"Dubai raises the questions raised by any apparent utopia: What's the downside?" That's from George Saunders' great 2006 essay The New Mecca. Now, even as the shiny new tallest-building-on-the-planet staffs up, this slideshow, from Fast Company, at last delivers an answer.

Are you Bruno'd out yet? Me too, and I haven't seen the movie. But reading our review yesterday reminded me of this excellent George Saunders piece from 2006; it captures everything that I find uncomfortable and distasteful about Baron Cohen's unscripted comedy so well that I recall the feeling of jealousy I had when I read it the first time. It's really good.