A Deliberate Move Away From Yet Another Podcast

As the resurgent popularity of vinyl records continues to pick up steam, Michelle Pauli takes a look at a new literary journal in the UK, Underwood Stories, which plans to publish twice annually as a vinyl LP.

Underwood says it aims to preserve the short story in the digital age by “allowing listeners time to retreat from their computers and iPods to experience an intimacy with writers and their work”. My first reaction is that this sounds counterintuitive. To me, listening on an iPod through headphones to someone reading me a short story feels pretty intimate, but I wonder if I’m missing out somehow.

Click here to read Pauli’s post at the Guardian or here to visit Underwood Stories online.

Once Harmless Befuddler, the Cube Began to Taunt Us

From The Smart Set, Stefany Anne Golberg takes a look at Rubik’s Cube as the popular toy turns 30 and tries to answer the question, “Why would anyone want to play with a toy that is so damn hard?”

As the Cube’s inventor Erno Rubik has pointed out, a puzzle is by nature a solitary pastime. In theory, the puzzle’s primary function — to be solved — is best accomplished by a single mind in a private space under low-stress conditions. But once you approach a puzzle as something to consider rather than simply solve, it becomes an invitation to dance.

Click here for the essay.