Winning a Pulitzer Prize will line an author's pockets with $10,000. A National Book Award fetches the same. The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction pays a hefty $15,000 to winners and $5,000 for runners-up.
Until three years ago, no other U.S. book award could match those amounts or the clout that comes with being named a winner [...]
In case you missed it, Maureen Dowd flat-out plagiarized either a) Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall or b) One of her friends, who quoted Josh Marshall in a phone call with Dowd. Either way, Dowd stole some shit and admitted it. Michael Calderone reports that it doesn't really matter. From NYT spokesperson Diane McNulty:
That's right, City Desk readers, we'll be here on Saturdays and Sundays now, helping you make weekend plans. Wondering where you should eat tonight? Young & Hungry has you covered. Itching to see some live music? Hilary Crowe's music roundup will update all weekend as will the Summer Music Guide.
The take-away here is that you're [...]
Don't worry–I'm not going to spoil the endings to everyone's favorite shows, even though Reality Blurred founder and personal friend Andy Dehnart says these aren't really spoilers:
Those are not spoilers, because a spoiler ruins something that has not yet been broadcast; it’s like calling the outcome of the presidential election or the ending to The [...]
Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to a close-to-the-heart edition of Freedom Friday. Arlington's Pete Eyre, former leader of Bureaucrash, was arrested in Mississippi on Wednesday, along with Jason Talley and Adam Mueller, after two cops decided that filming a traffic stop was illegal. The Agitator's Radley Balko has more: "Passenger Adam Mueller attempted [...]
Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to another edition of Freedom Friday. We're wrapping up our Summer Music Guide as I type, and I can assure you that it's going to be a doozie–the kind of doozie you'll likely keep on your coffee table from May 15 through September 1 as a quick reference [...]
I twittered a nasty comment yesterday about Carrie Prejean, the Miss California contestant who voiced her opposition to gay marriage during the competition's round of Q&A, and who, in the media circus that followed, was discovered to have posed partially nude for an underwear catalogue when she was 17 years old (this was before she [...]
Tony Horwitz, author, historian, humorist, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, will speak this week at the Smithsonian in support of his latest book, A Voyage Long and Strange, which was just released in paperback. In anticipation of his visit, Washington City Paper called Horwitz and picked his brain about the future of longform journalism, [...]
Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to another spring-time installment of Freedom Friday. United States Supreme Court Justice David Souter is set to retire and word has it that President Barack Obama may choose a woman as his replacement. The AP has a rundown of potential lady judges; oddly, the list is all pedigree [...]
Good morning, City Desk readers. If you missed our Food Day coverage yesterday, please give it a looksie now. There were sports. There was meat. There was heartache. Dumpster-diving, even. And other things that will alternately make you salivate and cry and dry heave. All in all, it was a comprehensive food day.
49% of Americans [...]
Last Wednesday, a family of loud white Louisianans wearing "Washington, D.C." sweatshirts underneath clear plastic ponchos waddled out of the drizzle at Sherman Circle and up the steps of the 62 bus.
The group seemed unaware of the Unwritten Rule of the 62: No talking. (I've ridden the 62 at least a hundred times over the [...]
National Poetry Month is nearing its end. The Poetry Out Loud national finals (the inner workings of which Andrew Beaujon reported during his average day) take place at the Lisner Auditorium April 27-28, with Garrison Keillor, Tyne Daly, and others judging the kiddies' recitations.
And tonight the winners of the 10th Anniversary MOVING WORDS Poetry [...]
Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to an especially balmy installment of Freedom Friday! Y'all were very active in the comments this week: vinyl collectors went batshit over Steve Kolowich's hipter/iTunes post, nerds saw an opportunity to sass me from behind the firewall, concerned WaPo readers balked at the sexual homogeneity of Metro's lineup [...]
What do we mean when we call a Will Ferrell movie, a Jack Johnson album, or a trucker hat "fratty"?
Like "hipster," the "frat" denomination uses interchangeable stereotypes to connote arrested development: College-age dudes in madras shorts, Ralph Lauren polos, flip-flops, puka shell necklaces, and backwards baseball caps, chugging 16 oz. cans of Natural Light while [...]
Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to another edition of Freedom Friday. Before we get started, I have to confess that I was doored again–the second time in as many months. I know the rules of the road/engagement, but I can't help myself: when I see a chance to avoid slowing down or stopping, [...]
