2009-03-06 - 11:14 a.m. The trend of naming kids goofy things like "Sailor" and "Mickenzie" and whatnot--do other cultures do this? Do French people name their kids "Navigateur" and misspelled versions of French last names ("Bore-Doh")? How about other English-speaking cultures, aside from Geldof offspring (Geldof-spring?)? Anyway, all this inspired by the thought that Angus & Julia Stone's parents seem to have stuck to tradition. You may enjoy their unassuming folk-rock debut album. It goes down easy with a cubicle breakfast. How Iceland went belly up. Sadly, Harper's won't let me link to the full text of Elif Batuman's The murder of Leo Tolstoy: A forensic investigation, but if you haven't read it already, find a copy of the February issue! It's one of the rare examples of post-blog-revolution "personal journalism" that really works for me--fascinating and funny. thoughts? (7 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact