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Articles by Ravi Somaiya
Inside Theranos with Elizabeth Holmes
“EVERY PERSON THAT WORKED ON THIS MOVIE WAS GOING THROUGH A SIMILAR FEELING of cognitive dissonance,” Lance Oppenheim, the documentary director, said recently of You Can See Everything, the film he made with Nathan Fielder about the Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. “We would unpack the day’s events, and no one could agree on the seemingly mundane moments that would transpire.” When I read that, I felt a wave of relief. Even gratitude.
October 17, 2026 - Air Mail
YOU CAN’T SEE EVERYTHING CURB YOUR COLLECTIVISM FOWL PLAY THEIR BROTHER’S KEEPERS POUR RELATION WARDROBE WISDOM GONZO IN PARADISE BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Issue No. 379 wear Cara Cara Cara Cara has made a very good business of cheerful prints and crisp poplin, so suede, shearling, and tailored wool are something… read Jolt What a shiny and privileged life Ted Scheiman seemed to lead: a graduate of Hotchkiss and Yale, he seemed destined to be another… buy Nothing Founded in 2020,...
“It’s Elizabeth Holmes … I Understand We’ll Be Making a Film Together”
“Every person that worked on this movie was going through a similar feeling of cognitive dissonance,” Lance Oppenheim, the documentary director, said recently of You Can See Everything, the film he made with Nathan Fielder about the Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. “We would unpack the day’s events, and no one could agree on the seemingly mundane moments that would transpire.” When I read that, I felt a wave of relief. Even gratitude.
Why fish don't read
The next issue of Bungalow will be out in the coming months. But fun stuff keeps coming up in between, so this is a new occasional series, Rabbit Holes, which will arrive in your inbox whenever they arise. Please feel free to forward. And feel even more free to subscribe. BUNGALOW IS BASED AT AN AMAZING BUILDING IN CHELSEA.
The Unabomber on Donald Trump
The next issue of Bungalow will be out in the coming months. But fun stuff keeps coming up in between, so this is the first of a new occasional series, Rabbit Holes, which will arrive in your inbox whenever they arise. They’re free for anyone to read, so please feel free to forward. And feel even more free to subscribe. I WAS GOING THROUGH SOME OLD PAPERS LAST WEEK, when I came across two handwritten letters I received from Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, in 2017 and 2018.
The Length of Trump’s Fingers—Revealed!
On page 45 of the April 1988 issue of Spy magazine, there’s a satirical advertisement for Donald Trump’s book The Art of the Deal. It picks the worst quotes from reviews of the book. “Exercise in self-congratulation.” “Repulsive book.” It jokes that Trump has been buying copies of it himself. Right at the bottom of the ad is a throwaway line that has resonated throughout the years. In fake promo copy it boasts that the book is “by Short-Fingered Vulgarian Donald J.
Measuring the Met Gala
IN THE PANTHEON OF INTERNET BULLSHIT, nothing is as absurd as celebrity heights. Search a famous name and “height,” and you’ll be confidently shown either a number someone made up, or one a publicist invented to flatter their client. I spoke to one stylist and one editor about this story, and they had the same three-word response about celebrity heights: they all lie. This bothers me for reasons that are both moral and idiotic. A height is not private.
Does Trump really have short fingers?
Illustration: Caroline Villard This story is published in collaboration with our good friends at The Fence. A word from them before we begin: The Fence publishes pieces on all manner of things and from all types of writers.
SERIES 05: Measuring things
THIS SERIES IS INSPIRED BY A STORY THAT I LOVE. One that embodies a vital spirit I will call the joyous fuck you. This is the way I heard it: It was the 1980s, in China. Mao Zedong’s murderous Cultural Revolution had been superseded by the more pragmatic rule of Deng Xiaoping. Deng was in his 80s and appeared as a weary old man. But he was a vicious and effective operator.
We turned algae into a magazine
I’VE BEEN ON A TOUR OF MAGAZINE STORES RECENTLY. They’re full of gorgeous, life-affirming publications. They all smelled amazing. The cheapest was $20. The most expensive was $500. If you’re looking for something written that reflects the world, the alternative is a book, around the same price. Or your phone, where everything is free, and everything is also exhausting. The solution is to reinvent the penguin.
The rise of the demons
Cathedral of San Luis Potosí (CC) There’s a simple way to look at the turmoil of the last 15 years or so. We’re all more afraid than we were. It’s so widespread and so total that it has happened almost without our noticing. It underpins the frantic news cycle. (As an experiment, see how many headlines you could effectively add the words “We Fear” or its binary “We Hope” in front of.) It colours every debate.
‘It's just a bomb’
Illustration: Caroline Villard The following is a true story. It reconstructs dialogue and events on the basis of testimony in police and court transcripts, as well as audio and video recordings and CCTV images, which were part of public trial proceedings. It was produced in collaboration with the Financial Times, who ran a shortened edit of the definitive and uncut version below.
