and fell facefirst into the mud,...

Sloughing: a beginners guide.(GROOMING)(Buyers guide)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE AVERAGE MAN loses more than a billion dead skin cells per day, and while there's no biological imperative to scrub them off your body, there is an aesthetic one: They're dead, and when they combine with your...

The hell is a microbead, anyway?(Man at His Best: 2 THE INSTRUCTIONS)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... WE DON'T KNOW when it happened, but at some point in the past decade, the microbead took over your shower. This seemed like a good thing. The name alone sounded vaguely scientific and all business, and we enjoyed the thought of tiny...

The new Gatorade.(HYDRATION)(Vita Coco)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IDEA FOR a TV commercial: A remote hospital in a war-torn jungle. A man stumbles in on the brink of starvation, clothing in shreds. The doctor--young, good-looking--sticks a straw into a sack of IV fluid. The man...

Tuning in.(THE LEISURE METER?)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... TUNING IN to the first episodes of Frank TV, John Madden impersonator and MadTV alum Frank Caliendo's new late-night sketch show on TBS (premieres November 20), before he can exhaust his ability--and your tolerance--for impressions. 2 shows x...

Ask Dr. Oz: what can other countries teach us about eating right?(Man at His Best: 2 THE INSTRUCTIONS)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In spite of all the bad news about Americans' health, the truth is that we have one of the highest life expectancies in the world, 77.9 years. (Andorra has the highest, 83.5.) But there's a caveat: A big part of why...

This month in earbuds.(Man at His Best: 2 THE INSTRUCTIONS)(AirDrives)(Buyers guide)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... INSTEAD of sitting inside or over your ear, AirDrives ($100; airdrives.com) rest outside of them. They shoot the music in, which gives you high-quality sound but doesn't block outside noises, thus eliminating the choice you once had between the...

The digital man: Barry hearts the Slingbox.(Man at His Best: 2 INSTRUCTIONS)(Product/service evaluation)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the next several months, I am directing three television pilots in three different cities--Los Angeles, New York, and Vancouver--which means during the height of football season I need a remote way to watch the...

A celebration of Utter Utility: the Motorola Motofone F3.(Man at His Best: 2 THE INSTRUCTIONS)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... THE F3 WAS designed for the developing world, where cell phones need to do just two things: work and survive. Its twin antennas maximize signal strength. Its sealed keyboard keeps out dust and rain. its ring can be heard over the clamor of an...

The blue blazer.(Man at His Best 2: DANGEROUS KNOWLEDGE)(Recipe)
November 1, 2007... THERE ARE A FEW DRINKS that I love, lots that I like, and a great many that I despise. But there's only one that I fear--not because it's strong or because it tastes nasty. Nothing's stronger than Everclear, and I've done shots of that, and...

25 things a man should not have a favorite of.(Man at His Best: 2 THE INSTRUCTIONS)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Flavored nondairy creamer Animal Blanket Alternative theory of any assassination, including JFK's Named method of child rearing Mole Marshmallow cereal Seasonal color scheme Hooters waitress Child Wasting disease Bathroom stall at work Ex-wife...

Answer fella: wine drunk versus tequila drunk, fish pee & the mystery of the swish.(Man at His Best: 2 THE INSTRUCTIONS)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 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...

The suggestion: a thin wallet.(Man at His Best: 2 THE INSTRUCTIONS)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A big, oversized wallet is a dangerous thing. This is how I know: My friend Bill used to carry a wallet so large (see fig. 1) that when he drove, he pulled it out of his pocket and put it on the dash of his car, lest...

The $5,000 wardrobe: Part 9 (of 10), loafers.(Man at His Best: 2 THE INSTRUCTIONS)(Buyers guide)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... DRESSING UP IS USUALLY PRETTY EASY: Throw on a suit, lace up your black leather oxford shoes, and away you go. Dressing down, however, is where things get tricky, which is all the more reason you need a pair of plain brown loafers. They look as...

Listening to the unlikely but strangely complementary coupling of bluegrass standard Alison Krauss and Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant on Raising Sand.(THE LEISURE METER)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... LISTENING to the unlikely but strangely complementary coupling of bluegrass standard Alison Krauss and Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant on Raising Sand, an album that's two parts O Brother, Where Art Thou?, one part Houses of the Holy. 2...

Why do I fall asleep after sex?(Man at His Best 2: Sex)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] To escape the inevitable questions that arise: "Do you love me?" "Am I pretty?" "Can I have $300 so my aunt can have an operation?" No one needs an interrogation when his body has just performed a feat of stunning...

The esquire guide to time.(Man at His Best: 3 STYLE)(Buyers guide)
November 1, 2007... THE FIRST OF SHOPPING for anything is to know what you're talking about. It's true for cars and mortgages and plasma TVs, and it's true for wristwatches. Take, for example, this fine piece of work: David Yurman's new Belmont Shadow chronograph...

