Letter From the Editors 2/4
Feast your eyes, ears, and nerve tendrils on Volume 32, Issue 1 of the _Nassau Weekly_. The new Editorial Board is thrilled to take the reins of the paper. We hope to forge a connection with our readers not unlike that between a Na’vi warrior and her Mountain Banshee (Ikran in Na’vi), a winged predator […]
Reading Salinger on the Train
The link above the rest of the page was fresh and in red. It was urgent, it seemed. “J.D. Salinger, reclusive author of _The Catcher in the Rye_, dies at 91.” A few weeks ago, coming back from winter break, I had scooped that very book into my bag for the train ride back to […]
Is Andy Samberg Beethoven?
Whenever people ask me, “What do Andy Samberg and Beethoven have in common?” I usually point to the obvious: “They both have big hair” or, “they both lived in different centuries.” The comedian and the composer both sport unwieldy manes of brown curls, lending them an air of frazzled genius; both have striven to push […]
Telephonic Relations
I remember being told as a kid that whales could speak to one another from across the planet. They could do this by singing in a very deep voice whose immense vibrations were strong enough to push past the deep ocean currents. No ordinary fish could hear them, because they kept their big voices so […]
“If I Could Just Leave My Body For a Night”
The Major Motion Picture is, along with presidential elections and natural disasters, one of the few events still capable of giving our fragmented culture a sense of unity, brief though it may be. The buzz surrounding the release of such a movie, the “countdown” widgets and the midnight showings, speak to America’s genuine need for […]
Experimental History
As _Avatar_ gradually accrued its second billion dollars in the last few weeks, coverage of the film itself (rather than its receipts) sank from complacent praise to idle speculation. Was the film racist? Well, accidentally. Is there going to be a sequel? Sources say! And how about that sex scene? The weirdest thread, perhaps, was […]
Behind the Scenes of _Avatar_
Avatar has received so much hype that it is difficult to get close to anyone who is now basking in its success. Difficult, however, does not mean impossible. Join us as the Nassau Weekly sits down with Sebastian from The Little Mermaid to discuss his role in the making of Avatar, his relationship with James […]
Lighten Up: _Contra_
The unbridled happiness of Vampire Weekend’s self-titled debut album, released January 29, 2008, coincided with and perfectly complemented the second semester of my senior year of high school; I remember capering with my friends in their basements, half-shouting the lyrics in the spirit of frontman Ezra Koenig’s energetic (occasionally barking) voice, sipping from our preciously […]
Psych Ward Memoirs
When I catch sight of my stitches in periphery, I think they are hairs growing out of my wrist, like black wiry hairs growing out of a mole or on the jaw lines of women. Then I think of Marie, whose name I thought was Murray at first because of the black hairs on her […]
Four Poems
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING One time when I was walking down the street, I saw Kenneth Branagh. I said, Hey! Kenneth Branagh! I loved your adaptation of _Much Ado About Nothing_! And your work in _Wild Wild West_! I mean wow! And he said, Thank you, you’re too kind. And I said, no, really, you’re […]
