For many readers, cliches are features, not bugs. http://bit.ly/e3efTw
For many readers, cliches are …
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Dec 182010
The Emperor’s new book… or w…
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Dec 182010
The Emperor’s new book… or why Twain’s autobiography is such a “wonderful fraud” http://nyti.ms/eK3I1j
“There is nothing so English a…
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Dec 052010
“There is nothing so English as bad sex” http://n.pr/hvcWLa (via @nprbooks)
Real life imitates Jeopardy: D…
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Dec 052010
Real life imitates Jeopardy: Deborah Solomon makes up questions to fit answers. http://nyti.ms/i3x5xz (via @maudnewton)
RT @SanSip: A new look for htt…
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Dec 022010
RT @SanSip: A new look for http://newyorker.com http://nyr.kr/dMkDia Kinda Atlanticish, but nice…
Can fictive sex ever have arti…
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Dec 022010
Can fictive sex ever have artistic merit? http://ind.pn/adQnrr That’s right, they actually said fictive sex. (via @aldaily)
What’s with the Amazon hatred …
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Dec 022010
What’s with the Amazon hatred among the literati? http://bit.ly/giZzDQ
Dec 012010
David Segal’s profile of an unscrupulous online operator in the New York Times is the most fun story I’ve read in a long time. Deeper implications aside, how can a story with lines like this one not be fun?
“Do you think I would think twice about urinating all over your frame and then returning it? Common.” [NYT]
The villain of the piece is Vitaly Borker (“thuggish Russia born Brooklynite”) who runs his online operation in a manner familar to anyone that has shopped for groceries in India. It is a hilarious read that leaves you feeling slightly queasy at the end.
“The customer is always right — not here, you understand?” he says, raising his voice. “I hate that phrase — the customer is always right. Why is the merchant always wrong? Can the customer ever be wrong? Is that not possible?”
The next day, a man named Tony Russo called to say that DecorMyEyes had run out of the Ciba Visions. Pick another brand, he advised a little brusquely.
“I told him that I didn’t want another brand,” recalls Ms. Rodriguez, who lives in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. “And I asked for a refund. He got rude, really obnoxious. ‘What’s the big deal? Choose another brand!’ ”
With the contacts issue unresolved, her eyeglasses arrived two days later. But the frames appeared to be counterfeits and Ms. Rodriguez, a lifelong fan of Lafont, remembers that even the case seemed fake.
Soon after, she discovered that DecorMyEyes had charged her $487 — or an extra $125. When she and Mr. Russo spoke again, she asked about the overcharge and said she would return the frames.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with these glasses?” she recalls Mr. Russo shouting. “I ordered them from France specifically for you!”
“I’m going to contact my credit card company,” she told him, “and dispute the charge.”
Until that moment, Mr. Russo was merely ornery. Now he erupted.
“Listen, bitch,” he fumed, according to Ms. Rodriguez. “I know your address. I’m one bridge over” — a reference, it turned out, to the company’s office in Brooklyn. Then, she said, he threatened to find her and commit an act of sexual violence too graphic to describe in a newspaper. [NYT]
Which shipping company is kind…
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Dec 012010
Which shipping company is kindest to your packages? http://bit.ly/fUnsxJ
Placebo buttons
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Nov 062010
Placebo buttons. http://futilitycloset.com/2010/11/04/placebo-buttons/ (via @anantha)