The movements: the unseen machine that keeps your watch ticking also gives it most of its value. These are some questions to ask about it.(Man at His Best 3: Watches 2007)(Buyers guide)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * What's power reserve. A manual watch needs winding to keep it going, and the longer it ticks, the longer its so-called power reserve. A. Lange & Sohne's new 31-day power-reserve movement, pictured here (top),...

Considering attending sawgrass's tour player experience.(THE LEISURE METER)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... CONSIDERING attending Sawgrass's Tour Player Experience, a fantasy camp where PGA fans have access to pro-locker-room facilities. 10 minutes GIVING up the long-held dream of catching Vijay Singh's athletes foot. 1 minute

Sea, air, and space: where you might use a pilot or dive watch.(Man at His Best 3: Watches 2007)(Buyers guide)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FORTIS B-42 COSMONAUTS CHRONOGRAPH The official watch of Russian cosmonauts and a staple aboard the International Space Station. $2,700 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BREITLING MONTBRILLANT LEGENDE The dials allow...

The archetypes: if you own even one of these watches, you are a collector.(Man at His Best: Watches 2007)(Buyers guide)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... 1. Patek Philippe Aquanaut Year introduced: ]997 Notable for: its steel case and composite band; this was one of Patek's first ventures into sport watches. $13,900 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 2. Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Year...

Death by Harry Potter: ignoring a cultural phenomenon today may render you completely irrelevant in a few years. Just so you know.(Chuck Klosterman's AMERICA)(Viewpoint essay)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] HERE IS WHAT I KNOW about Harry Potter: nothing. I haven t read any of the books about him, nor have I seen any of the movies. I know the novels were written by a rich middle-aged British woman named J. K....

10 things you don't know about women.(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... 1. When you call us for a same-day date, we will always be busy--even if we really aren't. Advance notice is mandatory. 2. There are nonverbal ways to say "I love you." Scouring that repulsive, scummy shower you haven't cleaned in the last...

There is no headline on this story. No photograph, no illustration. Only silence. Curious?(INFLUENCE)
November 1, 2007... I'M A TALKER. By nature. I'm an explainer, a chatterer, a negotiator. I used to think each day began whenever I started talking. But lately, I've begun to see the day's first moment of speech as the icy grip of anesthesia setting in. And all...

The last quiet place.(INFLUENCE)
November 1, 2007... PUT THIS MAGAZINE DOWN for a moment and listen. For a solid minute, just hear your world. Count the different sounds. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Depending on where you happen to be, these intrusions may have included one or more of the...

The secret history of the impending war with Iran that the White House doesn't want you to know.(BRIEFING)
November 1, 2007... IN THE YEARS AFTER 9/11, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann worked at the highest levels of the Bush administration as Middle East policy experts for the National Security Council. Mann conducted secret negotiations with Iran. Leverett traveled...

Esquire Best New Restaurants 2007.(Directory)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] TWENTY-THREE YEARS AGO, when I first compiled Esquire s Best New Restaurants, if there was an engaging little trattoria in a city that never had one, it had a good chance of making the cut. But the dedication of a...

Restaurant of the Year: Fearing's, Dallas.(Rattlesnake Bar)(Restaurant review)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IT'S A FUNNY THING about choosing the Best New Restaurant of the Year: I can sense it the moment I walk through the door. When I entered the polished Rattlesnake Bar at Fearing's, packed with some of the most...

Chef of the Year: Michael Psilakis, Anthos, New York.(Restaurant review)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] JUST LAST YEAR, Michael Psilakis and Donatella Arpaia's restaurant, Dona, made our list, but lease problems forced an overnight shutdown. Fortunately, they've opened Anthos across town, not as a reproduction of Dona...

Chef to watch: ... and hope one day land at a restaurant near you.(Directory)
November 1, 2007... TARVER KING | Woodlands Resort & Inn, Summerville, South Carolina Only a skilled chef should be allowed to alter pork belly, which really doesn't need altering. King succeeds: He brines it for three days, braises it for another three, then...

Table of the year: table 321, Fearing's, Dallas.(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... THE FOOD WILL TASTE THE SAME. You will be served the same mesquite-grilled rib eye at table 321 as you will at 623, over by the door. But at 321, you will enjoy it more. That's what a good table can do for a meal: elevate it. Make a special...

Things we never want to hear from a restaurant again.(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... "We don't seat until all members of the party are here." "WE ASK THAT YOU CALL US THE DAY OF YOUR RESERVATION TO CONFIRM." "Allow me to interrupt. I'd like to tell you about our special." "NO." "Can I bring you a bottle of...

Let's call a thousand year bank on ....(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Sommeliers for any liquid other than wine (tea, coffee, tequila, water) Two extra dollars for steak sauce for your forty-two-dollar steak Plates that are way, way bigger than the food Menus that exceed the size of the table itself...

