Since Halloween (and the premiere of The Walking Dead) is on Sunday, there are sure to be lots of zombies walking around. Thankfully we have undead expert Mac Montandon here to answer your questions. He'll be live in the comments!
So the cover article in this week's Sunday Styles section was about this guy Timothy Ferriss, who has become a guru to the rich nerds of Silicon Valley by advocating an "information diet"—"his methods include practicing 'selective ignorance'—tuning out pointless communiqués, random Twitters, and even world affairs (Mr. Ferriss says he gets most of his news by asking waiters)." Though he admits to not practicing what he preaches, his disciples say that adhering to these rules makes them feel "peaceful." Could this advice help me do my job better and faster? I had to wonder.
When we met Imogen Lloyd Webber at the Penthouse Executive Club on Monday, we decided that "in a way that is not unpleasant she smells like when you floss your teeth, that musty smell that your mouth smells like. That's what she smells like." Some of you understood exactly what I was talking about. Others—those with a firm grasp of dental hygiene—seemed a little baffled. So we decided to ask an expert or some guy with a lot of letters in and after his name. We chose Dr. Ananda P. Dasanayake, B.D.S., M.P.H., Ph.D., an associate professor at NYU's College of Dentistry.
Yesterday, we learned that Lucky magazine has some funny ways with descriptive language. Today, we learned that it's important to wear sunscreen, courtesy of Hamptonite Dick Stern and the parts of him that weren't obscured by the Week In Review section. We had to wonder: how would Lucky editors describe Dick Stern's tanned hide if it was stretched across the frame of, say, a Fall dream handbag, and not a person? We asked Fashionista editor Faran Krentcil, who promptly responded: "Ridiculously luxe supersoft crinkly leather in the most delicious shade of caramel." Also: "Bottegan."
Or, at least, how to sound like a local idiot! As we prepare for this weekend's journey to the Hamptons, the life lessons are already piling up. First of all—did not know this!—one doesn't go "up to the Hamptons," one goes "out to" them. This is, you see, because of their geographic location! Still, whatever, you don't actually wait on a line (or even in one). And Moses didn't actually go south to the Pharoah's land— scholars agree he probably went north-northwest. Anyhoo, we still wanted some advice. We sat down with a regular Hampton-goer, who requested anonymity. We'll call him the Noam Chomsky of Amagansett.
Sunday's Times featured an op-ed by author Mark Helprin arguing that authors (and their descendents) deserved copyrights in perpetuity for their work. While Helprin has written what is by far our favorite novel of all time, we are extremely wary of his political views, which can be found frequently on the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal, if that gives you any idea. Still, something about his argument seemed plausible, which deeply disturbed us. Knowing very little about the law, we turned to Maud Newton, who possesses the three most important qualities we look for in an expert on the subject: she is a writer, she is a former tax attorney, and she answers our e-mails. The discussion follows.
