Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 847

Remembering Ned Vizzini

Ned Vizzini, the author of It's Kind of a Funny Story and other young adult books, has died at the age of 32, according to an Los Angeles Times report citing the New York City medical examiner's office. The Los Angeles-based Vizzini, a New York native whose books included an examination of teenage mental illness, including his own, died in Brooklyn, reportedly of suicide. 

RIP my best friend Ned Vizzini, who died yesterday in Brooklyn. I loved him. The loss is inexpressible.

— Nick Antosca (@nickantosca) December 20, 2013

Please tell me the news about the wonderful @Ned_Vizzini is just somebody's idea of a sick joke. One he might have found funny, but still.

— John Schwartz -- NYT (@jswatz) December 20, 2013

Ned Vizzini is dead, a suicide. I can't process this. I remember when NYPress hired him as a teenager. http://t.co/DdrS36ijni

— Matt Zoller Seitz (@mattzollerseitz) December 20, 2013

So sad. My heart goes out to Ned Vizzini's family and friends. May he RIP. http://t.co/hbTHImhhUE

— Lisa Schroeder (@lisa_schroeder) December 20, 2013

AP

Vizzini was probably best known for the semi-autobiographical It's Kind of a Funny Story, about a 16-year-old who is hospitalized for depression. The novel was turned into a 2010 film starring Zach Galifianakis. But Vizzini also wrote for MTV's "Teen Wolf" and ABC's "Last Resort," and authored four novels for young adults. Most recently, Vizzini completed House of Secrets, which he co-wrote with film director Chris Columbus. A sequel is forthcoming. He also wrote essays for the New York Times, and the Daily Beast.

A 1998 piece a very young Vizzini penned for the Times, handing down some very unconventional advice to teenage readers, still resonates for many today. "Being a teen-ager is just like being a kid," he wrote, still a teenager himself, "except that you've got five extra niggling concerns: sex, money, smoking, drinking and getting into college." He concludes: 

The media present adolescence as hell on earth, chock full of evil cliques (the cliques in grade school are worse), domineering parents and wrenching decisions that will determine the rest of your life. Nah. Adolescence is a time to sit back, make some friends -- and maybe discover what you're good at. Don't believe the hype.

       

The Not-So-Secret Product Placement in 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'

20th Century Fox

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a movie about finding adventure in your life. It's also a movie about how great products are. 

Ben Stiller's passion project about having passions has its admirable qualities: it's beautifully shot, ambitious in scope, and competently acted. Undermining all of that, however, is the fact that the movie is laden with product placement. Mitty exists in a time void that is nostalgic to the point of anachronism—the movie revolves around finding a photographic negative—but is also stuffed to the edge of the frame with references to things you can purchase in our modern world. It's very distracting.  

We decided to catalogue all the references we could find and elaborate on the few big ones. 

eHarmony

The plot is essentially framed around eHarmony, this much is obvious in the film's marketing. In the opening scene, Walter is attempting to leave a "wink" for his crush  Cheryl Melhoff, played by Kristen Wiig. It doesn't work so he calls up a customer service representative, voiced by a cheery Patton Oswalt. There's talk of the company's "very intricate matching algorithm" as Oswalt urges Walter to add more cool places and activities to his profile. Even as Walter ultimately traverses Greenland, Iceland, and Afghanistan, he still receives follow-up calls from Oswalt, in what might he the greatest act of customer service ever recorded in human history. Until its one-upped later on at a crucial moment, wherein Todd—and therefore eHarmony—actually saves the day. 

Time-Life 

In what is perhaps a nod to how long it took this movie to get made, Walter works at now-defunct Life magazine—which is housed in the Time-Life building—and both the Life logo and the Life motto are all over the place. In the film, the magazine is transitioning to online publication. Though the Life brand certainly isn't as strong these days, it still exists in a Google archive and at life.time.com. Certainly the film helps some, especially with the magazine romanticized the way it is.  

