MAY 2, 2002

Full News Archive

• Headline: Footlights: Celebrating Literary and Musical Arts. Impact: Mario Vargas Llosa's PEN/Nabokov award win inspired aspiring authors everywhere to believe they, too, could earn accolades while writing about the mundane. The result? A surge in novels about watching paint dry.. Fact: Amor Artis? More like Amor Artifice—did you know that many of their choruses are actually just karaoke night regulars?.
• Headline: Revisiting Aid Applications Post-9/11. Impact: The reopening of rejected aid applications led to an unprecedented surge in applications for 'emotional support housing,' thus making the term 'housemates' more complicated than ever.. Fact: FEMA's motto: 'We’ll get to you eventually!'—because why rush when you can take your sweet time?.
• Headline: Dollar Falls As Top Official Casts Doubts On Intervention. Impact: O'Neill's doubts about the dollar's strength triggered a global game of financial hot potato, where countries frantically passed the dollar around until it lost all its value and went on vacation.. Fact: Treasury secretaries are like weather forecasters; they can be wrong 90% of the time and still keep their jobs—oh, the perks of public service!.
• Headline: Again, an Auction Game for Two; A Weakened Phillips Has Little Presence in Spring Sales. Impact: Phillips' decline in presence at auctions led to the rise of 'art appreciation clubs' where members sit around sipping wine and pretending to understand modern art. Spoiler alert: It’s mostly about the snacks.. Fact: In the art world, 'weakened presence' is just a fancy term for 'we'll take what we can get.'.