Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 940

There's a Clown Terrorizing a British Town

The poor residents of Northampton, England are living in a nightmare scenario straight out of a Steven King novel right now. Someone dressed as a clown keeps popping up around town and spooking grown adults and small children alike. 

The clown isn't doing anything violent, mind you, so it's exactly like a Steven King novel. But it's close! Because clowns are terrifying, and they scare people. The Northampton Herald & Post reports clowns have been popping up in random places all across town lately, so much so that a hashtag and a Facebook group were created to track the sightings. The Northampton Chronicle reports police believe multiple people are behind the clown sightings. A warning was issued so residents wouldn't be so startled the next time a clown is standing in the middle of the side walk.

The Northampton clown is terrifying residents wherever he goes: 

BREAKING NEWS: The #northamptonclown is in Abington Street! pic.twitter.com/fZMjKI45UW

— Daniel Owens (@DanielOwens1979) September 15, 2013

Been scaring the crap out of my sister because the #northamptonclown was spotted literally less than 50 metres from our house...

— Pineapple (@_Cucumberrr_) September 15, 2013

me and @Sophiamay98 cant sleep because #northamptonclown

— •emily• (@em_cunnington) September 15, 2013

This #NorthamptonClown is flipping terrifying.

— Dan Whittaker (@whittaker39) September 15, 2013

But Northampton residents can rest easy knowing there's now another vigilante roaming the streets protecting them with the ultimate mission of catching these dastardly clowns: 

This guy in Far Cotton calls himself #TheClownCatcher omg what has my town turned into? #northamptonclown *FacePalm* pic.twitter.com/gjUTPmRInH

— AJ (@amylouise158) September 15, 2013

Somehow I'm not convinced the town will rest easier knowing that guy's out there. 

       

Lawrence Summers Will Not Run the Federal Reserve

This weekend it became clear Lawrence Summers would need Republican support if he had any hope of becoming Federal Reserve chairman when Ben Bernanke finishes in January. Today, the Wall Street Journal reports, Summers called the President and withdrew his name from the race.

The summer of Summers came to a sad, satisfying conclusion on Sunday -- depending on whether or not you were rooting for him to replace Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman. The Journal's David Wessel reports Summers withdrew his name from contention to the President during a phone call and in a letter delivered Sunday afternoon. Whether or not Summers was ever in contention is up for debate, but his credentials are undeniable. He's a former U.S. Treasury Secretary and the former head of Obama's National Economic Council. 

Summers pointed to a rocky confirmation process as the reason for his withdrawal. "I have reluctantly concluded that any possible confirmation process for me would be acrimonious and would not serve the interest of the Federal Reserve, the Administration or, ultimately, the interests of the nation's ongoing economic recovery," Summers wrote to the President.

Summers is right -- his confirmation would have been a hot mess on par with the unbelievably long process it took to confirm Chuck Hagel as Defense Secretary. Three Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee indicated they would vote against Summers should he be nominated to run the Fed. "Such resistance complicates matters for Mr. Summers because without the votes of those three Democrats, he would need Republican support on the Banking Committee, where Democrats have a three-vote majority," The New York Times' Jeremy Peters explains. 

So, with Summers out of the way, who will replace Bernanke now? The two leading contenders remaining are Janet Yellen, current vice chair of the Federal Reserve, and Donald Kohn, a former vice chairman under Bernanke with literally decades of experience inside the central bank. Yellen's name has been in the race longer and therefore she's already met some resistance. That resistance almost certainly is because she's a woman. Thankfully the world isn't a truly horrible place and many think she's a smart, qualified candidate who will more than likely get the job in the end. But Kohn is emerging as an early post-Summers contender. Fox's Charles Gasparino reports Kohn was recommended by former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. 

       

The Math Behind 'Insidious Chapter 2''s Big Weekend

Welcome to the Box Office Report, where Patrick Wilson really needed that new house in Montauk for next summer. 

1. Insidious: Chapter 2 (Filmdistrict): $41 million in 3,049 theaters

The first Insidious was one of the better reviewed horror movies of 2011 so that the studio optioned a sequel makes sense. It also made $54 million domestically (and $45 million globally) on a $1.5 budget. So, yes, this sequel was inevitable. And, with a $5 million price tag and a whopping $40 million opening weekend take -- meaning $100 million globally is in reach -- you know a third one is coming. Book it now. Insidious: Chapter 3 (aka the Wilson family summer home in Aruba) will hit theaters near you in 2015, or 2016, or whenever they want it. 