Papa John's 

Walter mentions early on that he worked at a Papa John's, when reminiscing about his father's death, and thereafter, the pizza chain becomes a kind of totem of Walter's premature maturity. Then, somewhat improbably, Walter actually visits a Papa John's in Iceland. He steps out side to talk to Cheryl—you never have to charge your cell phone in this movie—and has an emotional turning point as he tells an old, Papa John's-related story.  

Conan and TBS

In one of Walter's many daylight fantasies, he's a famous guest on Conan O'Brien's late-night show.

Cinnabon

No trip to an airport in a movie this sponsor-packed could be complete without a visit to the Cinnabon. Two characters even bond over the "frosted heroin" in front of them. 

CareerBuilder.com 

By the end of the movie, a sea change within Walter sees him graduating from eHarmony to Career Builder to help build his resume. Basically, we've come full circle in terms of life-betterment sites. 

Miscellaneous 

Other brands that are either appear or are simply mentioned include:

Dell KFC Nabisco Chase Kodak Air Greenland American Airlines Instagram Facebook Jansport iPhone McDonald's (the "I'm lovin' it" jingle is referenced)

A Stretch Armstrong toy also plays a fairly major role, but since we're not sure Stretch Armstrong is such a viable brand anymore, you can just credit that to the movie's overwhelming nostalgia.

       

New York City Adds E-Cigarettes to Its Smoking Ban

Jason Fourmont, right, exhales vapor from his e-cigarette before attending a city council meeting that will address the legality of indoor use of the device in New York, December 19, 2013. (REUTERS)

New York's City Council voted today to include electronic cigarettes in its ban on smoking in indoor public spaces. The devices, which form a vapor instead of smoke, are becoming increasingly popular as a supposedly safer way to get a nicotine fix.

“Because many of the e-cigarettes are designed to look like cigarettes and be used just like them, they can lead to confusion or confrontation,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn said, emphasizing that she wanted to avoid regressing to a point where smoking in public is once again widely accepted.

The council voted 43-8 in favor of the measure, which now has to be approved by the mayor. And he almost definitely will approve it, because he is also the guy who tried to ban large sodas.

Richard Carmona, former U.S. Surgeon General—as well as, it should be noted, a board member of NJOY, which makes e-cigs—wrote a letter before the vote advocating for e-cigs to not be included. "I'm extremely concerned that a well-intentioned but scientifically unsupported effort like the current proposal to include electronic cigarettes in New York's current smoking ban, could constitute a giant step backward in the effort to defeat tobacco smoking," he argued.

Indeed, the health effects of e-cigs are still not clearly defined, but they are rising in popularity, expected to exceed $1.7 billion in sales this year. Their use is also on the rise among minors.

Still, the council passed the measure, despite the powerful imagery of a protest on December 4 in which 200 protesters vaped indoors during a debate on the device's merits.

       

The Author of 'The Anarchist Cookbook' Is No Longer a Fan of 'The Anarchist Cookbook'

William Powell has an editorial in The Guardian this week denouncing his most well-known creation, The Anarchist Cookbook. The book is, as its name suggests, a countercultural primer that provides instructions on how to craft explosives, make illegal drugs such as LSD, and disrupt telecommunications, among other topics. Now, Powell writes, "I have come to understand that the basic premise behind the Cookbook is profoundly flawed."

Powell explains that his work with special needs students over the years has given him a greater understanding of the alienation that students interested in the Cookbook might feel.

The Cookbook has been found in the possession of alienated and disturbed young people who have launched attacks against classmates and teachers. I suspect that the perpetrators of these attacks did not feel much of a sense of belonging, and the Cookbook may have added to their sense of isolation.

…

I do not know the influence the book may have had on the thinking of the perpetrators of these attacks, but I cannot imagine that it was positive. The continued publication of the Cookbook serves no purpose other than a commercial one for the publisher. It should quickly and quietly go out of print.

 The book, written in 1969, has been linked to everything from Timothy McVeigh, to Columbine, to last week's shooting at Arapahoe High School. NBC News reports that, "Just in the last two years, law enforcement has tied the volume to Arizona shooter Jared Loughner, the Boston Marathon bombers, and at least a half dozen alleged terrorists and school shooters."

