Arts, entertainment, and more.

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• The Critics Critiqued Their nastiest insults, most insightful reviews, and oddest fixations this year.
  Ben Williams Dec. 31, 2003
  
• The Law & Order Index Watching reruns could make you rich!
  John Swansburg Dec. 29, 2003
  
• The Evasions of Robert McNamara What's true and what's a lie in The Fog of War?
  Fred Kaplan Dec. 19, 2003
  
• Please, Sir, I Want Some Moore The lazy British genius who transformed American comics.
  Douglas Wolk Dec. 17, 2003
  
• The Lector Effect HBO's new Angels in America gets Kushner wrong.
  Dale Peck Dec. 12, 2003
  
• How To Write Read Mimesis.
  Jim Lewis Dec. 9, 2003
  
• The Wonder Years When people loved the New York Times Book Review.
  Meghan O'Rourke Dec. 2, 2003
  
• Hop on Pop A riveting new documentary about Louis Kahn, a great architect and not-so-great dad.
  Christopher Hawthorne Nov. 15, 2003
  
• Empire Falls How Master and Commander gets Patrick O'Brian wrong.
  Christopher Hitchens Nov. 14, 2003
  
• Everybody Loves Reagan How a divisive president became an American Idol.
  David Greenberg Nov. 13, 2003
  
• Unplugging The Matrix Why the sci-fi franchise went south.
  Matt Feeney Nov. 7, 2003
  
• Mrs. God A new documentary suggests that Jesus might not have been celibate after all.
  Sian Gibby Nov. 3, 2003
  
• Crime and Pulp The new Russian literature: more Elmore Leonard than Leo Tolstoy.
  Vijai Maheshwari Nov. 3, 2003
  
• Meet Playboy Sr. Has the once-groundbreaking magazine become culturally irrelevant?
  Laura Kipnis Oct. 30, 2003
  
• Poetry's Lioness Defending Sylvia Plath from her detractors.
  Meghan O'Rourke Oct. 28, 2003
  
• The Best Little Chophouse in Town The allure of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
  Bryan Curtis Oct. 17, 2003
  
• Swan Song What might School of Rock tell us about the state of rock 'n' roll?
  Alex Abramovich Oct. 16, 2003
  
• Bad to the Bone An anthology of verse offers up the banal, the bathetic, the bloated.
  Dan Chiasson Oct. 9, 2003
  
• The Murdered Atheist, Her Rotten Husband, and the FBI What a new biography gets wrong about Madalyn Murray O'Hair.
  Stephen Bates Oct. 7, 2003
  
• Amateur Night on 72nd Street George Plimpton ran the Paris Review, played with the Detroit Lions, wrote books, and interviewed Hemingway.
  Meghan O'Rourke Sept. 29, 2003
  
• Harvey, Meet Woody American Splendor vs. Annie Hall.
  Jaime Wolf Sept. 24, 2003
  
• Samuel Johnson's Peculiar Dictionary A dictionary should be scientifically objective—or should it?
  Adam Kirsch Sept. 17, 2003
  
• Clueless What do the new reality dating shows have in common with 19th-century literature?
  Patricia Cohen Sept. 16, 2003
  
• Book Report How four magazines you've probably never read help determine what books you buy.
  Adelle Waldman Sept. 12, 2003
  
• Prize Fight What does the Booker Prize long-list say about British fiction?
  Elena Lappin Aug. 28, 2003
  
• The Pentagon's Film Festival A primer for The Battle of Algiers.
  Charles Paul Freund Aug. 28, 2003
  
• Cult of Personalism A remarkable documentary about Idi Amin gets to the heart of his politics.
  James Surowiecki Aug. 21, 2003
  
• Can Buy Me Love What do a highbrow French thinker and a commercial African-American novelist have in common?
  Meghan O'Rourke Aug. 13, 2003
  
• Steal This Book The latest Harry Potter was digitally pirated. What's next?
  Joy Press Aug. 8, 2003
  
• A Hope for Posterity Don't let anyone tell you Bob Hope wasn't brilliant.
  Wilfrid Sheed Aug. 1, 2003
  
• The Height of Style Can Tall magazine offer anything other than advice?
  Brad Wieners Aug. 1, 2003
  
• Literary License Defending Joseph Mitchell's composite characters.
  Meghan O'Rourke July 29, 2003
  
• Trading Places Cultural property disputes are reshaping the art world—but how?
  Carol Kino July 28, 2003
  
• Catch-2001 How Sept. 11 changed the way we view military satires like Buffalo Soldiers.
  Richard B. Woodward July 28, 2003
  
• Summer Lovin' A teenager's guide to the steamiest—and easiest—summer jobs.
  Avi Zenilman July 23, 2003
  
• Six Degrees of Procrastination Why is everyone you know on Friendster?
  Douglas Wolk July 16, 2003
  
• Gertrude Stein Rocks Should great poems be seen and not heard?
  Jim Lewis July 7, 2003
  
• Too Sexy for This Store Wal-Mart's strange decision to blackball Redbook.
  Dana Goodyear July 7, 2003
  
• L.A. Without a Map Has the American literary imagination gotten Los Angeles wrong?
  Adam Kirsch June 30, 2003
  
• Exile's Return The story of one of Iraq's most important poets.
  Elena Lappin June 26, 2003
  
• Air Halen The state of American air guitar: sweaty, sincere, electric.
  Dan Chiasson June 11, 2003
  
