Brijit Index for 31 Dec 2007

The Brijit Index is a weekly report on the most popular print, broadcast and online features from www.brijit.com, culled from 100 of the world’s best and most trusted sources. The Brijit Index reflects the choices of Brijit’s growing community of smart readers and writers, and spotlights the most popular pieces from the past seven days. We’ve doubled up this week due to the holidays; this Brijit Index covers the past 14 days:

1 Dickheads of the Year by Bill Maher, Rolling Stone, 27 Dec 2007 / 10 January 2008 — Not your average year-in-review, Maher offers up his picks, and readers left of the political center will find it hilarious. PETA’s public enemy number one, Michael Vick holds the dubious distinction of topping the list, and Blackwater CEO Erik Prince is not far behind. Group award-winners include College Republicans, for being “doughy losers who, at age twenty, care more about tax cuts than girls,” and the “twenty-five percent of America who would not desert George Bush if he ran over Dakota Fanning with his pickup truck.”

2 The Worst Films of 2007, A.V. Club, 18 Dec 2007 — Obvious candidates (Daddy Day Camp, Norbit) mixed with high-falutin’ failures (Lion for Lambs, Elizabeth: The Golden Age). Of course it’s easier to pan than praise, and the writers get are loaded for bear, describing the directors of Epic Movie as “cancerous boils on the face of comedy.” Some of the descriptions are so deliciously derisive, you even might be enticed to give bombs such as Dane Cook’s Good Luck Chuck a second look.

3 A Bible, but No Email by Richard Stengel & Adi Ignatius, Time, 31 Dec 2007 — Vladimir Putin is Time’s Person of the Year, and this conversation with the Russian leader is fascinating. Putin openly discusses geopolitics, his view of US failures in Iraq, his KGB training, and American misconceptions about Russians. He’s cagier when it comes to corruption, the murders of journalists, and the jailing of former chess champion Garry Kasparov.

4 Little-Known Mafia Is Cocaine ‘King’ by Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 27 Dec 2007

5 Sock It to Me: Competitive Knitters Get Deadly Serious by Kevin Delaney, The Washington Post, 17 Dec 2007

6 Escape From Jonestown by Gary Smith, Sports Illustrated, 31 Dec 2007

7 A Buyer’s Christmas by James Surowiecki, The New Yorker, 24 & 31 Dec 2007

8 J.K. Rowling by Nancy Gibbs, Time, 31 Dec 2007

9 The Year in Food 2007, Chow, 21 Dec 2007

10 Best of Ads, Worst of Ads by Suzanne Vranica, The Wall Street Journal, 27 Dec 2007

Brijit Index for 18 Dec 2007

The Brijit Index is a weekly report on the most popular print, broadcast and online features from www.brijit.com, culled from 100 of the world’s best and most trusted sources. The Brijit Index reflects the choices of Brijit’s growing community of smart readers and writers, and spotlights the most popular pieces from the past seven days.

1 Journey Into Night by David Sedaris, The New Yorker, 17 Dec 2007 — Sedaris recounts a recent transatlantic flight in “Business Elite Class,” where he wrestles with his discomfort over his privilege, panics over how to deal with a seatmate mourning the loss of his mother, and finally summons the courage to ask for more ice cream. Musings, memories, pangs of nostalgia, and some of the most poignant flatulence humor to ever grace the pages of The New Yorker.

2 Let It Die: 23 Songs That Should Never Be Covered Again, A.V. Club, 10 Dec 2007 — Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but does anyone need to hear another American Idol contestant belting out Respect? That question, among others, is pondered by the snarky authors, who share 23 abused rock, R&B, and country tracks that should enter retirement, barring seriously novel interpretation.

3 Everyone’s Poop by Nate Blakeslee, Texas Monthly, December 2007 — This scatological feature has more to offer than just a catchy title. Blakeslee takes on the role of sewage anthropologist for a day as he rides along with one of Austin Water Utility’s team as it performs a pipeline “colonoscopy,” relieving a woman of two rooms full of waste. Refreshingly informative and not at all vulgar.