The bench
Illustration: Caroline Villard The following is a true story. It reconstructs dialogue and events on the basis of testimony in police and court transcripts, as well as audio and video recordings and CCTV images, which were part of public trial proceedings. It was produced in collaboration with the Financial Times, who ran a shortened edit of the definitive and uncut version below.
The bench
The following is a true story.
The Rapture, Timbaland, Timberlake and Duran Duran walk into a studio
Illustration: Caroline Villard IN EARLY JULY 2007, AS THE SKIES BEGAN TO DARKEN on a humid, cool summer day in London, the band The Rapture turned onto a pretty little street in Notting Hill, towards fame, fortune and their ultimate doom. Two months earlier a mortgage lender called New Century had filed for bankruptcy, and opened the portal to a financial crisis.
Revisit Joaquin Phoenix’s 2008 Dazed cover interview on his 50th birthday
TextRavi SomaiyaPhotographyJeff BurtonStylingTyler Udall 4 Welcome to the Archive Pull, a new series delving into the 30-year history of our print magazine. To celebrate his 50th birthday, we look back at Joaquin Phoenix’s cover profile, originally published in the January 2008 issue of Dazed & Confused. He may have been on our screens since he was a mere eight years old, but when he’s in front of the cameras Joaquin Phoenix still gets nervous.
How Did Sweden Become the Most Violent Country in Europe?
In one way, the series of events that led to Sweden becoming the violent-murder capital of Europe, held up its accession to NATO as Russia circled, and allowed Iran a terrorist foothold in Europe began with an image that appeared on September 2, 2015. It shows a tiny figure in a red T-shirt and blue shorts, lying face down on the beach in Bodrum, Turkey, a landing spot for migrants attempting to enter Europe in small boats. Alan Kurdi was two. He had drowned fleeing civil war in Syria.
Convivenza rischiosa
Nel tardo pomeriggio del 5 aprile 2023 Andrea Papi aveva deciso di andare a correre. Il giovane di 26 anni aveva detto alla sua ragazza che sarebbe tornato per le sette, in tempo per cenare con la famiglia. Poi si era avviato attraversando Caldes, un paesino di case rosa tenue, sparse lungo tortuose strade di montagna, che scendono fino a un torrente. Papi era cresciuto lì, in Trentino-Alto Adige.
Best Narrative Nonfiction for Your Summer Reading Pile
This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Have you ever read nonfiction that reads like a thriller or like the most immersive novel? That’s narrative nonfiction! Narrative nonfiction uses various craft elements to create a story, not merely a reporting of events. The prose is usually written in a compelling, descriptive literary style while still preserving the facts of the story.
Did a Doctor's Experiment on a Possessed Woman Unleash a Curse?
It began, in one way at least, on a Saturday in early 2011, outside of a bodega called El Tal Iván in Iztapalapa, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Mexico City and a recent nexus for violent crime. According to an account in the newspaper La Jornada, six young people had gathered there late at night when a passing car fired 25 9-mm. bullets at them. Five were killed immediately. The sole survivor, a pregnant woman in her early 20s, was rushed to a public hospital with a punctured lung.
Forger, bank robber, CIA operative and… assassin? — Ravi Somaiya
You never finish a book. You only stop working and then try and live with the choices that an earlier you made. If I had the Golden Thread to write again, I would have made more of one particular character, who just fascinated me. He was a CIA agent codenamed WIROGUE.
Facebook se plantea alojar noticias de los medios en su web
Nada atrae a las agencias de noticias tanto como Facebook. Y nada las pone más nerviosas. Con 1.400 millones de usuarios, la red social se ha convertido en una fuente de tráfico vital para las empresas editoras de unos periódicos que intentan llegar a una audiencia cada vez más fragmentada y pegada a sus teléfonos inteligentes.
Arrest Puts Spotlight on Brazen Hacking Group LulzSec
By Ravi Somaiya and Steve Lohr June 23, 2011 LONDON — As suspects go, Ryan Cleary did not look dangerous: a pale 19-year-old who looked five years younger, wearing a white skateboarding T-shirt and track pants, standing nervously in a courtroom here on Thursday.
Assange, WikiLeaks Founder, Is Jailed in Britain
The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was driven into Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Tuesday. By John F. Burns and Ravi Somaiya Dec. 7, 2010 LONDON — After months of posting troves of classified American documents on the Internet, Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks Web site, surrendered to British authorities and was jailed on Tuesday after a judge reviewing a Swedish extradition request found him to be a flight risk and denied him bail.
