In the spring of 1945, the New York Times gave a series of lectures to educators, in a learning partnership with the NYC Board of Education, providing an overview of the newspaper game. Teachers were given the chance to hear directly from the actual people who put the broadsheet together with the hopes of reinforcing “the importance of a free press in safeguarding our democratic ideals and institutions.” The results took the form of this marvelous little book, The Newspaper: Its Making And Its Meaning. It’s broken into eight chapters, each covered by a Times staffer and this week we’ll be scanning in some of our favorite parts. Read more »

Scott Teplin Draws Up ‘Alphabet City’

Artist Scott Teplin has designed a series of tiny homes that fit inside the letters of the alphabet. Outfitted with slot machines, ice cream parlors, wave rooms and missile silos, the delicately drawn dwellings are more exciting than your average cramped apartment, albeit less practical. Limited edition letter prints for spelling out words or hanging solo are available for $80, while the full collection is bound in 26 signed copies of Teplin’s $2000 book, “Alphabet City.”

(Left: Original 1974 Cover, Right: New 2009 Cover)

It took a long time for graffiti to spread from subway cars and walls to the internationally recognized art form it is today, and this book documented the early beginnings of the outlawed movement from the get. Originally published in 1973, the Faith of Graffiti features the moving photography of Jon Naar and the wonderfully poetic musings of Norman Mailer who offers insights like this: Read more »

A cruel casualty of the Animal New York servers going down yesterday was my inability to share some great news with all of you people that broke late yesterday afternoon: Sarah Palin, America’s favorite folksy simpleton, has finished “writing” her much-anticipated “book” in four months and it’ll be hitting the bookstores in late November, just in time for Jesus Claus to stuff some good ole Wasilla wisdom into the stocking of every good little wingnut boy and girl. Read more »

‘Walls Notebook’ Is A Must Have for Pretend Graffiti Writers

Have you always wanted try your hand at graffiti, but were too chicken shit to actually hit the streets? This sketchbook is for you! It’s like a blackbook, but instead of blank pages, it features photographs of “clean” New York City walls for you to draw and doodle on as if you were a bonafide vandal or as the book description puts it: “You’ll be one step closer to being the graffiti artist you’ve always wanted to be . . . minus the jail time.” Yeah and the credibility. Click below to see more examples of the vandal discouraging notebook.
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