A L S O_ T O D A Y

The Dark Hotel
Creaking bedsprings in Room 13

T A B L E_ T A L K

Which are the great universities? Make your list and defend it in the Education area of Table Talk

R E C E N T L Y

Recommendation wars
By Tyler Thoreson
While students increasingly sue professors for less-than-gushing letters of recommendation, professors are subtly crafting their criticism in calculated ambiguities
(09/22/98)

Confessions of Harper's serf
By Marc Herman
The secrets learned from a Harper's internship
(09/23/98)

From screaming babies to screaming college students
By Camille Paglia
"The Nurture Assumption": A rambling, anecdotal memoir
(09/23/98)

Ufology
By Christina Valhouli
Aliens invade the ivory tower
(09/22/98)

Sacred rites of an acid house
By Isaac Zaur
Beyond the bad food and the bad poetry, a tribe of students seek life's mysteries in a collective hallucination
(09/21/98)

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From Entertainment
You don't know Dick
Andy Dick, the unpredictable co-star of "NewsRadio," talks about the deaths of his colleagues Phil Hartman and Chris Farley and why he thinks it should have been him. By Harriette Surovell.

From Books
Pornography of despair
"Killer pulses" from a 9.1 earthquake, wildfires, space invaders, survivalist hordes, megalomaniac dirigible pilots, hypertrophied crabgrass and man-eating mountain lions -- by the end of Mike Davis' "Ecology of Fear," a 484-page catalog of real and fictional Los Angeles apocalypses, it's tempting to join New York magazine critic Walter Kirn in dismissing the book as a "biblical trumpet call" from a "slightly crackpot" historian who has Jeremiah too much on his mind. By D.J. Waldie.

From Entertainment
The Shadow sheds light
Josh Davis, aka DJ Shadow, goes on the record about the evolution of hip-hop and his latest project, "Psyence Fiction," the debut album from UNKLE. By Adam Heimlich.

From Wanderlust
The cheapest air ticket around
Couriers fly halfway around the world at half (or less) the normal price. All it takes is a little flexibility, persistence and willingness to fly on one of the most restricted tickets in the market. And this is an especially good time to try the courier route: Veteran couriers say the cheapest tickets of all are available in September, October, January and February. By Dawn MacKeen.

From Sharps and Flats
Music reviews

Hootie and the Blowfish, "Musical Chairs"
All-midtempo OK country-rock from a South Carolina bar band that is maturing, albeit slightly. Reviewed by Mark Athitakis.

Cat Power, "Moon Pix"
Songs so slow, spare and understated that they seem to be coming from some Southern Gothic music box. By Michelle Goldberg.

Marilyn Manson, "Mechanical Animals"
Manson is softening up, turning away from his dour preoccupation with religious fascism and toward space-age genderfuck chic. By Annalee Newitz.

Various artists, "Treasures Left Behind: Remembering Kate Wolf"
Lucinda Williams and Nanci Griffith are among those lending their considerable talents to the interpretations of Wolf's touching, deceptively simple songs. By Joe Heim.

John Cale and various artists, "Somewhere in the City" (Original Soundtrack)
This piano and cello-dominated score is stark in effect but warm in mood. By Andrew Hamlin.
SALON | Sept. 25, 1998