The Cold War and the Mysterious Death of Dag Hammarskjöld
The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland had hoped that its investigations into the crash of the would draw precisely the reaction Virving had received from the Swedish government: Pilot error. Nothing to see here. It was an eminently plausible conclusion. Flying in Africa was a dangerous business in 1961. Planes went down all the time. When they did, their loss was often cloaked in the kind of mystery inevitable on a huge, sparsely populated landmass with inconsistent aviation infrastructure.
June 27, 2020 - Air Mail
Issue No. 50 The View from Here By Alessandra Stanley Each time there is another violent protest or shooting, what comes to my mind is The Good Mother. … The Making of a Predator Part III: Just why did Georgina Chapman marry Harvey? And what did she get out of it? By Phoebe Eaton Illustration by Paul Davis The African Conspiracy Did white Europeans, led by a shadowy “Mr. X,” kill the U.N. secretary-general 60 years ago—to keep power over black Africans?
THE GOLDEN THREAD | Kirkus Reviews
"There's got to be something wrong with somebody who'd do a thing like that." This is Perry Edward Smith, talking about himself. "Deal me out, baby...I'm a normal." This is Richard Eugene Hickock, talking about himself. They're as sick a pair as Leopold and Loeb and together they killed a mother, a father, a pretty 17-year-old and her brother, none of whom they'd seen before, in cold blood. A couple of days before they had bought a 100 foot rope to garrote them—enough for ten people if necessary.
8 True Crime Books For Your 2020 TBR
Please take a moment to review Hachette Book Group's updated Privacy Policy: read the updated policy here. Looking for what to read in the vast true crime genre? I’ve rounded up seven very different 2020 true crime books that range from nonviolent for adventure fans to interviews with a Buenos Aires serial killer 30 years after the crimes. Oh, and that whole scandal where celebrities were involved in a criminal conspiracy to get their children into top universities.
7 True Crime Books For Your 2020 TBR
Please take a moment to review Hachette Book Group's updated Privacy Policy: read the updated policy here. By Jamie Canavés Looking for what to read in the vast true crime genre? I’ve rounded up seven very different 2020 true crime books that range from nonviolent for adventure fans to interviews with a Buenos Aires serial killer 30 years after the crimes. Oh, and that whole scandal where celebrities were involved in a criminal conspiracy to get their children into top universities.
The Congressman Who Is Eight Times Crazier Than Michele Bachmann
23.65K The website Capitol Words measures how often our lawmakers say certain words. We've been through the archives and found a congressman mathematically eight times crazier than Michele Bachmann. Meet the undisputed champion of saying "ACORN," "Socialist," "Homosexual" and "White". Steve King, an Iowa Republican, has a very vivid imagination and he likes talking. Today he revealed that he's terrified that gays are out to get us by flaunting their gayness and inviting discrimination.
The Junk Cycle
By Ravi Somaiya Fall 2019 Illustration by Jackie Ferrentino At 1:15pm Eastern on Wednesday, May 22, a Trump supporter named Shawn Brooks posted a video on Facebook called “Is Nancy Pelosi drunk?” It suggested that Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, was slurring her words. Later that day, another video featuring Pelosi, slowed so she sounded drunk or incapacitated, appeared on two pro-Trump Facebook pages; later, it moved to Twitter and YouTube.
The Fresh Prince vs. God
Someone, who we would venture to suggest is a genius, has been calling in to Christian TV stations to tell them about a spiritual journey from West Philadelphia, where he was born and raised, via Bel Air, to God. VIDEO VIDEO [Via Holy Moly]
Murdoch Aides Long Tried to Blunt Scandal Over Hacking
“Parliament was misled,” Mr. Whittingdale said. “It will be a lengthy and detailed discussion.” Mr. Murdoch has indicated he wants to cooperate. “We think it’s important to absolutely establish our integrity in the eyes of the public,” he said last week. “It’s best just to be as transparent as possible.” Ms. Brooks’s representative, David Wilson, said she maintained her innocence and looked forward to clearing her name, but declined to answer specific questions.
Susie Bean Breitbart: L.A.'s Secret Power Broker Behind a Right-Wing Media Force
The Facebook page of one of the most influential people in conservative media is unique in the United States of 2018. It makes absolutely no political statements. Instead it's covered with pictures of her smiling with her four children in and around a home just off one of the canals in Venice, California, that was once used as a location in Garry Marshall's 2010 romantic comedy Valentine's Day.
Michael Jackson as Memory and Commodity at Tribute in Wales,
They reappeared later to sing the Jackson 5’s “Blame It on the Boogie,” bringing the crowd to its feet with a rendition that recalled their brother’s phrasing and tone.
As publishers pump out repetitive content, quality reporting suffers
It’s an instructive exercise to think of the news media as a friend who tells you things. In the years before 2007—before smartphones and social media—she or he showed up once or twice a day, and declared with great seriousness and certainty what she or he thought the most important stories of the last 24 hours were. In 2018 she or he has become a constant chorus.
