Morning, readers.
*The New Republic launches The Book, a new blog dedicated to video games! Just kidding. It's about books. And whether or not you agree with Exec. Editor Isaac Chotiner that "the absence of any site for the serious consideration of serious books is also a fact of the web" (hey, Isaac—what about excellent personal [...]

Unless you spent the last week scaling peaks in central Asia, you've probably seen this video of Scottish hayseed Susan Boyle holding forth on "Britain's Got Talent" to the boyish delight of a rheumy-eyed Simon Cowell. Word spread quickly in a world hard-up for hope, and overnight Ms. Boyle became the greatest YouTube sensation to [...]