Plus, this week had Friday the 13th and horror movies always do well around this time of year. It's an annual tradition. 

2. The Family (Relativity): $14.5 million in 3,091 theaters

Not one of Robert de Niro's finer moments but he's old and close to retirement. It's OK, he's allowed to mail these performances in. It's better than another movie with 50 Cent, at least.

3. Riddick (Universal): $7 million in 3,117 theaters [Week 2]

Vin Diesel is going to star in a movie with Kurt Russell and life will never be better than the day that movie is released. Wars will end. Rivers will flow where they previously did not. Fields will become fertile where they were once barren.

4. Lee Daniels's The Butler (Weinstein Company): $5.6 million in 3,239 theaters [Week 5]

Having Forest Whitaker back in big, important movies feels nice, doesn't it? Here, he's in easily his biggest role since he won the Oscar for 2006's The Last King of Scotland. And it's a big, successful $100 million movie that will quietly contend during awards season. Hopefully he'll avoid the two dollar crime movies where he's been toiling away (and on TV, I guess) from here on out. 

5. We're the Millers (Warner): $5.4 million in 3,238 theaters [Week 6]

At this point We're the Millers' continued success is just impressive. Who guessed this little movie would take home over $130 million domestically? No one, that's who. 

       

The One Where the President Showed Up

It's not every Sunday that the President graces the Sunday shows with his presence. But here we are, today, with Barack Obama appearing on ABC's This Week for an interview with former Clinton adviser George Stephanopoulos.  

The President took a moment to explain how he was satisfied with the deal with Russia, completed a day before the interview aired, and how a lot of attention to detail was put into the terms, even though some around Washington didn't approve. "I’m less concerned about style points, I’m much more concerned about getting the policy right,” Obama said. "What I’ve said consistently throughout is that — the chemical weapons issue is a problem. I want that problem dealt with."

The President also devastatingly cut through any of the knee-jerk reactions to the deal by explaining just how Washington likes to examine political news. "Folks here in Washington like to grade on style," Obama said. "Had we rolled out something that was very smooth and disciplined and linear they would have graded it well, even if it was a disastrous policy." 

"We know that, 'cause that's exactly how they graded the Iraq War until it ended up blowing in our face," Obama said.

Obama cautioned other countries not to take any cues from the Syrian ordeal should the U.S. threaten any other trouble-making country any time soon. "My suspicion is that the Iranians recognize they they shouldn’t draw a lesson that we haven’t struck to think we won’t strike Iran. On the other hand, what is — what they should draw from this lesson is that there is the potential of resolving these issues diplomatically," Obama said.

Obama also helpfully reminded Iran that nukes rank way higher on the list of priorities than chemical weapons. "Iranians understand is that the nuclear issue is a far larger issue for us than the chemical weapons issue," Obama said. "The threat against Iran — against Israel — that a nuclear Iran poses, is much closer to our core interests. A nuclear arms race in the region is something that would be profoundly destabilizing." 

The President took a moment to respond to his detractors, and Russian president Vladimir Putin's New York Times op-ed alleging the rebels are behind the chemical attack in Syria. "Nobody around the world takes seriously the idea that the rebels were the perpetrators of this," Obama said.

And then the President was asked about some domestic issues, like the recovering economy and the stalled drive for immigration. Of course, Stephanopoulos couldn't resist the opportunity to ask Obama about the 2016 race for the White House and who he thinks would be a better candidate: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Vice President Joe Biden. "I just got reelected last year," Obama said. " My focus is on the American people right now. I'll let you guys worry about the politics."

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You'll be shocked -- just shocked -- to hear that Rep. Mike Rogers doesn't trust this joint plan with the Russians to secure Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. "Obviously, I'm skeptical," the House Intelligence Committee Chairman told CNN's State of the Union host Candy Crowley on Sunday. "This is a Russian plan for Russian interests. And we should be very, very concerned." Rogers thinks the Russians may have pulled a fast one on the President and took advantage of his "indecisiveness" at a vulnerable moment. "They saw it, they stepped in," Rogers said. "If the president believes like I do that a credible military force helps you get a diplomatic solution -- they gave that away in this deal." 

Meanwhile, on CBS's Face the Nation, Sen. Carl Levin was more than happy to take credit for Russia's decision to cut a deal with the U.S. "This progress would not have been achieved without the threat of a military strike by President Obama," the Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman said. "It's no coincidence that after that threat was achieved and made -- and after our Foreign Relations Committee on a bipartisan basis voted to authorize the use of force, the Russia finally decided it would put some pressure on Syria and get involved." And that risk of military force must continue in order to keep Syria in line.  "It is so important that the continuing threat be very readily available," Levin said.

