Opinion
Leaving Comments for Propagandists
OAKLAND, Calif. — Part of what makes propaganda effective is the way it uses words that collectively sound like they mean something but ultimately signal very little.
Opinion
Opinion
History Meets the Strangest Animated GIFs
We dare you not to be fascinated by the wacky and amazing animated GIFs of Kevin Weird.
Opinion
Hole-y Terror and Evolution
OAKLAND, Calif. — Many common phobias make intuitive sense. Fear of snakes, fear of spiders, fear of heights — it's easy to understand that these crippling phobias emerge from natural cautions we've inherited from millions of years of evolution.
Opinion
Reexamining Picasso's Politics
Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was a lifelong Communist. But, as it turns out, it was more complicated than that.
Opinion
Ask Me Anything: Reddit's (Very) Tentative Embrace by the Cultural Elite
Yesterday, The Paris Review did a Reddit AMA, which by now is a reliable station on the digital PR circuit.
Opinion
The Literal Floating World of Video Games in Ukiyo-E Art
OAKLAND, California — Ukiyo-e Heroes, a new series by American artists Jed Henry and Dave Bull, continues the ukiyo-e form with video game characters.
Opinion
No Comment: Claes Oldenburg or Real Life?
According to Gothamist, a New Jersey man "recently decided to take his creativity to a whole new caliber … "
Opinion
The Ongoing Importance of Libraries
OAKLAND, Calif. — Take a stroll downtown or to your nearest shopping center, and you'll see firsthand that big bookstores are on the decline. But that doesn't mean books — and the spaces in which we consume them — have less importance.
Opinion
Can You Trust Your Eyes?
The laws of optics may be well known, but this video does a really concise job of clarifying the complexity of what we see and why we can't always trust our eyes.
Opinion
Lisa Frank and Our School-Supplies Nostalgia
OAKLAND, Calif. — Fall in the United States marks the annual rite of purchasing school supplies; Americans spent over $70 billion in 2012, if you count college students. The National Retail Federation notes that families spend nearly $650 on average.
Opinion
Required Reading
This week, Iran in New York, the lack of illegal street art, racial boundaries, Jewish identity in videogames, Magritte as a neighbor, bad twerking, immigrant fiction, and more.
Opinion
Weekend Words: Vacation
Now that everyone is back at work, Weekend Words is going on vacation.