Gawker - See you next giving Tuesday

By Kelly Conaboy

Exploring Hollywood’s insistence that scoliosis is a disease for dorks.

I didn’t know scoliosis was a disease for nerds when I was diagnosed with it. I was 12, standing in the kitchen, and I complained to my parents that my back hurt. My dad put his hand on my spine and noticed it was not spine-shaped but instead sort of a squiggle. A minor issue I’m sure, ha-ha, probably nothing to worry about, and in fact maybe we can forget we ever noticed it?

No; I would need to be X-rayed. Though I was short and weighed around 80 pounds, at this point in my life I regularly wore extra large men’s T-shirts. If you’re thinking this maybe should have tipped me off somewhat about scoliosis being a disease for nerds, particularly when combined with my glasses, acne, and odd affinity for wearing bracelets up to my elbows, I’d like you to understand that this is my time to talk; not yours. The shirts usually featured bands like Nirvana and Powerman 5000, but on this occasion my tucked-in extra large T-shirt was snowman-themed, because we were stopping off for X-rays on our way to a Christmas event with my dad’s work.

I had to take off my pants for the X-ray, the first of a series of medical-related embarrassments, and the dropping of my pants allowed the snowman shirt to unfurl all the way past my knees. The technician laughed, which was humiliating in the way any sort of attention received as a child is humiliating, and made some sort of comment about how the absurd largeness of my shirt was at least useful in this instance. It was, and the penchant for extra-large shirts would continue to be a blessing, as the X-rays showed I did indeed have fairly advanced scoliosis and would have to wear a brace.

If You "Like" Espresso Martinis You'll Love The Black Russian

By Tammie Teclemariam

A minimalist coffee cocktail

Out of deference to the hype, I recently ordered my first espresso martini. I usually avoid dessert cocktails when there’s something stronger on the list, but I love coffee so I was intrigued enough by the stimulant-depressant combo to head to Dante on MacDougal St. one sunny Friday afternoon to try one for myself.

The drink was fine, but not good enough to write about, even though I am writing about it now. The astringency from the freshly pulled shot of espresso seemed to fight with the overall texture of the cocktail (which was also $19). As a coffee drink, I appreciated the added alcohol because it was 5 p.m., but it wasn’t an improvement on my regular order, a short Americano.

There’s an easier way to enjoy a strong coffee cocktail without having to add any coffee at all. It’s called a Black Russian — the less-famous predecessor to the comparably milquetoast White Russian.

Jonathan Franzen's Minor Miracles

By Jacob Bacharach

On having faith in a highly capable but somewhat uninspiring God

Jonathan Franzen is the cicada of American letters. Periodically, he emerges from the soil of America, scuttles up a nearby tree, and emits a tremendous noise that is quite impossible to ignore, splendid and astonishing in its intensity. Like many of God’s strange works on this Earth, it is both magisterial and slightly disgusting. I am in awe of him, and any fiction writer who tells you otherwise is surely lying. His books contain neither magic nor dragons nor vampires nor facsimiles of British boarding schools; where violence occurs — a deadly car wreck in Freedom, a murder in Purity — it has an slapstick quality, although it is rarely played for laughs. Despite this, he has become that rarest of creatures: an actually famous novelist. Goddamnit. Mirabile dictu.

His newest novel is called Crossroads, ostensibly the name of the encounter group-style Christian youth organization at the center of the book, but also one of those Franzen titles that is preciously pregnant with multivalent meanings. Set in the churchy-but-liberal, Protestant, 1970s Midwest from which Franzen himself hails (he would have been around 12 in the year the novel’s “present” takes place), it centers, as did Freedom and The Corrections before it, on the trials of a single family. The Hildebrandts are a frankly rather boring clan whose petty moral travails are far less significant than they themselves seem to imagine.

Online Returns Wednesday

By Claire Carusillo

It's a new holiday I made up and it should be a paid day off

Gather round the warmth of the external monitor, children, or bask in the glow of an open refrigerator if you’re overheated. I have a cozy Yuletide story for you, and it’s about how I miss the country America used to be in 1999.

When I was just a girl, the day after Thanksgiving was all about jarring applesauce, stocking up the dirt-floored cellar with potatoes and alliums for the winter, darning socks, and waiting outside Best Buy at 11:59 to bum rush the automatic doors for a good deal on the Wild Thornberrys game for Gameboy Color.

