It is a well known fact among my friends that I cannot be controlled in the vicinity of vinyl; my passion for crate-digging is matched only by my fiscal irresponsibility. Apparently, word got out to the greater independent record store community of my shameful addiction, and they hatched a plan to deplete me of even [...]

I was lucky enough recently to visit Hong Kong for a few days. And let me tell you, their public transportation system is rocking. Hong Kong is estimated to have the highest percentage of trips made by public transit in the industrialized world (around 90%!). Not only is their system easy to use, but it’s [...]

Like “Easter-Christmas” Christians or “Passover-Hanukkah” Jews, most of us St. Louisans tend to be “Earth Day” Environmentalists. This isn’t totally our fault, right? Most folks in the City aren’t privileged enough to have curb-side recycling, and getting around the County on public transportation can be a mess of a calculus problem (I speak with deep experience [...]

MARCH BESTSELLERS!!! Obama : The Audacity of Hope Bolano : The Savage Detectives Pollan : The Omnivore’s Dilemma Sinclair : Oil! (There Will Be Blood) The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel

a lot lately. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (Free Press, $24.00, fiction).  Whew, that’s some bitterness.  Set in modern India, and written by an Indian expat, it’s a rip on the social and class divisions between a poor servant class and a corrupt wealthy one.  It’s written from the point of view of a [...]

 McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld by Misha Glenny, reviewed by William Grimes.  In stock now (Random House, $27.95).  Read the entire review here. The collapse of the Soviet Union also ensured a ready supply of women for Western Europe. Mr. Glenny takes a close look at the Balkan gangs who thrive on [...]

They’re here.  They’re really here. I did a little Snoopy dance.  The movers probably think I’m a freak.

I’ve been a big fan of Mary Roach ever since having read Stiff, her brilliant and hilarious study of the business of human preservation. Roach is that rare talent whose impeccable journalistic techniques are bolstered by a conversational style and an unparalleled sense of humor, making each revolting factoid that much easier to swallow. After [...]

Kevin Horrigan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote an excellent editorial pertaining to the address that Barack Obama recently delivered about race in America. He makes a good case for the speech’s marking a high point in the current public discourse, which more often than not favors empty soundbites and frenzied sensationalism to extended monologues [...]