Salon | Issue 48, January 20-24, 1997

Salon | Articles by Subject | Articles By Date | Table Talk

Previous 10 issues: 47 | 46 | 45 | 44 | 43 | 42 | 41 | 40 | 39 | 38

Friday January 24, 1997: Surgical sex appeal: Why Argentines are obsessed with perfect bodies.
Thursday January 23, 1997: Why Silicon Valley lawyers don't want their dirty briefs online.
Tuesday January 21, 1997: Who's killing the great rain forests of Central America?
Monday January 20, 1997: Russian spy talks: Once-feared KGB is now working for the CIA.

MEDIA CIRCUS:

Friday January 24, 1997: The cult of MSNBC's Soledad O'Brien: A million horny geeks can't be wrong.
Thursday January 23, 1997: Johnny Cochran's TV show: If it sucks, you must still pay him bucks.
Tuesday January 21, 1997: Is Rodman's well-aimed kick worse than Oksana's DUI bust?
Monday January 20, 1997: They're back! J.D. Salinger, Thomas Pynchon crawl out from shells.

SNEAK PEEKS:

Do the Windows Open? By Julie Hecht (Fiction)
Random House, reviewed by Charles Taylor
Chatty short stories about a nervous, quirky late-thirtysomething woman, from a New Yorker writer with a cult following
Girls Only: Sleepovers, Squabbles, Tuna Fish and Other Facts of Family Life By Alex Witchel (Nonfiction)
Random House, reviewed by Katharine Whittemore
Arch and epigrammatic essays, from the New York Times cultural reporter, about her eccentric family.
First, Body By Melanie Rae Thon (Fiction)
Houghton Mifflin Co., reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek
A collection of tough, angular short stories from an author made Granta's list of the best young American writers.
The Creation of Dr. B: A Biography of Bruno Bettelheim By Richard Pollak (Nonfiction)
Simon & Schuster, reviewed by Russ Baker
An exposé of the eminent psychologist and author of "The Uses of Enchantment," whose life and career appear to have been a fraud.

Cloud Chamber By Michael Dorris (Fiction)
Scribner, reviewed by Elizabeth Judd
A parade of colorful narrators tells the story of a mixed-race family in this sequel to "A Yellow Raft in Blue Water."

SHARPS & FLATS:

Vitus Tinnitus - Archers of Loaf
Pop/Rock, review by David Fenton
Archers of Loaf: Uneasy beauty from a massively underappreciated band. (01/24/97)
Surrender to the Night - Trans Am
Pop/Rock, review by Robert Levine
Beyond Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Trans Am heads prog rock's second wave. (01/23/97)
The Screaming End: The Best of Gene Vincent & his Blue Caps - Gene Vincent
Pop/Rock, review by Keith Moerer
More dangerous than Elvis: The king of rockabilly lust. (01/21/97)
Ice Pick Slim - The MC5
Pop/Rock, review by Gavin McNett
Will the real MC5 please stand up -- and kick out the jams! (01/20/97)

TABLE TALK:

What were they thinking? Great reviews, lousy movies
Posts of the week

SALON REGULARS:

Word by Word By Anne Lamott
Something happened to me in Houston, and I am not the same person.

Ill Humor By Ian Shoales
The eternal questions. Our columnist ponders over-the-counter pain medications, shoes on wires, the proliferation of Tupacs and ethics violations.

The Surreal Gourmet By Bob Blumer
Superdips. A culinary antidote to TV's most anti-climactic sporting event.

Unzipped By Courtney Weaver
Ms. Right Now. How long can you date a woman before you have The-Where-Is-This-Going talk? Join the Unzipped discussion in Table Talk.

The Listress By Amy Wallace
Stars of the Silver Screen: A quiz for film fanatics.The first to submit the correct answers wins a $25 gift certificate to Borders Books & Music.

ISSUES AND POLITICS:

Smashing the state By Gary Kamiya
Are libertarians freedom fighters or selfish geeks?

PLUS: Join us for discussions of libertarianism in Brainwave, a collaborative exchange of ideas among Salon, The Site, Feed and Electric Minds.

Washington Babylon By Cintra Wilson
Cintra Wilson does the Inauguration and handles the Presidential balls.

BOOKS:

The Salon Interview: Margaret Atwood By Laura Miller
Blood and laundry. The author of "Alias Grace" discusses famous Victorian murderesses, her claim to Connecticut, and the deep satisfaction of a clean, folded towel.

MOVIES:

Misbegotten in Denmark By Scott Rosenberg
In Kenneth Branagh's full-length "Hamlet," cheesy showmanship gradually wins out over good diction.

Not quite lighter than air By Charles Taylor
Woody Allen's pleasingly good-natured "Everyone Says I Love You" aims for '30s musical charm, and misses.

TV:

"AbFab" returns By Joyce Millman
Have we seen the last of Edina and Patsy?

COMICS:

Tom Tomorrow: This Modern World
Carol Lay: Story Minute
Keith Knight: The K Chronicles
Ruben Bolling: Tom, The Dancing Bug

Salon | Articles by Subject | Articles By Date | Table Talk