• American Graffiti Remembering New York City in the age of graffiti.
  Lee Smith June 11, 2003
  
• Moneyball Redux Slate talks to the man who revolutionized baseball.
  James Surowiecki June 10, 2003
  
• England, England Granta's best young British novelists, 2003.
  Meghan O'Rourke June 3, 2003
  
• Cinema of the 'Stans Making movies after the death of the U.S.S.R.
  Ed Finn May 26, 2003
  
• Cellini's Stellar Cellar The mystery of the saltcellar with the sky-high price.
  Jim Lewis May 23, 2003
  
• The Godmother The woman who taught Mario Puzo the value of secrecy.
  Bill Tonelli May 9, 2003
  
• Tripping De-Light Fantastic Are psychedelic drugs good for you?
  John Horgan May 7, 2003
  
• You Look Divine What would Hera think of the goddesses at the Costume Institute?
  Katie Roiphe May 5, 2003
  
• Outbreak In epidemics, is fear a good thing?
  Duncan Watts April 30, 2003
  
• No More Whistlin' Dixie Diane Sawyer's indecorous performance with the Dixie Chicks.
  Jim Lewis April 25, 2003
  
• The Fact in Fiction Are critics paying too much attention to literary gossip?
  Katie Roiphe April 22, 2003
  
• Raiders of the Lost Art Why didn't we protect the National Museum and Library in Baghdad?
  Meghan O'Rourke April 17, 2003
  
• The Sounds of War Rating the news networks' theme music.
  Adam Baer April 17, 2003
  
• Hello to All That The irony behind the demise of the Partisan Review.
  Sam Tanenhaus April 16, 2003
  
• I Sing Ireland Electric Dennis O'Driscoll's wired, modern picture of Dublin.
  Adam Kirsch April 16, 2003
  
• Shortlist Iraq: Books on the War Slate's guide to books on the second Gulf War and the Middle East.
  Meghan O'Rourke April 8, 2003
  
• The 98-Pound Gorilla in the Room How the spindly McSweeney's short story became a menace.
  Ruth Franklin April 3, 2003
  
• Cents and Sensibility The surprising truth about sales of classic novels.
  Adelle Waldman April 2, 2003
  
• Speech Lessons What Khrushchev's famous "secret speech" can tell us about regime change.
  Anne Applebaum March 31, 2003
  
• Paradise on Earth A close reading of the pope's surprisingly secular poetry.
  Dan Chiasson March 28, 2003
  
• Live, but Not Really The networks can show us more war than ever before—but they're choosing not to.
  Meghan O'Rourke March 27, 2003
  
• A 21st-Century Man Why is Dante hot all of a sudden?
  Adam Kirsch March 26, 2003
  
• Freedom Coke The Arab world's foolish boycott of American food.
  Jon Fasman March 25, 2003
  
• Cardboard Guy Why the X-Men are more gay than the Rawhide Kid.
  Dan Rubinstein March 19, 2003
  
• The Book of Numbers Rick Warren's purpose-driven attack on American Christianity.
  Chris Lehmann March 17, 2003
  
• Poetry and War, Again 
  Robert Pinsky March 14, 2003
  
• Bargain-Basement Literature Why are English books made so badly?
  Christopher Caldwell March 7, 2003
  
• Art Enemies The press release that sparked the Matisse–Picasso rivalry.
  Meghan O'Rourke March 3, 2003
  
• Poetic Injustice Is there any real difference between a bigoted versifier and a "redneck" BBQ chef?
  Feb. 28, 2003
  
• It's a Hip, Hip, Hip World But a new handbook to social savvy can't escape its square future.
  Ben McGrath Feb. 27, 2003
  
• The Wily American A look at the new Graham Greene movie shows how anti-Americanism has changed over the years.
  Katie Roiphe Feb. 26, 2003
  
• Monumental Foolishness The decline and fall of a man who once seemed poised to become the next great émigré writer.
  Feb. 20, 2003
  
• Buddhist Retreat Why I gave up on finding my religion.
  John Horgan Feb. 12, 2003
  
• High Standards Is the new Philip Larkin poem worthy of publication?
  Eric McHenry Feb. 10, 2003
  
• Claire Tomalin's Chicken Little Story 
  Meghan O'Rourke Jan. 31, 2003
  
• Roman's Holiday Where has Polanski been hiding?
  Bryan Curtis Jan. 31, 2003
  
• There Goes the House Why do Americans love to bet?
  Eric Banks Jan. 24, 2003
  
• Why Blondes Love Sufis A new novel about America's love for Sufism gets it wrong.
  Lee Smith Jan. 23, 2003
  
• Gettin' Paid The SFMOMA's pricey new homage to Gerhard Richter.
  Joshua Clover Jan. 21, 2003
  
• Bring It On In search of democracy at Ground Zero.
  Michael Sorkin Jan. 15, 2003
  
• Hit Man  Learn to love the tyrant who made Motown.
  Alex Abramovich Jan. 14, 2003
  
• I Hear New York Ranting Spike Lee vs. Kenneth Lay and Mullah Omar.
  James Surowiecki Jan. 9, 2003
  
• Listen Up Can pop music make the Arab world love us?
  Lee Smith Jan. 9, 2003
  
• Drop the Gun The Two Towers' wishful technophobia.
  James Surowiecki Jan. 8, 2003
  
• To the Madhouse What would Virginia Woolf have thought of The Hours? Not much.
  Meghan O'Rourke Jan. 6, 2003