Powell does not, however, own the copyright to the book. Those rights are currently owned by Billy Blann, who has no plans to take it out of print. According to NBC News, The Anarchist Cookbook amounts to most of his company's $3 million in annual revenue.

       

Obama Issues a 'Hardship Exemption' to Those with Cancelled Health Plans

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified last week about the difficulties of the Obamacare rollout. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

People who had their current health insurance cancelled because the plans did not meet Affordable Care Act requirements would be granted an exemption from penalties for the next year. The embattled Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced the change Thursday night in a letter to a handful of senators.

According to a bulletin issued by HHS, "If you have been notified that your individual market policy will not be renewed, you will be eligible for a hardship exemption and will be able to enroll in catastrophic coverage." The announcement comes just four days before the deadline, Dec. 23, for people to buy policies that take effect at the start of the new year.

The Obama administration has come under intense criticism over the past few months as the president's promise that if people liked their currently plan, they would be able to keep it regardless has not been entirely true. According to the Obama administration:

If the consumer believes that the plan options available in the marketplace in their area are more expensive than their canceled health insurance policy, they will be eligible for catastrophic coverage through a hardship exemption.

Insurance spokespeople speaking to the press said that the last-minute change would cause problems for insurance companies. Insurers had not expected many over 30 to enroll in catastrophic plans, and so had not factored their cost into premiums, and secondly, they said that the exemptions undermine the individual mandate required to keep healthcare costs down overall.

Republicans were quick to seize on another opportunity to criticize the bungled rollout. Senator Marco Rubio said that, "This is a slap in the face to the thousands of Americans who have already purchased expensive insurance through the Obamacare exchanges.”

       

A Harry Potter Prequel Play Is Coming to London's West End

AP / Warner Bros.

Looks like J.K. Rowling has a little bit of Harry Potter left in her after all: she's going to co-produce a stage play based on her books.

The good news: Harry Potter is back! With new material!

The bad news: While Rowling is collaborating with a playwright on the script and co-producing the show, she isn't actually writing it. Also, the show will be based on Harry's pre-wizard years, when he was an orphan and lived under the stairs and everything was sad and horrible. No Ron, no Hermione. No Hogwarts.

The Daily Mail believes Warner Bros. will be involved in the play's development, like it was with the "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" musical. That show takes place in the chocolate factory, rather than Charlie Bucket's miserable pre-Golden Ticket life. Seriously, why isn't the Harry Potter play going to be in Hogwarts? The books seem made for that kind of thing!

Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender will also be producing the play (Rowling said their vision was "the only one that really made sense to me, and which had the sensitivity, intensity and intimacy I thought appropriate for bringing Harry’s story to the stage"). Friedman produced the West End version of "The Book of Mormon," while Callender produced Broadway's "Lucky Guy." 

The show is set to open in on London's West End in 2015, though since it hasn't actually been written yet -- let alone figured out the theatre in which it will play -- that may well change.

 

       

A Nine-Year-Old Bowled a Perfect Game

Screenshot / ABC Action News

Bowling prodigy Hannah Diem just became the youngest person in the United States to bowl a perfect game. She's nine. Nine! How is she even able to hold a bowling ball at that age?

Hannah told Florida's ABC Action News that she knew she was destined for bowling greatness from the tender age of six, when she went to her first bowling party. Unlike the rest of us, who rolled potty shots down the bumper-lined lanes and still sucked (maybe that's just me), Hannah said: "Once I picked up that bowling ball and threw it down the lane, I knew it was my sport." 

Hannah's coach James "J.C." Crouch told the Tampa Bay Times, "She's really taken to it." You think?

She was playing at a league night on November 17 when she bowled the 300. Here's ABC's report:

Way to go, Hannah! Look how proud they are of her at Largo's Liberty Lanes!