Sen. John McCain expressed his disapproval and asked all kinds of questions about the Syria deal on NBC's Meet the Press. "It’s not a matter of trust it’s a matter of whether or not it will be enforced," McCain said, explaining his concern over what will happen should Syrian president Bashar al-Assad not comply with the deal's terms. "Suppose that this deal is made and then Bashar Assad does not comply?" McCain asked. "Whatever happened to the president’s red line' where he said if they use chemical weapons we will respond?" 

       

Should the Urban Outfitters in Williamsburg Have a Bar?

Urban Outfitters plan to open up shop in Williamsburg complete with a fully stocked bar is not off to the greatest start. If a city councilman gets his way, every hipster's favorite clothing store will be as dry as, well, a normal clothing store when they finally open in Brooklyn.

It seems this planned Urban Outfitters where someone could potentially buy clothes and top the purchase off with a drink will face some stiff competition before it opens. One city councilman is already fighting the plans to serve liquor and leggings in the same location. "I can't think of a circumstance for which it would be appropriate for Urban Outfitters to have a liquor license," Greenpoint city councilman Stephen Levin told the New York Daily News, before positing probably the greatest question ever asked by a civic official: "We must ask ourselves, 'Do we really want people drunk when they are buying their skinny jeans and ironic t-shirts?'" 

As it stands, people looking to shop at Urban Outfitters for whatever hipster uniform they're hawking this month have to trudge all the way to Manhattan. But that changed when, in March, Crain's reported the store's plans to open  -- where else -- on North Sixth Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The jokes about an Urban Outfitters in Williamsburg practically wrote themselves. Then, in March, Grub Street New York noticed the store was planning to apply for a liquor license. The Urban Outfitters in Williamsburg was to have a bar. Because of course, is why. Sure enough, Urban Outfitters was among the astonishing 106 liquor license applications received by the Williamsburg and Greenpoint Community Board 1 in September. (Most are renewals, but there are 37 new applications including Urban Outfitters.)

Now we have to wait and see how this campaign plays out. There's a long bureaucratic process that will have to resolve itself before Urban Outfitters learns whether or not they can sling whiskey beside their hot pants. The next hurdle is a meeting with the board's liquor authority review committee on October 3. 

       

New York Cops Accidentally Shoot Two Bystanders in Times Square

There was a chaotic scene in Times Square on Saturday evening. While confronting a deranged man who mimicked firing a gun at them, two New York police officers responded with shots and mistakenly struck two bystanders instead. 

The entire thing was documented by the many connected New York citizens who witnessed the entire ordeal unfold. The 35-year-old man was behaving erratically, standing in the middle of a busy intersection and unsuccessfully weaving his way through the cars, when police confronted him around 9:30 p.m. Saturday night. "He tried to run and ended up getting hit by three different cars," one witness told The New York Times. Or, perhaps, some think he was trying to be hit. "It appeared that he wanted to be struck by cars," New York Police Department commissioner Ray Kelly said at a press conference early Sunday morning. There was some debate as to whether he had actually been hit by any cars. But there was little debate concerning his mental state. "He definitely looked like he was high on something or was mentally off. He couldn’t walk in a straight line. He was limping and jerking his legs around," one witness told the New York Daily News. 

While officers were attempting to subdue him, "reached into his pocket, took out his hand, and simulated as if he was shooting at them," Kelly told reporters. One officer fired a single shot and missed; another fired two rounds and missed. 

Instead of hitting their target, the officers shot two women standing on the opposite side of the street. A 54-year-old woman who uses a walker was struck in her right leg. A 35-year-old woman was grazed in the buttocks. Both were rushed to separate hospitals and their identities were not released. The man was eventually arrested -- felled by a group of officers and a taser in the end -- and taken to a local hospital. "The only thing the individual had on his person was a wallet which was recovered from his right rear pocket," Kelly said.

       

In 2014, Americans Will Contend for The Man Booker Prize

Organizers behind the Man Booker Prize — the most prestigious literary award in the British Commonwealth — announced a curious decision Saturday night. For the first time in the award's long history, American authors will be eligible to compete for the prize. Previously, only authors from the British Commonwealth (54 countries in all) were considered for the yearly award. 

