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The New York Times’ favorite buzzword: ‘Hipsters’
The Times is back in Brooklyn, once again awkwardly documenting a trend that just won’t go away: Young people. Let’s look at a few of the ways the Grey Lady has described hipsters, shall we? From 2012:
The hipster haunts every city street and university town. Manifesting a nostalgia for times he never lived himself, this contemporary urban harlequin appropriates outmoded fashions (the mustache, the tiny shorts), mechanisms (fixed-gear bicycles, portable record players) and hobbies (home brewing, playing trombone). He harvests awkwardness and self-consciousness. Before he makes any choice, he has proceeded through several stages of self-scrutiny. The hipster is a scholar of social forms, a student of cool. He studies relentlessly, foraging for what has yet to be found by the mainstream.
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6 TV characters who returned from the dead
Despite being killed off in The Avengers, fan favorite Agent Phillip Coulson will be on board for an ABC spinoff series called Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Here, some other TV characters who returned from the dead:
Kenny from South Park
TV’s undisputed record holder for cheating death goes to the poor kid in the orange parka. Kenny McCormick experienced some kind of grisly death in almost every episode of the first five seasons of South Park, and Stan and Kyle’s recurring reaction — “Oh my God! They killed Kenny! You bastards!” — became the show’s first certified catchphrase.Sara Tancredi from Prison Break
The gripping and edgy FOX drama lost one of its biggest characters in the third season. “The Company” kidnaps doctor Sara Tancredi and beheads her. The following season, it was revealed that the severed head was a fake, and that Michael, the doctor’s love interest, never actually looked at the head to confirm that it was her.Murdoc from MacGyver
Actor Michael Des Barres portrayed the arch-nemesis of TV’s most resourceful hero, and was adept at finding new ways to cheat death. Murdoc ”died” several times over the course of the show, each time screaming out MacGyver’s name before meeting his (temporary) demise.3 more resurrected characters…
Photo from: Facebook.com/southpark -
Tips from old etiquette books:
- “Don’t say gents for gentlemen or pants for pantaloons. These are inexcusable vulgarisms.”
- “A little graceful imitation of actors and public speakers may be allowed. National manners, and the peculiarities of entire classes, are fair game. French dandies, Yankee bargainers, and English exquisites, may be ridiculed at pleasure.”
- Never ask a lady a question about anything whatever.”
- “In the company of ladies, do not labor to establish learned points by long-winded arguments. They do not care to take too much pains to find out truth.”
Photo from: Thinkstock
- “Don’t say gents for gentlemen or pants for pantaloons. These are inexcusable vulgarisms.”
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8 brilliant scientific screw-ups
Anesthesia (1844)
Mistake leading to discovery: Recreational drug use
Lesson learned: Too much of a good thing can sometimes be, well, a good thingFor decades Nitrous oxide was considered no more than a party toy. Finally, in 1844, a dentist came upon the idea after witnessing a nitrous mishap at a party. High on the gas, a friend of fell and suffered a deep gash in his leg, but didn’t feel a thing. In fact, he didn’t know he’d been seriously injured until someone pointed out the blood pooling at his feet.
7 other accidental scientific discoveries
Photo from: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
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“Pardon my French, but you’re an AARDVARK!”
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14 words that are their own opposites
It’s all about context.
- Oversight is the noun form of two verbs with contrary meanings, “oversee” and “overlook.” “Oversee,” from Old English ofersēon ’look at from above,’ means ‘supervise.’ “Overlook” usually means the opposite: ‘to fail to see or observe; to pass over without noticing; to disregard, ignore.’
- Left can mean either remaining or departed. If the gentlemen have withdrawn to the drawing room for after-dinner cigars, who’s left? (The gentlemen have left and the ladies are left.)
- Oversight is the noun form of two verbs with contrary meanings, “oversee” and “overlook.” “Oversee,” from Old English ofersēon ’look at from above,’ means ‘supervise.’ “Overlook” usually means the opposite: ‘to fail to see or observe; to pass over without noticing; to disregard, ignore.’
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Cartoon of the day, Christopher Weyant, © 2013 Cagle Cartoons
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Dogs love us. (Thanks Brooke Wiseman for sending this!)
If you want to send us photos of your pets (or babies, or yourself) drooling on the magazine, we’re @TheWeek on Twitter!
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In an endearing, embarrassing moment that cemented her status as Hollywood’s most adorkable young actress, Jennifer Lawrence tripped on the steps on her way to accepting her Best Actress Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook, prompting a sympathetic standing ovation. “You guys are just standing up because I fell and that’s really embarrassing, but thank you. This is nuts,” said the breathless actress as she accepted the award. (And bonus points to Hugh Jackman, who proved once again that he’s one of the nicest guys in Hollywood by darting up to the stage to help Lawrence up.)
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When hackers broke into former President George W. Bush’s email last week, they found photographs of unfinished self portraits of the former president in the shower and the bath tub.
Bush apparently sent the photos to his sister, and though they were never intended for public view, the art critics have already weighed in. Bush was not a president known for self-introspection, and the find has many looking for clues into what the once most powerful man in the world thinks about himself and his record.The Huffington Post says most formal art critics “were perplexed by the images.”
- New York Times: “The two paintings could be said to depict the introverted self-absorption for which Mr. Bush is known. Perhaps, he is trying to cleanse himself in a more metaphorical way, seeking a kind of redemption from his less fortuitous decisions as president.”
- New York: “More impressive than the painting’s aesthetic quality is the soul-searching introspection evident in the scene. Bush, slightly hunched, is standing out of the water, staring off into the corner of the shower, as if contemplating past sins that can never be washed away, no matter how much soap you use and how hard you scrub.”
- New York Times: “The two paintings could be said to depict the introverted self-absorption for which Mr. Bush is known. Perhaps, he is trying to cleanse himself in a more metaphorical way, seeking a kind of redemption from his less fortuitous decisions as president.”
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9 little translation mistakes that caused big problems
- In the ’50s, when chocolate companies began encouraging people to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Japan, a mistranslation from one company gave people the idea that it was customary for women to give chocolate to men on the holiday. And that’s what they do to this day. On February 14, the women of Japan shower their men with chocolate hearts and truffles, and on March 14 the men return the favor. An all-around win for the chocolate companies!
- In the ’50s, when chocolate companies began encouraging people to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Japan, a mistranslation from one company gave people the idea that it was customary for women to give chocolate to men on the holiday. And that’s what they do to this day. On February 14, the women of Japan shower their men with chocolate hearts and truffles, and on March 14 the men return the favor. An all-around win for the chocolate companies!
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Seinfeld plot: A New York Public Library investigations officer named Mr. Bookman comes after Jerry to track down a copy of the Tropic of Cancer that Jerry took out in 1971 and never returned. At the cost of a nickel a day for 20 years, Kramer surmises, such a long-term offense will cost Jerry $50,000. After conducting his own investigation, Jerry finds that it was the Tropic of Capricorn he returned so many years ago, not the missing Tropic of Cancer. He relents and writes a check (for much less than $50,000) to the library.
Real-life story: On Feb. 4, a branch of the New York Public Library received a long-lost copy ofThe Fire of Francis Xavier, 55 years after it was first checked out. While the real-life literary fugitive wasn’t apprehended by the dedicated efforts of a humorless library cop, he or she clearly felt some shame, opting to send the book through the mail instead of dropping it off in person.