4 Marrying for Love … of Money by Robert Frank, The Wall Street Journal, 14 Dec 2007

5 Busting Out by Sarah Hepola, Salon, 10 Dec 2007

6 Waropoly: How History’s Most Popular Board Game Helped Defend the Free World by Brian McMahon, Mental Floss, November/December 2007

7 NFL Meteorologists Warn Steaming Black-Guy Heads Occurring Later Every Year, The Onion, 6 Dec 2007

8 Bless This Bottled Water by Lisa Miller, Newsweek, 17 Dec 2007

9 A Tale of Two Giulianis by Michael Shnayerson, Vanity Fair, January 2008

10 The Huckabee Factor by Zev Chafets, The New York Times Magazine, 12 Dec 2007

Brijit Index for 11 Dec 2007

The Brijit Index is a weekly report on the most popular print, broadcast and online features from www.brijit.com, culled from 100 of the world’s best and most trusted sources. The Brijit Index reflects the choices of Brijit’s growing community of smart readers and writers, and spotlights the most popular pieces from the past seven days.

1 How America Lost the War on Drugs by Ben Wallis-Wells, Rolling Stone, 13 Dec 2007 — A long, hard chronicle of the US government’s ailing war on drugs, from the battlefields of Vietnam to today’s Iraq-style mess of face-saving politics, where “victory seems not only unattainable but somehow beside the point.” Extensive, detailed, and eminently level-headed.

2 Edge of Reason by David Fleming, ESPN the Magazine, 3 Dec 2007 — Dropping from the top slot in last week’s Brijit Index, we learn how the Tennessee Titans take risks other teams are scared to, starting with drafting star quarterback Vince Young and continuing with coach Jeff Fisher’s nothing-to-lose play-calling. Altogether, this package will help you see an entirely new dimension of America’s Sunday obsession.

3 Understanding Geeks by Adam Bluestein, Inc., December 2007 — Don’t know how to talk to the in-house geek squad? Don’t understand their obsession with Star Wars? Bluestein offers a humorous guide to managing, befriending, and understanding the company techies. Respect, reverence, and shiny gadgets should keep things ticking along, but never, ever touch their stuff.

4 Making Relationships Work by John M. Gottman, Harvard Business Review, December 2007

5 The Kindness of Strangers by Robin Fox, Harper’s, November 2007

6 The Littlest Hustler by Geoffrey Gray, New York, 10 Dec 2007

7 Shadowy Path May Lead to Treasure by Kim Christensen, Los Angeles Times, 5 Dec 2007

8 Stanford Mystery: Who’s the Old Guy in the White Nikes? by Nicholas Casey, The Wall Street Journal, 3 Dec 2007

9 Calling Evel Knievel by Joshua Seftel, Salon, 5 Dec 2007

10 What Every Leader Needs to Know About Followers by Barbara Kellerman, Harvard Business Review, December 2007

Brijit Index for 4 Dec 2007

The Brijit Index is a weekly report on the most popular print, broadcast and online features from www.brijit.com, culled from more than 75 of the world’s best and most trusted sources. The Brijit Index reflects the choices of Brijit’s growing community of smart readers and writers, and spotlights the most popular pieces from the past seven days.

1 Edge of Reason by David Fleming, ESPN the Magazine, 3 Dec 2007 — The Tennessee Titans take risks other teams are scared to, starting with drafting star quarterback Vince Young and continuing with coach Jeff Fisher’s nothing-to-lose play-calling. Altogether, this package will help you see an entirely new dimension of America’s Sunday obsession.

2 Chairlifts Are for Sissies by Josh Dean, The New York Times Magazine, 27 Oct 2007 — In the Brijit Index for the third consecutive week, this piece focuses on the sport of heliboarding, in which snowboarders can explore entire mountain ranges via helicopter. Dean details his first experience in the snowy realm and inspires confidence as his initial apprehension fades and he rides with relative ease and comfort.

3 Marseille’s Ethnic Bouillabaisse by Andrew Purvis, Smithsonian, December 2007 — From civic cooperation to unemployment-reducing tax incentives to soccer worship, Purvis catalogs how this historic city, with its mix of Muslims, Jews and Christians, could be a model for an expanding Europe. It’s a natural narrative about this diverse and surprisingly peaceful city.

4 My Favorite Nut Job by Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone, 29 Nov 2007

5 Primer: The Coen Brothers, A.V. Club, 30 Nov 2007

6 The Kindness of Strangers by Robin Fox, Harper’s, November 2007

7 23AndMe Will Decode Your DNA for $1,000. Welcome to the Age of Genomics by Thomas Goetz, Wired, December 2007

8 On These Planes, In-Flight Service Is Super-Secret by Susan Carey, The Wall Street Journal, 28 Nov 2007

9 Darwin’s Surprise by Michael Specter, The New Yorker, 3 Dec 2007

10 What Every Leader Needs to Know About Followers by Barbara Kellerman, Harvard Business Review, December 2007

Brijit Index for 27 Nov 2007

More soon as we get this blog ramped up, but for now, here’s this week’s Brijit Index.

