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IT’S A DAY of rest, and you may be in the mood for a quiet corner and a comfy chair.
We’ve hand-picked some of the week’s best reads for you to savour.
You never know who or what you might see in one, as Priya Krishna found out when she pulled an all-nighter in one in New York – where they were once a signature institution, but are now disappearing.
(The New York Times, approx 7 mins reading time)
At 1 a.m., Kellogg’s switches to a late-night menu that includes fewer items but some additions, like a Cuban sandwich and cornmeal masa pancakes. Around that time, I saw a manager take a nip from a squat flask of olive oil. Joshua Ackley, the lead singer of the Dead Betties, a Brooklyn rock band, strolled in after celebrating his 44th birthday on the Lower East Side. “I used to play gigs at clubs in New York,” he said, “and we would be like, ‘If we lose touch, let’s all have proof of life at Kellogg’s between 5 and 7 a.m.’ ” He missed the old version of the diner. “It was more accommodating to the people who didn’t have much money,” he said. “This is, like, $37,” he added, pointing to his chicken-fried steak (which was actually $24). “I wouldn’t pay that back in the day.” Suddenly, the song “Thriller” came on, and Mr. Ackley proceeded to perform most of the famous dance, solo, in the front of the dining room. Few customers seemed to notice. He only bumped into a server once.
Christine Rosen writes about the value of handwriting at a time when it is declining, and what the loss of penmanship will mean for future generations.
(The Guardian, approx 15 mins reading time)
What does it mean to live without handwriting? The skill has deteriorated gradually, and many of us don’t notice our own loss until we’re asked to handwrite something and find ourselves bumbling as we put pen to paper. Some people still write in script for special occasions (a condolence letter, an elaborately calligraphed wedding invitation) or dash off a bastardised cursive on the rare occasions when they write a cheque, but apart from teachers, few people insist on a continued place for handwriting in everyday life. But we lose something when handwriting disappears. We lose measurable cognitive skills, and we also lose the pleasure of using our hands and a writing implement in a process that for thousands of years has allowed humans to make our thoughts visible to one another. We lose the sensory experience of ink and paper and the visual pleasure of the handwritten word. We lose the ability to read the words of the dead.
Why are all the tech billionaires sucking up to Donald Trump?
(Vox, approx 10 mins reading time)
All of these men see themselves as the heroes or protagonists in their own sci-fi saga. And a key part of being a “technological superman” — or ubermensch, as the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche would say — is that you’re above the law. Common-sense morality doesn’t apply to you because you’re a superior being on a superior mission. Thiel, it should be noted, is a big Nietzsche fan, though his is an extremely selective reading of the philosopher’s work. The ubermensch ideology helps explain the broligarchs’ disturbing gender politics. “The ‘bro’ part of broligarch is not incidental to this — it’s built on this idea that not only are these guys superior, they are superior because they’re guys,” Harrington said.
A fascinating tale about how Paul, a man with a claim to the Romanian throne and a vast fortune did a deal with a notorious businessman who backed him in his pursuit for the crown in exchange for over half of any royal assets they won.
Paul did the deal – and it cost him.
(FT Magazine, approx 32 mins reading time)
It would take several years for Paul to find out Reciplia’s largest financial backer was a man named Beny Steinmetz. The Israeli billionaire, then in his fifties, had piercing blue eyes and a seemingly insatiable appetite for making high-risk deals in extremely corrupt countries. He had inherited his family’s diamond business and expanded from selling precious stones to sourcing them directly in Africa. Steinmetz made headlines around the world for securing a vast iron ore mining concession in 2008 in Guinea with terms so favourable that rivals were left wondering how he pulled it off. Dubbed “the deal of the century”, it netted a staggering profit of several billion dollars in less than two years, after his company flipped a stake in the project to the Brazilian mining company Vale. After that, “Beny was always looking for a lot of upside,” said one person who knows him well. “Guys like Beny, they don’t care about a 20 per cent return. They are looking for huge bets, a minimum of 10 times, or ideally 30 times on their money.” The Prince Paul deal promised exactly that.
An in-depth look at Dana White’s UFC empire, the culture around the sport and how it’s become so popular in America.
(Rolling Stone, approx 34 mins reading time)
“Coach, you think this needs stitches?” Aminov asks. Jimenez grimaces. “I dunno man … I think it needs something to keep it closed.” Aminov swears. We look up the nearest walk-in place to the gym, but it’s almost 10 p.m., and everything is closed. “You don’t have someone to do that stuff for you … a nurse girlfriend or something?” Jimenez asks. Aminov laughs and shakes his head. At least he has insurance, which is more than many fighters have. This is the grind. Fighters suffer through constant pain for years before they ever see a cent from it. There are no high school MMA teams, no college programs that provide coaching and medical care and state-of-the-art facilities. Fighters come to the sport because they step into a gym and never want to leave, because they washed out of those fancy college sports, because they were getting in too many fights on the streets and figured training was easier than jail. There is no pipeline to the pros: There is only the grind.
The musical about a Mexican drug lord was nominated for 13 awards at the Oscars this week. But some Mexicans aren’t happy with how it depicts the country.
(BBC, approx 11 mins reading time)
Guillén calls Audiard “a great film-maker” but says the decision to make the vast majority of the movie in studios outside Paris, as well as the way the story treats a painful national topic has upset many in his social network. “There’s a drug war, nearly 500,000 deaths [since 2006] and 100,000 missing in the country,” he says, citing recent Mexican government figures.”We are still immersed in the violence in some areas. You are taking one of the most difficult topics in the country, but it’s not only any film, it’s an opera. It’s a musical. So for us and many activists, it’s like you are playing with one of the biggest wars in the country since the Revolution [in the early 20th Century]. Part of the plot is about searching mothers of the disappeared [searching for their children]: one of the most vulnerable groups in Mexico. And there were zero words in the four Golden Globe acceptance speeches to the victims.”
In the week that Donald Trump pardoned 1,500 people involved in the riots at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, here’s a firsthand account of what happened on the day.
(The New Yorker, approx 56 mins reading time)
“You are traitors to the country!” a man barked at the police through a megaphone plastered with stickers from “InfoWars,” the incendiary Web program hosted by the right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones. Behind the man stood Biggs, the Proud Boys leader. He wore a radio clipped onto the breast pocket of his plaid flannel shirt. Not far away, I spotted a “straight pride” flag. There wasn’t nearly enough law enforcement to fend off the mob, which pelted the officers with cans and bottles. One man angrily invoked the pandemic lockdown: “Why can’t I work? Where’s my ‘pursuit of happiness’?” Many people were equipped with flak jackets, helmets, gas masks, and tactical apparel. Guns were prohibited for the protest, but a man in a cowboy hat, posing for a photograph, lifted his jacket to reveal a revolver tucked into his waistband. Other Trump supporters had Tasers, baseball bats, and truncheons. I saw one man holding a coiled noose. “Hang Mike Pence!” people yelled.
Note: The Journal generally selects stories that are not paywalled, but some might not be accessible if you have exceeded your free article limit on the site in question.
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