Search Results for: Love

The Mercenary Techie Who Troubleshoots for Drug Dealers and Jealous Lovers

Longreads Pick

Meet Martin, the I.T. guy who’s helped everyone from drug dealers needing to dodge wiretaps, to restaurants looking to inflate their Foursquare numbers:

“If you’ve seen that episode of The Wire, you know principle behind Martin’s system: ‘Burners,’ prepaid cell phones drug dealers use for a short time then abandon to thwart wiretaps. Prepaid phones have become so associated with drug trafficking and crime that New York Sen. Chuck Schumer wants to require an I.D. to buy one. (Martin said if I.D.s were required he could still run his business ‘but I would probably charge triple because I’d have to make fake I.D.s’)

“But burners can be a pain. For maximum security, phones need to be switched as often as possible—a top Cali cartel manager was once reported to use 35 cell phones a day. Martin’s system makes it easy for a crew to switch all their phones rapidly.”

Source: Gawker
Published: Jan 25, 2012
Length: 7 minutes (1,956 words)

The Thing They Loved

Longreads Pick

[Fiction] A marriage and its outside interferences:

“When she told her husband that David Cannon had arranged for her a series of recitals in South America, she looked to him for swift response. She was confident that anything touching on her professional life would kindle his eye and warm his voice. It was, in fact, that professional life as she interpreted it with the mind of an artist, the heart of a child, which had first drawn him to her; he had often admitted as much. During one year of rare comradeship he had never failed in his consideration for her work. He would know, she felt sure, that to go on a concert tour with David Cannon, to sing David Cannon’s songs under such conditions, presented good fortune in more than one way. He would rejoice accordingly.

“But his ‘Why, my dear, South America!’ came flatly upon her announcement. It lacked the upward ring, and his eye did not kindle, his voice did not warm. He himself felt the fictitious inflection, for he added hastily, with happier effect: ‘It’s a wonderful chance, dearest, isn’t it?'”

Published: May 1, 1920
Length: 35 minutes (8,940 words)

Navigating Love and Autism

Longreads Pick

From the beginning, their physical relationship was governed by the peculiar ways their respective brains processed sensory messages. Like many people with autism, each had uncomfortable sensitivities to types of touch or texture, and they came in different combinations.

Jack recoiled when Kirsten tried to give him a back massage, pushing deeply with her palms.

“Pet me,” he said, showing her, his fingers grazing her skin. But Kirsten, who had always hated the feeling of light touch, shrank from his caress.

“Only deep pressure,” she showed him, hugging herself.

He tried to kiss her, but it was hard for her to enjoy it, so obvious was his aversion. To him, kissing felt like what it was, he told her: mashing your face against someone else’s. Neither did he like the sweaty feeling of hand-holding, a sensation that seemed to dominate all others whenever they tried it.

Author: Amy Harmon
Published: Dec 26, 2011
Length: 21 minutes (5,446 words)

A Death-Row Love Story

Longreads Pick

“I’ve been waiting,” Echols wrote her. “I knew that sooner or later someone would take notice. . . . Do you have any idea how it feels to be called a killer by everyone who sees you, even though you know you’re innocent? I go through hell every day, sitting here waiting to die for something I didn’t do. It’s a nightmare. . . .”

Published: Oct 13, 2011
Length: 11 minutes (2,939 words)

Love for Wounded Soldier Upon Return from Afghanistan

Longreads Pick

Rebecca’s college roommate worried that Rebecca was mistaking empathy for romantic love and would find herself in a relationship that she could not end. “Who could break the heart of an Army officer who lost both his legs?” Sabrina recalled thinking.

Author: Greg Jaffe
Source: Washington Post
Published: Oct 8, 2011
Length: 16 minutes (4,148 words)

‘You’ve Got to Find What You Love’

Longreads Pick

Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement speech, 2005. “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

Author: Steve Jobs
Source: Stanford
Published: Jun 12, 2005
Length: 9 minutes (2,255 words)

The Making of ‘Nevermind’ (Excerpt from ‘Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge’)

Longreads Pick

DAVE GROHL: (Nirvana drummer; Foo Fighters singer/guitarist) “More low end! I want it to sound like the Melvins!” “It has to be heavier, heavier, heavier!” Butch was doing his best to do what Kurt wanted, and it just wasn’t turning out. BUTCH VIG: The mixes were sounding kind of muffly, and Gary Gersh and Silva came by and listened and they were like, “Let’s just get a good mix guy in, and we’ll try and keep the band away from the studio a little bit and let him do his thing.” I was like, “Cool.” So they sent over a list of all these mix guys. I showed the list to Kurt and at the bottom was Andy Wallace, and it listed Slayer first on his credits. He said, “Call that guy.” If he’d looked further on Andy’s credits, it had Madonna. If Madonna’s name had been first, Andy wouldn’t have gotten the call.

Author: Mark Yarm
Source: MTV Hive
Published: Sep 19, 2011
Length: 14 minutes (3,578 words)

Glen Campbell: One Last Love Song

Longreads Pick

On the sleeve notes he writes: “Ghost On The Canvas is the last studio record of new songs that I plan to make. I’ve been saying it to friends and family, but now that it’s in writing it really seems final.” In June, Campbell revealed he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease six months earlier and that he was going to do a farewell tour before retiring. The announcement was shocking in its bluntness. Many of us still remember Glen Campbell as the eternally youthful hunk with huge shoulders or the naive boy-man who stars alongside John Wayne in True Grit. Glen Campbell wasn’t made for growing old.

Source: The Guardian
Published: Aug 26, 2011
Length: 13 minutes (3,396 words)

?uestlove: 15 Years

Longreads Pick

?uestlove might not rap, but he’s still one of hip-hop’s best storytellers, and he had plenty of yarns when we spoke with him recently about all of the above– including the time Puffy screamed on him for an hour and how he bonded with Jay-Z over their mutual love of “The Simpsons”. One of these days, ?uestlove will write a memoir, and it will be incredible. Consider the following a preview.

Source: Pitchfork
Published: Aug 19, 2011
Length: 16 minutes (4,102 words)

I Love You Christopher Hitchens, You Irritating Bastard

Longreads Pick

But Christopher Hitchens! Ach, Christopher Hitchens. How I have loved him, despite the ordeals he has put me through. He’ll go and be a fearful crank about atheism or “Islamofascism” for ages and I get all mad, and then he writes this freaking brilliant column about the Murdoch scandals and I’m crazy about him again. Old loves are like that.

Source: The Awl
Published: Jul 20, 2011
Length: 21 minutes (5,447 words)