What It Takes to Be the French Jennifer Lawrence
The art of the voiceover.
The art of the voiceover.
Mac McClelland Medium Nov 2014 20min Permalink
Reihan Salam is the executive editor of National Review.
"I’m incredibly curious about other people. I’m curious about what they think of as the constraints operating on their lives. Why do they think what they think? If I weren’t doing this job, I’d want to be a high school guidance counselor."
Thanks to TinyLetter, Bonobos, and Cards Against Humanity’s Ten Days or Whatever of Kwanzaa for sponsoring this week's episode.
Show Notes:
Nov 2014 Permalink
For at least 130 years, cabbies in London have been taking what many believe is the hardest test in the world: through a series of oral exams that takes four years to complete, they must prove that know every one of the city’s 25,000 streets, every business and every landmark.
Jody Rosen T Magazine Nov 2014 35min Permalink
Thoughts on race and adoption.
Nicole S. Chung The Toast Nov 2014 10min Permalink
A jury recommends life in prison; the judged orders a death sentence.
Paige Williams New Yorker Nov 2014 35min Permalink
On an African-American entrepreneur and race in Silicon Valley.
J.J. McCorvey Fast Company Nov 2014 30min Permalink
Sixteen years after he was exposed as the most fraudulent journalist of his generation, Stephen Glass is confronted by an old friend.
Hanna Rosin The New Republic Nov 2014 25min Permalink
“Fuck everything, I thought. Bring on the cascading interventions. And they came.”
Meaghan O'Connell Longreads Nov 2014 55min Permalink
The inside story of how the city, broke and bleak and nearing the edge, saved itself.
Nathan Bomey, John Gallagher, Mark Stryker Detroit Free Press Nov 2014 30min Permalink
L’Wren Scott went from bullied Mormon teen to international model to Hollywood stylist to fashion designer, becoming Mick Jagger’s girlfriend in the process. In March, she took her own life.
Phoebe Eaton GQ (UK) Oct 2014 30min Permalink
A celebrity astrophysicist, the Columbia disaster, and sex in space—a collection of our favorite articles about the cosmos.
The Columbia shuttle was to be a revolution for NASA. But a year before its first launch, the shuttle was several years behind schedule, had cost $1 billion, and wasn’t guaranteed to ever get off the ground.
Gregg Easterbrook Washington Monthly Apr 1980 35min
Sex in space.
Michael Behar Outside Dec 2006 15min
A profile of celebrity astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Carl Zimmer Playboy Jan 2012
The inside story of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and subsequent investigation.
William Langewiesche Atlantic Nov 2003 10min
An interview with Ralph Lapp, a member of the Apollo Project.
The Editors New Republic Dec 1968 10min
Elon Musk's dreams of colonizing Mars.
Ross Andersen Aeon Oct 2014 30min
Dec 1968 – Oct 2014 Permalink
Mars One says it will send four people to colonize the planet by 2025. The company claims more than 200,000 have paid to apply for the privilege. But a deep look at Mars One’s plan and its finances reveals that not only is the goal a longshot, it might be a scam.
Life as a serial killer's kid, a rare interview with Stephen King and Chris Rock's last chance to become a leading man — the most read articles this week in the new Longform App, available free for iPhone and iPad.
Life as a serial killer’s daughter.
Melissa Moore BBC 10min
A profile of Chris Rock as he makes one last attempt to jump from standup to leading man.
Kelefa Sanneh New Yorker 25min
A son’s love letter to his sick mom.
Cord Jefferson Matter 20min
The author on why he belives in God (“It makes things better”), the perils of writing high (“Annie Wilkes is cocaine, she was my number-one fan”) and what he thinks of other writers (“Hemingway sucks, basically”).
Andy Greene Rolling Stone 30min
Experiments in workday productivity.
Kevin Roose Matter 10min
He was America’s first celebrity chef, setting the hedonistic tone of California cuisine in the ’70s and ’80s. Then Jeremiah Tower lost his restaurant and ended up in Mexico, exiled from the booming culinary culture he helped create. Now, at 71, he’s coming home to take over the kitchen at Tavern on the Green.
John Birdsall Eater Nov 2014 25min Permalink
The story of Brownie Wise, the woman who made Tupperware a household name.
Jen Doll Mental Floss Nov 2014 15min Permalink
The magician who spent his life debunking spiritualists and exposing con men.
Adam Higginbotham New York Times Magazine Nov 2014 25min Permalink
A son, the illusion of his dead father and where technology intersects with real life.
For a daily short story recommendation from our editors, try Longform Fiction or follow @longformfiction on Twitter.
Alex McElroy Passages North Nov 2014 15min Permalink
Don’t read the comments.
Meghan Daum The Believer Jan 2012 20min Permalink
The story of a call center virtuoso.
Migos, a young Atlanta rap trio, has decamped to a mansion outside of town to avoid trouble, ride Go-Karts, shop for $2300 backpacks, and continue their streak of red-hot singles.
Leon Neyfakh The Fader Nov 2014 20min Permalink
After a Hasidic man exposed child abuse, his tight-knit Brooklyn community turned on him.
Rachel Aviv New Yorker Nov 2014 35min Permalink
A history of the war between Amazon and the book industry.
Keith Gessen Vanity Fair Dec 2014 30min Permalink
The rise of anonymous group suicide in Japan.
David Samuels The Atlantic May 2007 20min Permalink
The central witness in “one of the biggest cases of white-collar crime in American history” speaks out.
Matt Taibbi Rolling Stone Nov 2014 25min Permalink
Alfred Dellentash Jr. chartered the Rolling Stones in private jets while smuggling planeloads of Pablo Escobar’s drugs on the side.
Jeff Maysh Narratively Nov 2014 30min Permalink