1 The Amazing Albatrosses by Kennedy Warne, Smithsonian, September 2007 — Warne reports on these magnificent animals and the threats to their survival, and profiles members of the scientific community who are studying the birds, and the difficulty of studying a species that literally travels around the world.

2 America’s Water War by Tom Englehardt, Salon, 19 Nov 2007 — What if we run out of water? Engelhardt suggests that the government and media largely have ignored the issue, and he warns of a potential era of resource wars. His thorough research fleshes out this urgent, underreported aspect of climate change.

3 We’ll Still Respect You in the Morning, A.V. Club, 19 Nov 2007 — This piece chronicles movie stars who aren’t afraid to put it out there in the name of art. With comments selected from the Celebrity Nudity Database (think IMDB for skin), the actors are rated not so much for physical appearance and appeal as they are for their ballsiness, so to speak.

4 Bethlehem 2007 AD by Michael Finkel, National Geographic, December 2007

5 Master of the Killer Ants, Nova, 20 Nov 2007

6 Butcher’s Method Takes Carving Off the Table by Julia Moskin, The New York Times, 21 Nov 2007

7 Chairlifts Are for Sissies by Josh Dean, The New York Times Magazine, 27 Oct 2007

8 Naughty or Nice by Calvin Tompkins, The New Yorker, 19 Nov 2007

9 Good-bye to All That by Corey Seymour, Men’s Vogue, December 2007

10 Making Carbon Markets Work by Victor & Cullenward, Scientific American, December 2007

Brijit Index for 15 Nov 2007

We introduced the Brijit Index before we actually launched this blog. The Brijit Index is a weekly report on the most popular print, broadcast and online features from http://www.brijit.com, culled from more than 75 of the world’s best and most trusted sources.

The Brijit Index reflects the choices of Brijit’s growing community of smart readers and writers, and spotlights the most popular pieces from the past seven days. We believe the Brijit Index will serve as a unique indicator of the issues, ideas, and stories capturing the imagination of a particularly well-read and well-informed community. This weekly report also reinforces the benefits Brijit delivers – for busy people who appreciate quality journalism, for the writers who review these pieces, and for the content producers who want to extend their reach to new and larger audiences online.

1 What Teen Girls Are Made Of by Carey Dunne et al, Salon, 7 Nov 2007 — Salon excerpts four pieces from Red, a new anthology of short stories and essays written entirely by teenage girls. While the title could indicate a stream of boo-hoo MySpace rants and “LOL”s, what follows is a series of universal accounts related with funny, morbid, and even obsessive inner monologue.

2 Lost in Translation: 20 Good Books Made Into Not-So-Good Movies, A.V. Club, 5 Nov 2007 — Hundreds of titles could adorn this list of page-to-screen flops, and the A.V. Club falters in undertaking such a daunting task. They include some legendary duds, but the misses outweigh the hits. For example, The Grinch makes the cut instead of the more repulsive Cat in the Hat.

3 Chairlifts Are for Sissies by Josh Dean, The New York Times Magazine, 28 Oct 2007 — This article focuses on the sport of heliboarding, in which snowboarders can explore entire mountain ranges via helicopter. Dean details his first experience in the snowy realm and inspires confidence as his initial apprehension fades and he rides with relative ease and comfort.

4 Waterboarding Is Not Simulated Drowning — It Is Drowning by Malcolm Nance, Salon, 9 Nov 2007

5 Unconventional Crude by Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 12 Nov 2007

6 5 Myths About Art, Age and Genius by David Galenson, The Washington Post ‘Outlook’, 11 Nov 2007

7 If You Film It…: 21 Good Books That Need to be Great Films, Like Now, A.V. Club, 7 Nov 2007

8 Battle Of The Bushes by Craig Unger, Salon, 7 Nov 2007

9 The New Financial Heavyweights by Jack Ewing, BusinessWeek, 12 Nov 2007

10 10 Questions for Anthony Bourdain by Nathan Thornburgh, Time, 12 Nov 2007