Newsweek Magazine: Which country today is most like George Orwell's '1984'?

Turkey!

Turkey is the big winner, according to Newsweek. Not Syria, North Korea, Eritrea, or even Turkmenistan. (Get a load of Turkmenistan's president and his personality cult. He's a winner at oppression, too!)

No, it's Turkey that's living up to the Orwellian horror show, mainly because they're a bit more nuanced.

And that's what you want from your countries winning at fear--a little bit of nuance with that oppression.

Even Superman is quitting the newspaper business.

The Daily Planet has hired Clark Kent as a reporter since 1940, but even Superman has his limits.

In the latest issue of the comic franchise, Clark Kent channels the feelings of everyone in middle management and goes on a diatribe at work--culminating in his quitting the newspaper business.

If you worked at the same place for 72 years and had a meager 401k plan, you'd probably quit, too.

Superman writer Scott Lobdell tells USA Today, "[Superman] is more likely to start the next Huffington Post or the next Drudge Report than he is to go find someone else to get assignments or draw a paycheck from."

Maybe Superman should look into a job at Newsweek?





photo: DC Comics, where apparently Superman lets out his anger on internet servers.

Newsweek and The Daily Beast rank colleges on important factors.

You know, the things parents worry about when sending their kids off to school. Like...

25 Most Beautiful Schools (both campus and student body beauty)

25 Best Schools for Campus Food

25 Best Schools for Wannabe CEOs

25 Most Artistic Schools

25 Best Party Schools

25 Horniest Schools

Go ahead. I know you're going to click on that last one. No sense in trying to pretend otherwise.

Quibble No. 4: Self-obsessed books

See this paperback book? (((finger points upward)))

The one with two blurbs on the front cover from The New York Times and Newsweek about how "haunting" and "impressive" the book is?

That same book has five more blurbs on the back cover hyperextending a shoulder joint congratulating itself. Four lines are also devoted on the back to various awards won.

There are also twenty-four (twenty-four--24!!--for emphasis) rave reviews published on the immediate pages inside the book, everything from Kirkus Reviews to fellow authors.

You know what's not mentioned? Not on the front, the back, or the inside?

A description of the book.

Keep looking. It's not there. I'll wait if you want to check.

Which makes me wonder: Do people only buy books based on the number of self-obsessed reviews it has, and not whether they might like it themselves?

Because why read a book you like when you can just have others tell you what to like?



Before you ask: I had to read the book for work. Otherwise, I'd have refused simply on the grounds of the book's narcissism and inability to share its feelings. It's like going on a blind date with someone who lets all their friends tell you how great they are--but you never hear it from them. They just make you buy dinner.

Newsweek: 38% of US citizens fail immigration citizenship test. 29% don't even know who Vice President is.

Admittedly, Joe Biden feels more like a crazy uncle than a Vice President.