Every year,
    

Did Floyd Mayweather Finally Lose? Not This Time

Update 8:05 a.m. Floyd Mayweather all but walked through Saul "Canelo" Alvarez Saturday night on the way to a majority decision. Don't let the result fool you, the majority decision shocked the people watching in person at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and those watching at home. ESPN's Dan Rafael breaks down the controversial ending:

Judges Dave Moretti (116-112) and Craig Metcalfe (117-111) had it for Mayweather, while judge C.J. Ross scored it an unconscionable 114-114. She also is one of the two judges who gave Timothy Bradley Jr. a decision win against Manny Pacquiao in one of boxing's most controversial decisions in years. ESPN.com had it a 120-108 shutout for Mayweather.

Original: The question is raised every time Floyd Mayweather Jr., 36, an aging pound for pound boxing king often heralded as the sport's last real prize fighter, enters the ring.

Saturday night, Mayweather fights the 23-year-old Mexican sensation Saul "Canelo" Alvarez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and the hype says Mayweather could fall for the first time in his career. The fight has produced the largest gate of any fight in history.

Mayweather is a polarizing figure. He is both cripplingly boring and endlessly compelling at the same time, both in real life and in the ring. Fight fans either love him or hate him -- there is no middle ground. Mayweather has $123 million in his bank account. He has never been beaten by another man inside a boxing ring in 44 professional fights. He is a technical genius who makes not getting hit look beautiful, and embarrassing his opponents look easy. Floyd Mayweather is very good at what he does -- arguably the best ever -- and he has no problem telling you that fact.

But Alvarez is a young, talented, hard-hitting red-haired Mexican with no definite creation myth who is also unbeaten inside the squared circle. He has the youth, size, power and hunger, according to the fight's official narrative, that could spell the end for Mayweather. 

Then why is virtually no one credible picking Alvarez to actually win the fight. 

Newsday asked a slew of former fighters -- including former champions Lennox Lewis, Bernard Hopkins, Mike Tyson and Zab Judah -- and analysts who they think will win the fight. Every single one predicted Mayweather will weather the storm on Saturday night, except for Newsday's own Bobby Cassidy. He predicts an Alvarez upset. 

It should be noted that Judah is something of an expert on Mayweather. The first five rounds of their 2006 bout are often looked at as the closest thing to a roadmap to beating Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a boxing ring that exists in this world. Mayweather eventually broke Judah down, frustrated him and won a unanimous decision. The greats always do. "I don't see Canelo being able to do anything to Floyd," says Judah.

ESPN got every person on staff who has ever written, watched, or thought about boxing to predict the outcome of Saturday's bout. Every single one predicted Mayweather will prevail. Except for former fighter Teddy Atlas, who thinks Alvarez will take a unanimous judges' decision. 

"We know [Alvarez] throws precise, devastating punches," said Grantland's Jay Caspian Kang earlier this week. "And we know he has no real shot against Floyd Mayweather, but we also know that nobody in the world, save maybe a Klitschko, has any chance against Floyd Mayweather." For those who may not know, Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko are the reigning heavyweight champions of the world. Mayweather is usually a welterweight.

The Vegas sportbooks are oddly undecided. A suspicious amount of money says the two men will fight to a draw. The eventual rematch between Alvarez, who is hugely popular in his home country, and Mayweather would produce unprecedented amounts of money. 

Tonight is not the night Mayweather goes down. He is too fast, too technical, too defensive for this young lion to over come. Don't let his age or recent incarceration fool you. As we learned in his last bout, against the hard hitting body puncher Robert Guerrero, Mayweather is unhittable. 

       

Will Floyd Mayweather Finally Lose?

The question is raised every time Floyd Mayweather Jr., 36, an aging pound for pound boxing king often heralded as the sport's last real prize fighter, enters the ring.

Saturday night, Mayweather fights the 23-year-old Mexican sensation Saul "Canelo" Alvarez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and the hype says Mayweather could fall for the first time in his career. The fight has produced the largest gate of any fight in history.

Mayweather is a polarizing figure. He is both cripplingly boring and endlessly compelling at the same time, both in real life and in the ring. Fight fans either love him or hate him -- there is no middle ground. Mayweather has $123 million in his bank account. He has never been beaten by another man inside a boxing ring in 44 professional fights. He is a technical genius who makes not getting hit look beautiful, and embarrassing his opponents look easy. Floyd Mayweather is very good at what he does -- arguably the best ever -- and he has no problem telling you that fact.

But Alvarez is a young, talented, hard-hitting red-haired Mexican with no definite creation myth who is also unbeaten inside the squared circle. He has the youth, size, power and hunger, according to the fight's official narrative, that could spell the end for Mayweather. 

