The Awl

Go Write Your Best Love Letter to Punctuation

Choire Sicha — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:20:57 +0000

Love letters to punctuation: Is this the best contest ever? Yes. Join in! So far Gene Weingarten is succeeding admirably with his letter addressed to "Dear at-the-price-of."

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On Gay Male Identity as an Increasingly Commercial Experience

Choire Sicha — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:40:07 +0000

Here are some really rather scattered thoughts by yours truly, on the occasion of gay pride week, regarding being gay and being a consumer. Warning: uses the word "faggots" quite a lot.

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50 Questions Not To Answer On the 2010 Census

Choire Sicha — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:10:06 +0000

Here are 50 questions you should not answer on the upcoming census so that the government doesn't get up in your business. (Hint: if they start asking about cats or Jews, things are going weird.)

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After The Funeral

Alex Balk — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:10:21 +0000

I found this beautiful, moving, and ultimately uplifting. Hopefully you will too.

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Our Second-Favorite Parenting Columnist

Choire Sicha — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:54:51 +0000

This rundown of one j-school student's favorite newspapers points us to "one of the country's most non-sequitur parenting columns." It is called Daddy Needs A Drink, and it lives at the Santa Fe Reporter, and, indeed! Here is Rob Wilder on the matter of his very young son's surprising new hair choices:

London has been growing his locks long for many many moons. Hell, I've been growing mine too and even sported a Vandyke to give me that "rock me sexy Jesus" look, but dreads? On a white boy? Never saw it coming, I swear: My beautiful sonchild sporting a mullock (mullet + dreadlock) and morphing into a Boulder hippie, trying to score weed on a lonely street corner, all while wearing socks with leather flip-flops.

Did you get stuck at the beginning there, when you found out his son's name is London? Love it.

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Flicked Off: 'Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans'

Choire Sicha — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:02:28 +0000

Of the three important movies opening today, our coverage of one of them will be handled elsewhere, by Mr. Joe MacLeod of the Baltimore City Paper:

Do you like Nicolas Cage? He ate a bug once, for real, in a movie. Do you think Nicolas Cage is a fucking weirdo sellout who maybe used to be an actor who could have done something with his career other than make movies such as Con Air or that piece of shit Ghost Rider? Do you ever find yourself wondering about Nicolas Cage's physical appearance or the provenance of the hair on his head? Remember Nicolas Cage in that remake of Kiss of Death with that red-headed tool who's on one of the C.S.I. shows now? Wasn't Nicolas Cage pretty good in Adaptation and Matchstick Men? Do you think of Nicolas Cage as a has-been? Have you ever found yourself annoyed because there's no "h" in Nicolas Cage's first name?

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Among the Pod People: Jail as Panopticon

Choire Sicha — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:30:39 +0000

Awl correspondent Natasha Vargas-Cooper publishes a very human-to-human conversation with Kari Ferrell today, who explains, among other things, what it's like in jail:

As with most of society, I assumed that the only people incarcerated were individuals who R Kelly'd little boys, and those who like freebasing crack cocaine out of human skulls. There have been girls in here for such things as unpaid parking tickets, driving without insurance, jay walking (seriously! And it was her only charge-spent four days in here) and giving a blowjob to her partner (by marriage) at a park. (Hello, who hasn't done that?) Obviously there are those in here for more serious crimes, and that is unsurprising, but jay walking? .... the most unsurprising thing is that it's exactly how I thought it would be: It's the Orwellian nature of jail itself.

Two things: this is the first interesting thing we've read about this person since Doree Shafrir wrote first about the story. The other is: I am long past ready for us all to obsess about a new criminal now.

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Elsewhere: Munchies

Alex Balk — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:50:27 +0000

David Chang fans-and who isn't, really?-will enjoy the first episode of "Munchies," a new video series from the folks at Vice where famous chefs hit the town to drink and snack. Go now.

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Elsewhere: Paper Monitor

Alex Balk — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:00:52 +0000

It is unbylined, so I'm not sure who deserves the credit for it, but the BBC's daily press roundup is one of the great joys of my morning. Today's edition, which focused exclusively on the Sun, was particularly good. Give it a read, I think you'll like it.

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Elsewhere: Apparently Michael Vick Is In The News?

Choire Sicha — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:50:58 +0000

You should know that Awl contributor Tom Scocca is guest-hosting on Deadspin today! Something something "Orioles," something something "man bites dog." (I don't know, sports.)

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