Hannah's 300 is now officially certified by the United States Bowling Congress, which is a real thing. The previous youngest 300 record holder was Chaz Dennis, who was practically a senior citizen at 10 years, 2 months and 27 days old. Hannah is 9 years, 6 months, and 19 days old.

If you are like me and terrible at bowling, take heart: when Hannah first started, she averaged a 42. 

 

       

Verizon Is Going to Publish (Some) Government Requests For its Data

AP

After years of allowing the government to collect its customers' metadata in secret -- and a few days after a federal judge called the practice "almost-Orwellian" and likely unconstitutional -- Verizon has announced that it will publish a semi-annual report on law enforcement requests for its customers' data:

To the extent permitted by applicable U.S. and foreign laws and regulations, Verizon’s transparency report will identify the total number of law enforcement agency requests received from government authorities in criminal cases.

In addition, the report will break out this data under categories such as subpoenas, court orders and warrants. Verizon will also provide other details about the legal demands it receives, as well as information about requests for information in emergencies.

This comes just a week after Verizon turned down a major shareholder's request that it make surveillance requests public, a move that indicated that Verizon would not be publishing any transparency reports in the near future. Perhaps the events of the last few days have helped to change its mind.

But would something like this have made the NSA's metadata collection practices public knowledge before Edward Snowden leaked them? Well, no, since Verizon was prohibited from saying anything in the first place. And don't expect the new transparency report to be completely transparent, either:

Verizon is working with the U.S. government regarding the detail the company can report on the number of National Security Letters it received last year. Similar to transparency reports published by other major Internet companies, Verizon’s report will not disclose information about other national security requests received by the company.

In other words, National Security Letters will be in there, but orders made under FISA will not. But hey, at least Verizon is doing something now, unlike AT&T, which is perfectly happy to let things continue as before.

The first report will go up early next year.

       

Post-Rehab Trey Radel Still Wants Drug Testing for Food Stamp Recipients and Legislators

AP

Florida Rep. Trey Radel is out of rehab following his guilty plea to a cocaine possession misdemeanor charge. Radel, addressing reporters on Thursday, indicated that he's still going to stay in office: "I love what I do, and I'm going to return to what I do," he said, adding that "my recovery is underway and it's ongoing." Radel also said that he "reconnect[ed] with my spiritual side." And he's still pretty keen on supporting drug tests for food stamps beneficiaries — just as long as members of Congress are tested as well. 

Radel was asked by a reporter about calls for his resignation following his guilty plea, especially because the Republican congressman voted for a provision that would require food stamp recipients to submit to a drug test. "With drug testing for food stamps — I think members of Congress can and should be tested as well, and maybe it'll help someone else in the future," he said. In September, the congressman voted for a sweeping food stamps bill that would allow states to test food stamp recipients for drugs. 

Radel also told reporters that "alcohol does not work with me," specifying that he would continue treatment for alcoholism. He was tight-lipped on the details of his past drug use, saying that he's done cocaine "a handful of times," and that he didn't do cocaine with other members of Congress. 

       

Katie Couric's Talk Show Gets Officially Canceled

Associated Press

Though it's not surprising at all, today the news became official: Katie Couric's talk show, Katie has been officially canceled. Couric and Disney-ABC said in a joint statement, per Variety, that they've "mutually agreed" that the show would end after its second season. This leaves Couric, who recently took a job at Yahoo!, in the clutches of the internet. 

Couric won't have to abandon network television that quickly, though, since the show will continue on production through June 2014. The talk show was never quite a good fit for Couric. As Bill Carter at the New York Times wrote, Couric "made it clear that she preferred covering topics that were not necessarily ideal for building ratings for a syndicated talk show." In October, Alex Ben Block wrote at The Hollywood Reporter that "station owners now complain the daily strip hasn't lived up to the hype, and several insiders tell THR that internal discord has become nearly unbearable." 

The show recently became embroiled in controversy when it ran a segment questioning the safety of the HPV vaccine Gardasil. 

Couric's job at Yahoo! has her serving as a "global news anchor."