Then why is virtually no one credible picking Alvarez to actually win the fight. 

Newsday asked a slew of former fighters -- including former champions Lennox Lewis, Bernard Hopkins, Mike Tyson and Zab Judah -- and analysts who they think will win the fight. Every single one predicted Mayweather will weather the storm on Saturday night, except for Newsday's own Bobby Cassidy. He predicts an Alvarez upset. 

It should be noted that Judah is something of an expert on Mayweather. The first five rounds of their 2006 bout are often looked at as the closest thing to a roadmap to beating Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a boxing ring that exists in this world. Mayweather eventually broke Judah down, frustrated him and won a unanimous decision. The greats always do. "I don't see Canelo being able to do anything to Floyd," says Judah.

ESPN got every person on staff who has ever written, watched, or thought about boxing to predict the outcome of Saturday's bout. Every single one predicted Mayweather will prevail. Except for former fighter Teddy Atlas, who thinks Alvarez will take a unanimous judges' decision. 

"We know [Alvarez] throws precise, devastating punches," said Grantland's Jay Caspian Kang earlier this week. "And we know he has no real shot against Floyd Mayweather, but we also know that nobody in the world, save maybe a Klitschko, has any chance against Floyd Mayweather." For those who may not know, Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko are the reigning heavyweight champions of the world. Mayweather is usually a welterweight.

The Vegas sportbooks are oddly undecided. A suspicious amount of money says the two men will fight to a draw. The eventual rematch between Alvarez, who is hugely popular in his home country, and Mayweather would produce unprecedented amounts of money. 

Tonight is not the night Mayweather goes down. He is too fast, too technical, too defensive for this young lion to over come. Don't let his age or recent incarceration fool you. As we learned in his last bout, against the hard hitting body puncher Robert Guerrero, Mayweather is unhittable. 

       

The New York Times Measures the State of the Hipster

Someone set the "days since The New York Times ran a piece about hipsters" board back to zero. The Paper of Record offers an assessment of its favorite subject in the Sunday Review, and effectively declares the idea of hipsters to be dead. Or at least very hard to define.

The Times' infatuation with hipsters is long and well-documented. Every few months, the paper checks in with the flannel-clad denizens of the outer boroughs to make sure they're well fed and attended to. The last time a hipster-related Times story caused a stink was in May when the paper went on a tour through "Will.I.Amsburg," and proceeded to get the details wrong. We laughed at the hipsters, we laughed at the Times, and the Times laughed at itself. 

But in Sunday's paper, in an opinion piece called "Caught in the Hipster Trap," the Times' Steven Kurutz realizes that hipsters are a difficult animal to identify these days, and it's becoming a bit of a problem. "As a 30-something skinnyish urban male there’s almost nothing I can wear that won’t make me look like a hipster," he writes. "Such is the pervasiveness of hipster culture that virtually every aspect of male fashion and grooming has been colonized."

That "hipster" has become a catch-all term for "young people doing things" is not a ground breaking idea. Kurutz argues that hipsters come in so many different shapes, sizes and outfits these days that it's almost impossible to wear anything without being labeled as a hipster. From the top of your head to your toes -- from hats, to T-shirts, to shoes -- everything has been co-opted by some semi-identifiable type of hipster. Hobbies and technology (new and old) have also been taken, leaving next to nothing for the rest of the world. "Has there ever been a subculture this broadly defined?" he asks. Everyone is a hipster, unless you're a stodgy old person, or a parent, and even then you never know. Kurutz realizes there's almost nothing left that hasn't been hipster-fied: 

The only way to safely avoid looking like a hipster, so far as I can tell, is to dress in oversize mesh jerseys bearing the logos of sports teams. Or to wear the blandest, baggiest, beige-est clothes possible, like a middle-aged tourist. Oh, wait. My girlfriend read a draft of this story and told me mesh jerseys “are kind of hipster now.” The Rick Steves look is next.

In the end, Kurutz doesn't really kill the hipster, or the Times obsession with it. Surely it will continue on, fruitfully, until nuclear winter has wiped out the human race and only The New York Times and some cockroaches are left. But he accepts that, no matter what he does, just by being he'll be called a hipster. He is a young person, after all, who does things. The hipster is a vague, identifiable, morphing idea that is both nothing and everything all at once. "If it looks like a hipster, walks like a hipster and quacks like a hipster," Kurutz writes.  

He also claims to know of some fashions that currently won't prompt someone to call you a hipster, though we're not entirely sure we believe him.