Economist , Nov. 15
(posted
Saturday, Nov. 15)
The cover
editorial cautions that global deflation is possible if Asian governments don't
"reform and revive" their banks. The other potential causes of global
deflation--excess supply and lagging demand--are easily remedied by liberal
trade policies. For the second week in a row, the Economist calls for
military action if Iraq won't comply with U.N. demands: "Mr. Hussein is not a
theoretical threat to peace. He is a proven one." The magazine profiles
Microsoft's "accidental billionaire," Paul Allen, whose "fortune seems a
burden." Allen is too rich to bother investing in tiny, exciting startups, but
too quirky to be a major deal-maker.
New
Republic , Dec. 1
(posted
Friday, Nov. 14)
An
editorial calls for unilateral military action by the United States to enforce
inspection of Iraq's weapons plants if the United Nations backs down. An
article attributes the defeat of fast-track trade authority to a resurgence of
nationalism in both parties. Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot stoked nationalist
fires in their presidential campaigns--now Congress is obsessed with American
"sovereignty." The cover story mourns the death of Oxford philosopher Sir
Isaiah Berlin. Berlin's "objective pluralism" combined a hatred of both
absolutism and relativism with a nationalist's love for England and Israel.
New
York Times Magazine , Nov. 16
(posted
Thursday, Nov. 13)
The third
"special issue" in two months addresses Hollywood's split personality--the
joy-ride blockbuster vs. the soulful indie. An article says the two camps can
learn from each other: Indies offer character development and plot, while
big-budget movies create "a coveted gloss and Zeitgeist energy that cannot be
matched in the world of the shoestring budget." Martin Scorsese converses with
Woody Allen about Hollywood. Scorsese explains why some stars won't work with
him: "Usually in the pictures I make, the characters are not the most likable
people." A profile says that Julianne Moore, star of gigahit The Lost
World and indie Boogie Nights , is as bewitching as her characters.
Moore reads Joan Didion and owns nothing but a Volvo. An interview with Quentin
Tarantino finds him supremely confident: "It ain't about the moment. I'm not
making films for right now--I'm making films for 40 years from now."
Time and Newsweek , Nov. 17
(posted
Tuesday, Nov. 11)
Time criticizes Seymour Hersh's controversial JFK book, The
Dark Side of Camelot . Hersh's juicy stories are recycled from other books,
the magazine says, and sources for damaging accusations are dubious or
misquoted. (
Slate
's Jacob Weisberg reviews the book in his
column, "Strange Bedfellow.") Newsweek 's 11 th medical
cover of the year tracks "The New Science of Impotence." New drugs make flaccid
men potent, but not without dangers (one man remained aroused for more than 24
hours). The buzz on Pfizer's forthcoming potency pill, Viagra, is so good that
the company's stock has already soared 74 percent. (See also
Slate
's take on the culture of impotence.)
A
Time story says Levi Strauss faces stiff competition from
trendier competitors (Diesel, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo). Levi relies on its famous
brand name--competitors rely on their stylish cuts. A Newsweek story
counters the popular wisdom that McDonald's is in trouble. (See
Slate
's "Falling Arches.") McDonald's still maintains a 42-percent
market share compared with Burger King's 19 percent. And the Prince Charles
reappraisal continues: Newsweek says Charles is witty and charming, a
wonderful philanthropist, and a better parent than Di was.
U.S.
News & World Report , Nov. 17
(posted
Tuesday, Nov. 11)
U.S.
News puts the Unabomber case on the cover. An article outlines Ted Kaczynski's insanity defense. His lawyers
hope to ship his backwoods shack to Sacramento so jurors will understand that
only a crazy person could live there. Una-brother David Kaczynski pens a
plea for no death penalty: "There is no way around the fear and
sorrow that comes with knowing you may have a hand in causing the death of
someone you love ... these crimes were the product of illness, rather than
evil." Other stories warn of biological terrorism and detail the growing legion
of federal counter-terrorism programs. Also, an article says the millennium bug is not the only computer
nightmare on the horizon. The new euro, based on nine different currencies,
could wreak havoc with financial computing.
The
New Yorker , Nov. 17
(posted
Tuesday, Nov. 11)
A paean
to playwright David Mamet explains his famous ear for dialogue: a childhood
with a tough labor-lawyer father. "In my family ... we liked to while away the
evenings by making ourselves miserable, solely based on our ability to speak
the language viciously." His second marriage and his bucolic Vermont retreat
have soothed Mamet without softening his brutal work. An article doubts that
new Los Angeles Times publisher Mark Willes (a k a "Cap'n Crunch") is as
dangerous as critics fear. Willes may breach some barriers between editorial
and business, but his optimism about the newspaper business is inspiring--he
wants to raise circulation 50 percent. (See
Slate
's Assessment of
Willes for a similar take.) Also, the horrible life story of abortion-clinic
murderer John Salvi. His loving parents didn't recognize the incipient signs of
Salvi's schizophrenia, and so never sought psychiatric treatment for him.
Weekly Standard , Nov. 17
(posted
Tuesday, Nov. 11)
The cover
package crows over Republican election victories. An analysis of the elections
argues that "the lessons from 1997 are fairly simple. Republicans win if they
promise to cut taxes. They lose or come uncomfortably close to losing if they
don't." Another article says one reason Rudy Giuliani won re-election was his
strong connection to New York's long-neglected outer-borough residents. A story
claims President Clinton has moved to the left now that he's a lame duck.
Clinton recently criticized the car-tax cut in Virginia and attended the dinner
of a gay organization, things he wouldn't have done before the 1996 election.
Also, a review marks the 10 th anniversary of Tom Wolfe's Bonfire
of the Vanities , noting its undue pessimism: "After all, the economic boom
of the 1980s is still humming in the '90s; New York itself is a vastly cleaner,
safer place than the city Wolfe described. ... Even the graffiti on the subway
cars, so lovingly described in Bonfire , have been cleaned up."
The
Nation , Nov. 24
(posted
Tuesday, Nov. 11)
The
cover story calls the failure to find a U.S. distributor for the
new film version of Lolita one more example of our misplaced puritanism:
"Statutes like ... the Child Pornography Prevention Act are our home-grown
fairy tales, ghostly adumbrations of the hysteria that swept over us in the
eighties. We know perfectly well that children are most at risk at home, from
their own families and adult friends." An editorial blasts New York
Times columnist A.M. Rosenthal's "shameless sycophancy" toward Israel and
Netanyahu. Also, an essay
says that working mothers are the real victims in the au pair murder case. The
media have demonized them.
--Seth
Stevenson