Culinary fictional trend of the year: the opposite of sous vide.(Short story)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CARLOS BOUNDARY slid down off the counter and showed me around the kitchen, telling me his story--or, as it turned out, his creation myth. He was one quarter Apache, he said, which was Apache enough not to give a...

Hostess of the year: Ebony Haith Los Dados, New York.(Esquire: BEST NEW RESTAURANTS 2007)(Interview)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] APPLICATION: 2007 HOSTESS OF THE YEAR AWARD Please respond to all questions using a No. 2 pencil. Please also attach one (1) photograph of yourself. But we don't just go by the photograph. What makes...

The Sexiest Woman Alive IV: starring Charlize Theron as herself.(Interview)(Cover story)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WRITER (VOICE-OVER) The Chateau Marmont is the kiss of death in a celebrity profile. I see the words Chateau Marmont, and I just stop reading. ESTABLISHING SHOT of the CHATEAU MARMONT, chichi hotel on the...

Women we love: sexy? Of course. But there's more to it than that, you know. The following aren't just pretty faces. They are pretty faces that make us smile keep us informed, and inspire us to brush up on our Ukrainian.
November 1, 2007... Those Who Make Us Laugh When they parody the hot girl, these women have a distinct disadvantage: They are the hot girl. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Kristen Wiig, 34 The SNL star will always undermine her looks for a punch line,...

The women we have loved: a statistical breakdown of our desires since 2000.(women we love)
November 1, 2007... Total number of women we have loved since 2000: 244 The woman we have loved most frequently: Amanda Peet (2000, 2002, 2005) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Most popular name: Jennifer (Aniston, Capriati, Dore-Terhaar, Garner,...

Scito hoc super omnia: Kobe Bryant doesn't want your love but he does want to be so good, so great, you have to love him ... tempus neminem non manet *.
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FOUR MILES EAST of Las Vegas Boulevard, well beyond the glitter of the Strip, the Valley High School gym is cool and humid, redolent of floor wax and old socks. The ball pounds on the polished hardwood, the sound...

Dustin Hoffman.(What I've Learned)(Interview)
November 1, 2007... >> ACTOR, 70, LOS ANGELES * I don't understand boredom. All you have to do is walk around the house as if you were blind How could you be bored? Depressed, yes. That's a different ball game. I know depression. I know every degree of it....

It's Kucinich time: fanfare for the common. And for his lovely wife, Elizabeth.(Dennis Kucinich)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The pure products of America go crazy," wrote William Carlos Williams--antipoet of "the thing itself"--but Dr. Williams was from north Jersey, and as far as I know never strayed to Cleveland, whose own pure products...

Recipes for men: Part 2 *: We asked seven more of the best chefs in America for the kind of recipes they make for themselves at home--big meals with a high taste-to-effort ratio. And then we tested every one of them. Turns out these guys eat pretty well.(Recipe)
November 1, 2007... FRANK CRISPO'S SPAGHETTI CARBONARA BY THE TIME I went to culinary school, I'd already come up through the kitchen ranks, working in Italian restaurants around Philly. But my dad was a plumber, so I also grew up with a wrench in my...

This American life.(Ralph Lauren)
November 1, 2007... Forty years ago, from a drawer in a desk in an office in the Empires State Building in his hometown of New York City, a twenty-eight-year-old clothing designer named Ralph Lauren started something. A line of ultrawide neckties, to be exact, the...

The Solnyshko * returns: Lauren recently ventured to his parents' homeland and the final frontier of the polo empire to open his first-ever store in Russia. The editor in chief of Russian Harper's bazaar recalls the visit and considers Lauren's newfound cachet among Moscow's moneyed class.
November 1, 2007... THE FIRST RALPH LAUREN SHIRT I ever owned was purchased illegally. This was, I think, back in 1985, and I was sixteen years old. We already had Gorbachev at the rule and perestroika was afoot, but all this had little effect on life in the small...

These men might save your life: last winter, the men on the following pages made national headlines with two rescue missions atop Oregon's tallest peak, Mount Hood. Now gearing up for another season of saving lost climbers, they take a break on their home turf to look back on a tough year, and we do our best to keep them warm.(esquire STYLE)
November 1, 2007... Rising 11,239 feet above sea level, Mount Hood is Oregon's highest peak and a destination for ten thousand climbers and hikers every year. Most of them make it up and down the mountain without so much as a cramp. Others falter, and when they go...

Recent anonymous Google[TM] searches.(This Way Out)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... History From User 23.42x.xx.xx ISP: Dallas * Mark Cuban + genius--Google Search * Mark Cuban + brilliant--Google Search * Mark Cuban + God on earth--Google Search * Mark Cuban + shiftless--Google Search Clear History...