After Riots, British Ask ‘Why,’ but Find No Clear Answers
An aspiring social worker, Natasha Reid, 24, turned herself in after stealing a $500 television. Nicolas Robinson, a young engineering student who had never been in trouble with the law, grabbed bottles of water because, his lawyer said, he was thirsty. The 11-year-old, the youngest looter arrested, stole a trash can. At several of the riots last week, those perpetrating the violence had no ready explanation for their behavior.
New Challenge to James Murdoch in Phone Hacking Case
LONDON — Rupert Murdoch’s son James received and responded to e-mail messages in 2008 that referred to “a nightmare scenario” of legal repercussions from widespread phone hacking at the tabloid The News of the World, a chain of e-mail messages and replies released Tuesday by a British parliamentary panel shows. It is the first documentation that Mr. Murdoch had been notified of a wider hacking problem long before he has admitted.
When Trump goes global
The hope of the Arab Spring has been realized: Now that anyone can publish anything from anywhere, it is impossible for even the most determined despot to jail every journalist and critic. But even as the most ruthless dictators are realizing the world has changed, they are quickly learning a new method for dismissing dissent and turning the guerrilla media techniques back on the guerrillas. Their instructor: Donald J. Trump, president of the United States.
Google Provided WikiLeaks Staff Emails to FBI in 2012
This story, plus the BBC launches a platform for experimental and interactive projects, Michael Bloomberg reorganizes the newsroom of his media company, and Facebook enables users to flag false stories, all in today’s headlines.
The New York Times
The board changes appear to signal a significant gesture by the Murdochs, a step back from the family’s personal oversight of the newspaper properties in Britain that were the foundation for Rupert Murdoch’s emergence as an international media tycoon, after making his start as a newspaper proprietor in Australia. From Britain, Rupert Murdoch, now 80, moved his headquarters to the United States and vastly expanded his empire into film, television and other holdings.
British M.P. Is Questioned in Rape Inquiry
A senior lawmaker from Britain’s ruling Conservative Party was arrested and questioned by the police on Saturday over allegations of rape and sexual assault involving two men, according to a person familiar with the investigation. The police did not release the suspect’s name or job, describing him only as a 55-year-old man from Pendleton, a town in northern England.
Assange, Back in News, Never Left U.S. Radar
But the United States government had not forgotten about him. Interviews with government agents, prosecutors and others familiar with the WikiLeaks investigation, as well as an examination of court documents, suggest that Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks are being investigated by several government agencies, along with a grand jury that has subpoenaed witnesses. Tens of thousands of pages of evidence have been gathered.
O'Keefe and Breitbart ACORN Videos 'Severely Edited'
The right-wing zealots were forced to release their unedited ACORN pimp tapes to California Attorney General Jerry Brown. Brown found that O'Keefe had never claimed to be a pimp, and that the editing was creative to the point of dishonesty. He's not the first to find similar nefarious-ness behind the ACORN tapes.
WikiLeaks Releasing Trove of Syria Documents
It was not immediately possible to independently authenticate the e-mails, or establish whether the release was related to an earlier leak of internal communications involving Mr. Assad published by the Guardian newspaper. Messages to WikiLeaks representatives seeking further information were not immediately returned. The WikiLeaks statement said the e-mails, totaling 2,434,899, are written in Arabic, Russian and English.
Playboy will no longer run shots of nude women in its pages
Last month, Cory Jones, a top editor at Playboy, went to see its founder, Hugh Hefner, at the Playboy Mansion. In a wood-paneled dining room, with Picasso and de Kooning prints on the walls, Jones nervously presented a radical suggestion: THE magazine, a pioneer of the revolution that helped take sex in America from furtive to ubiquitous, should stop publishing images of naked women. Hefner, 89, but still listed as editor-in-chief, agreed.
Newspaper guild offers to buy Philadelphia Daily News
This story, plus two Florida papers combine resources to investigate conditions at state mental hospitals, how paywall journalism limits the public’s access to government information and more, all in today’s news.
Panel in Hacking Case Finds Murdoch Unfit as News Titan
LONDON — A damning report on the hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers concluding that Mr. Murdoch is “not a fit person” to run a huge international company has convulsed Britain’s political and media worlds and threatened a core asset of Mr. Murdoch’s American-based News Corporation. The parliamentary report, issued Tuesday, found that three senior Murdoch executives misled Parliament in testimony.
A Fake Interview With Ukraine’s ‘President’ Points to Deeper Intrigue (Published 2016)
President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine, left, at a ceremony in January that honored people killed in the 1918 Battle of Kiev.
Mashable Announces Personnel Shifts and Job Cuts
The news website Mashable announced sweeping changes to its operations on Thursday, replacing its executive editor, Jim Roberts, and its chief revenue officer, Seth Rogin, and making a round of job cuts.
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