Brendan I. Koerner's Blog, page 75

Movable Props

Contrary to our expectations, the Haim Saban profile in this week's New Yorker is a killer read. We had no idea that the man's empire began with a spectacular insight about cartoon music royalties, or that kiddie-show billionaires have such awesome pull with world leaders. And there is at least one classic reporting detail, in which the author describes Saban crediting his palatial Beverly Hills pad's existence to "five retards in spandex."

That uncouth remark refers, of course, to Mighty...

From the Mouths of Giants

Crazy morning 'round here, as we once again find ourselves butting up against a brutal WIRED deadline. But seeing as how this is an especially dreary Monday, at least here in this rainy metropolis where incompetent bombers run amok, we couldn't just start your week with pure laziness. So let us spend a few moments teasing out the vintage wrestler thread we started on last week. This time, the object of our interest is not the first man to call himself "The Mormon Mauler," but rather the...

The Original Mormon Mauler

Upon bumping into this list of famous Mormon wrestlers last night, we were immediately intrigued by the story of Don Leo Jonathan, who grappled under thenom de sport "The Mormon Mauler." Yet as we hacked our way into Jonathan's sweaty tale, we came to realize there was a more intriguing narrative thread to explore—namely, the fact that he wasn't the first Mormon wrestler to compete under that aggressive nickname. A good two decades before Jonathan lost his championship belt to Killer...

Once More Into the Maw

Apologies, but gotta check out early today—we're back on the WIRED beat, ironing out the kinks in our addiction yarn. Back in the a.m. with some more of the good stuff; in the meantime, hey, puppets and Madlib's helium-throated alter ego.

The Battle and the Bulge

Did the codpiece come into vogue because a bunch of Italian counts were trying to conceal their fights against syphillis? An Australian doctor makes the case:

The treatment of the disease was for the most part empirical with multiple agents applied locally, which along with the bulky dressings would give large frontal bulges, impossible to hide. The problem would present the tailors with a challenge that appears to have been met by them featuring the mass with the codpiece, while also...

A Rougher North Shore

The hero of the criminally underseen documentary Sliding Liberia is one Alfred Lomax, a young Liberian whose life was turned upside down by his nation's brutal civil war. After fleeing his hometown of Robertsport in 2003, Lomax landed in the capital city of Monrovia, where daily foraging trips brought him in contact with the sport that would quickly become his greatest passion:

"The first day I went and got food, and rice on the second," said Lomax. "Then one day I went back and I saw a...

First, Do No Harm

While we're sensitive to the fact that millions of people trust folk cures more than modern remedies, stories like this one make us question whether shamanism deserves to survive in the post-antibiotics age:

A couple in Samoa ,who perform traditional healing, have been found guilty of causing actual bodily harm, but had charges of manslaughter and witchcraft dismissed.

The case relates to the the death of a 37 year old woman they treated in 2008.

Sera and Felaia'i Lavasii were charged by the...

Faking the Crates

Hewing to that most time-honored of journalistic axioms—"Two equals trend"—we'd like to declare that we're living in the era of the ersatz sample. Way back when, we were introduced to a whole host of R&B classics by reading the liner notes of various hip-hop albums. (We discussed, for example, how Dr. Dre led us into Donny Hathaway's sonic embrace here.) But nowadays, there are more and more artists who are taking original music and recasting is as retro, to the point that a casual listener m...

A Chemical Solution to a Chemical Problem?

We're in the midst of whipping through Nick Reding's Methland, which is a fantastic feat of reporting. It takes an intrepid writer, indeed, to spend such a vast amount of time in small-town Iowa, connecting with tweakers and those who loathe them.

While Methland has earned major plaudits for its human touch, we've been more struck by some of the backstory it offers, particularly in regards to policy decisions that accidentally aided the drug lords. Reding delves into the Big Pharma lobbying...

Spellbound

True, some small measure of sanity may soon prevail in Saudi Arabia, where a Lebanese man convicted of witchcraft seems increasingly likely to escape execution. But the anti-sorcery sentiment remains strong in the Persian Gulf, where Bahrain looks set to join the House of Saud in outlawing the dark arts. Could this be a sign that religious fundamentalism is becoming even more deeply entrenched on the Arabian Peninsula? Perhaps, but the words of one conservative Bahraini lawmaker make us...