Articles from May, 2011

Being More Badass

Rebecca Cardwell has free advice on how you can be harder, better, faster, badass-er.

Dialogue Options

You do a lot of talking in the videogame LA Noire, but Kevin Nguyen finds it hard to say anything meaningful.

A Pep Talk to the Forest Moon of Endor

Nick Martens would like to cheer up the Ewok-inhabited moon from Return of the Jedi.

Ceremonies: Shabbat at the Synagogue

Erin Carver becomes jealous of a thirteen-year-old while struggling with a decade-old desire to be Jewish.

The Updated Rules of the Art Collective

If we’re going to break boundaries, we need to abide by Tim Cushing’s restrictions.

Bureaucratic Painting Lesson

Jimmy Chen has an epiphany about work, hierarchy, and hollow walls (that’s not a metaphor).

Cycling South: Thanksgiving

After missing the last ferry out, Ben Bateman spends the holiday in a small Chilean ghost town.

Impossible to Subscribe

Subscribing to Harper’s (or at least trying to) teaches Kevin Nguyen that it’s worth the extra effort to support the publications he cares about.

The Pursuit of Wackiness

Managers hope that a “fun” work place inspires productivity, but Whitney Carpenter finds mandatory wackiness distracting.

Fear and Gaming: Dork Adventurer

The Consolation of Philosophy: a text adventure by Jonathan Gourlay.

SnakEOil

Dan Hoffman takes a job as a “search engine evaluator”—a Sisyphean nightmare for $13 an hour.

Portrait of the Young Man as an Artist

Josh Fischel interviews Spencer Tweedy — blogger, photographer, musician, and 14-year-old son of Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy.