This week’s longreads (week 33, 2013)
What’s a « longread » ?
A: Longreads can be any story over 1,500 words—this includes long-form journalism, fiction, book excerpts, historical texts, interview transcripts, screenplays, and academic or science papers. Pretty much any outstanding reading that can be enjoyed on a couch, a commute, or an airplane.
My answer : longreads are the real journalism.
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Michael Lewis : Did Goldman Sachs Overstep in Criminally Charging Its Ex-Programmer? – Vanity Fair, september 2013
DISCUSSED: high-frequency trading, erasing one’s bash history, a twenty-four hour crash course on computer programming, paucity of informed outsiders, secret sauce
Adrian Nicole LeBlanc : The Comedian Comedians Were Afraid Of – New York Magazine, may 2012.
DISCUSSED: patrice o’neal, stand up, malcolm xxl, white guilt, insults
Ryan Jacobs : The Strange Sexual Quirk of Filipino Seafarers – The Atlantic, august 2013
DISCUSSED: brazilian prostitutes, tiny plastic balls inserted in the penis, upward mobility, asserting masculinity
John Mahoney : The Notorious MSG’s Unlikely Formula For Success – BuzzFeed, august 2013
DISCUSSED: monosodium glutamate, 100 fucking percent sure, racist undertones, the North Korea of glutamate, an ethnically neutral sandwich, david chang
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Also, (anonymous) quote of the week: « The plural of anecdote is not data. »