Kevin Smokler shares some of his favorite interviews.
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Posted inUncategorized
5 Stories on What Happens to Whistleblowers After They Speak Out
Above: Mark Felt Julia Wick is a native Angeleno who writes about literature, Los Angeles, and cities. She is currently finishing an Urban Planning degree at USC. With Chelsea Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison and Edward Snowden’s future still uncertain, it seems a pertinent time to look at what becomes of our whistleblowers after […]
Posted inNonfiction, Story
On Muppets & Merchandise: How Jim Henson Turned His Art into a Business
“He viewed money as energy, the energy that makes concrete things happen out of worthy ideas.”
Posted inMember Pick, Nonfiction, Story
The Time Jason Zengerle and a Gorilla Stalked Michael Moore for Might Magazine
Jason Zengerle | Might magazine | 1997 | 19 minutes (4,685 words) Introduction Thanks to our Longreads Members’ support, we tracked down a vintage story from Dave Eggers’s Might Magazine. It’s from Jason Zengerle, a correspondent for GQ and contributing editor for New York magazine who’s been featured on Longreads often in the past.
Posted inEditor's Pick
When Science Meets Fiction
Examining how science is used in science fiction and popular TV shows: “Of course, there are plenty of groan-worthy gaffes in the Buffyverse, too, as there are in just about any form of popular entertainment that dares to inject a bit of science. That’s why nerd-gassing is such a popular and time-honored pastime among the […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
2 Good 2 Be 4Gotten: An Oral History of Freaks and Geeks
An oral history of Freaks and Geeks, which received a huge cult following after its cancellation, and launched the careers of actors like Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and James Franco: “PAUL FEIG: We did our infamous two weeks with the writers locking ourselves in a room and telling personal stories. I wrote a list of […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Ricky Rubio Experience
The evolution of a Spanish basketball star turned NBA player, from the perspective of a fellow player: “I was playing in Spain at the time, and was there as the nation slipped into inescapable Rubio-mania. In the grocery store people wanted to talk about him; in our locker room we laughed about the boy who […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Hazards of Growing Up Painlessly
Georgia teenager Ashlyn Blocker is learning to navigate through the world despite not being able to feel pain: “The girl who feels no pain was in the kitchen, stirring ramen noodles, when the spoon slipped from her hand and dropped into the pot of boiling water. It was a school night; the TV was on […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘Silly, Funny Stories About Really Serious Things’: A Chat With Writer Jon Ronson
An interview with the journalist (see his recent stories) about what makes a good story: “I spent three months and I just couldn’t do it. And the reason was because I kept on meeting people who worked in the credit industry and they were really boring. I couldn’t make them light up the page. And, […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
He’s So Unusual
A writer interviews her uncle, who worked as Cyndi Lauper’s makeup artist: “It was for a new singer and it was for an Italian TV show called Popcorn, which was a music show. So they rented a flat and I walk in the next morning, and there’s this huge king-sized bed. And there’s Lou Albano […]