Black Friday used to be simple. But institutions evolve, and as of late, the spirit of Black Friday appears to extend throughout the post-Thanksgiving weekend. The new millennium saw the introduction of Cyber Monday, of course, and then a few years ago someone just decided to add something called Giving Tuesday to the mix (“It’s giving Tuesday,” you say into your phone, as a joke to yourself, like a prayer). But now that the fake holiday floodgates are open, I can’t get enough. I find myself upset that after five straight days of clearly defined goals (be thankful, buy, buy online, “give”), the Humpday after Thanksgiving rolls around and the celebration of commerce grinds to a halt. I’m so sad, I don’t even want to hump.

World's Dumbest Crime Refresher: The Jussie Smollett Case

By Olivia Craighead

His trial began yesterday

Frequently I find myself yearning for a pre-COVID time — let’s say 2019. We knew nothing of the global pandemic that would upend our lives, there was a glint of hope that Bernie Sanders might be president, and we had just learned that Empire actor Jussie Smollett allegedly paid to get hate crimed by two brothers for the publicity. It was a simpler time.

We cannot turn back the clock, but we can always look to the future, meaning the trial against Smollett for which jury selection begins today. The actor is being tried on six counts of disorderly conduct for lying to the police. But how did we get here? Have you forgotten how funny and dumb this whole situation was? Let me take you back to a better time, when a B-list actor captured the national consciousness with a harebrained scheme (allegedly).

TODAY IN GAWKER HISTORY:

11/30/09

Thanksgiving Horror Stories: The Results Are In

By Brian Moylan

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It’s giving thanks

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Do you ever wonder where stuffing goes the rest of the year? Or why we haven't ever made sweet Gingerbread houses with thinly sliced meats and cheeses?‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

32 hours for work, 56 hours for rest, 180 hours for what you will

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Today's newsletter is all about doing less. Working fewer hours, curbing your flirts, excising the word “unapologetically” from your vocabulary. As Joan Didion once said, less is more. Was that her

Sports tip

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Would basketball be better if the players didn't know the score? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

RIP the Queen (not yet, just practicing for the future)

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

If anyone needs the Queen for any reason, better get it done before… you know. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Kirsten Dunst Alert

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

There are few people the Gawker staff unequivocally supports; Kirsten Dunst is one of them. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Bank Beliefs

Monday, March 10, 2025

Writing of lasting value Bank Beliefs By Caroline Crampton • 10 Mar 2025 View in browser View in browser Two Americas, A Bank Branch, $50000 Cash Patrick McKenzie | Bits About Money | 5th March 2025

Dismantling the Department of Education.

Monday, March 10, 2025

Plus, can someone pardoned of a crime plead the Fifth? Dismantling the Department of Education. Plus, can someone pardoned of a crime plead the Fifth? By Isaac Saul • 10 Mar 2025 View in browser View

Vote now for the winners of the Inbox Awards!

Monday, March 10, 2025

We've picked 18 finalists. Now you choose the winners. ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏ ‌ ͏

⚡️ ‘The Electric State’ Is Better Than You Think

Monday, March 10, 2025

Plus: The outspoken rebel of couch co-op games is at it again. Inverse Daily Ready Player One meets the MCU in this Russo Brothers Netflix saga. Netflix Review Netflix's Risky New Sci-Fi Movie Is

Courts order Trump to pay USAID − will he listen?

Monday, March 10, 2025

+ a nation of homebodies ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Redfin to be acquired by Rocket Companies in $1.75B deal

Monday, March 10, 2025

Breaking News from GeekWire GeekWire.com | View in browser Rocket Companies agreed to acquire Seattle-based Redfin in a $1.75 billion deal that will bring together the nation's largest mortgage

Musk Has Triggered A Corporate Deregulation Bomb

Monday, March 10, 2025

A Delaware bill would award Elon Musk $56 billion, shield corporate executives from liability, and strip away voting power from shareholders. Forward this email to others so they can sign up “

☕ Can’t stop, won’t stop

Monday, March 10, 2025

Why DeepSeek hasn't slowed Nvidia's roll. March 10, 2025 View Online | Sign Up Tech Brew Presented By Notion It's Monday. So much is happening all the time, so you'd be forgiven for

Trump's war on the First Amendment

Monday, March 10, 2025

Plus: Giant white houses everywhere, a woman in chains, and love. View this email in your browser March 10, 2025 Trump, in a navy suit and red tie, is seen from the shoulders up. His mouth is open in

Veterans Administration therapists forced to provide mental health counseling in open cubicles

Monday, March 10, 2025

As part of the Trump administration's frenzied push to end remote work arrangements for federal government workers, the Veterans Administration (VA) is forcing therapists to provide mental health

Gawker - See you next giving Tuesday

Older messages

It’s giving thanks

32 hours for work, 56 hours for rest, 180 hours for what you will

Sports tip

RIP the Queen (not yet, just practicing for the future)

Kirsten Dunst Alert

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Bank Beliefs

Dismantling the Department of Education.

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