Welcome to this week's selection of Picks, where things are a little crazy. All week we've been followed around by a documentary crew. Initially, we were really quite excited, since we'd heard rumors that they were from P.O.V., the award-winning PBS series that showcases filmmakers' "points of view." Unfortunately, there was a slight mix-up and the crew was actually from C.O.V., which is short for "Chronicles of Verbosity." Still, we were happy to help out and even managed to take a break from our hectic schedule and sit down for a short interview:
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Chronicles of Verbosity: Your desks are covered with bouquets of flowers. Are these from adoring fans?
Picks of the Week: No, we steal them from restaurants. We love the little flowers, even though they don't last very long. Luckily, The Secret Garden offers a great way to preserve the beauty of floral arrangements. Albert Richards, Professor Emeritus of the University of Michigan, has spent 40 years creating "floral radiographs" by taking dental x-rays of flower blossoms, and the results are truly stunning. Make sure to browse the gallery for an uncommon view of everyday flowers. Our favorite is definitely the Hybrid Tea Rose, though we've taken a bit of flak for neglecting the Bells of Ireland.
COV: In your opinion, what makes "Picks of the Week" such a success?
POTW: That's easy. It's the use of the serial comma. Just look through the archives. After we started using the serial comma, Picks suddenly gained a... a... oh, how do we put it? Well, let's use as an example the Condé Nast Traveller site, a veritable suitcase-load of information from the popular travel magazine. We could say something like: "this site includes daily travel tidbits, a monthly focus on one of the world s finest cities, weekly 'ten best' lists, a bookshop and an archive." See? No comma before the last "and." Falls flat, doesn't it? Now watch this: "The site's 'Departures' section highlights writers and travellers such as Sir Wilfred Thesiger, Simon Calder, and Jonathan Raban." That last comma before the "and" is really quite revolutionary.
COV: What about rejection? There must be a lot of it in your line of work.
POTW: Ah, yes, rejection our old friend, a companion to many of us around here since--well, since at least childhood. Actually, we like to embrace the feeling of isolation full on--kissing it on the lips, so to speak. Kind of like the idea behind a site called Rejection Slips. Exactly as the title suggests, it's a small shrine to the "private hell" of being an unpublished writer, complete with a full array of curt refusals from famous and not-so-famous magazines and journals, as well as samples of the writer's work. Rather tastefully done. And funny. Something we can all identify with. In fact, one of our colleagues in Editorial could certainly take some lessons from this and might stop using words like "persecution," "grand conspiracy," and "postal."
COV: Here's a question on everyone's mind lately: Just where the heck can a person find in-depth information on gangster films? Any suggestions?
POTW: Hoo-boy! If we had a nickel for every time we heard that one... Kings of the Underworld is certainly one starting point. The site features six emblematic gangster films from the 30' s, the heyday of the cinematic lawless icon. Familiar actor-thugs such as Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson are represented in the films Little Caesar, The Public Enemy, Scarface, G-Men, Petrified Forest, and Bullets or Ballots. Each section has plenty of stills, along with screen shots of movie posters, plot synopses, and historical tidbits. Some of these movies were made before the infamous Hays Code, and were able to portray racier behavior than the films of the 40's and 50's. For instance, The Public Enemy shows James Cagney smashing a grapefruit into the face of co-star Mae Clark. So we guess the short answer to your question is, uh, Albania.
COV: Would you consider a hip "webzine" like Denizine as a pick?
POTW: Off the record? No frigging way. For starters, it's not from San Francisco, so ix-nay on the ip-hay. Where's the block-rockin' techno noize? The bombspazz eyegazm graphix? Just take a look at the thing: legible text, coherent writing, and pointed humor. They've got articles about the Diana backlash, Tamagotchi sex, Roswell tourism, and not a single picture of Bjork. Notice also the shameful lack of darkness, vacuity, and human suffering. It seems Denizine has a lot to learn about what's "bomb" and what's "not bomb."
COV: You all seem to get along rather well. Do you go on group retreats to encourage teamwork?
POTW: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Oh. You're serious? Um, well, we're hoping to save up enough to go to Monona Terrace; we're all such huge fans of Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1938, Wright designed a set of plans for a series of buildings along Madison, Wisconsin's Monona Lake, but because the cost was prohibitive, it was never built. Not until now. It took a decade, but this year Wright's design was finally completed. Reading about the politics and history behind the building's construction has made us all a little giddy. We're packed and ready to go. (Separately, of course.)
COV: Where else do you go to relax and have fun?
POTW: The restroom. We've done some of our most profound reading in the stalls. That's why we like It's All In The Head, a rip-roaring collection of "visuals de toilette." It's more than just a bunch of photographs of bathroom scrawls, it's a tribute to written expression: political manifestos, cries for help, universal truths, Biblical prophesies, whimsical poems, and phone numbers. The site lets us consider pearls of zen-like wisdom from dozens of bathrooms from Portland to the Texas panhandle. The writing's on the wall.
COV: Well, thanks for your time. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
POTW: No, thank you. It was a pleasure. When do we get the free carton of Don Knotts Pez dispensers? Oh, we're still rolling? Sorry. Can you edit that out? Oh well, there 's nothing really to add except, as always, "Take your
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