The editors' blog

DUPED INTO A FANCY DONUT

I wouldn't have noticed the place except for the buses idling permanently outside. Doughnut Plant is a tiny storefront on Grand Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side, unremarkable except for a sandwich-board advertising the day's donuts in brightly coloured chalk. The store is open from 6:30am until the donuts sell out, usually some time in the early evening.

BEING SOLD CLANCY MARTIN

The gleaming metallic book jacket for “How to Sell”, Clancy Martin’s debut novel, boasts many things. First, it indicates that Martin spent years in the fine jewellery business, lending credence to the dirt he dishes on the industry.

NORWAY'S BIZARRE TEENAGE RITE OF PASSAGE

In Oslo recently I saw several odd buses barrelling down the streets. There was a rickety black one with the phrase "The Beginning of the End" painted on its side; a pink bus with frosted windows and pulsing music; and a more demure blue bus peppered with corporate labels.

AUSTRALIA'S CRICKET TEAM: NOT SO DOMINANT AFTER ALL

In the summer issue of Intelligent Life I argued that the Australian cricket team--seemingly so dominant--may face medium-term decline They have since bombed out of the Twenty20 World Cup. Can I claim to have been prescient?

IGGY POP'S AMBIENT, LITERARY JAZZ ALBUM

Iggy Pop, the gravelly godfather of punk rock, has mellowed since his howling heyday in the 1970s. But his latest album, Les Préliminaires, would seem almost inconceivable to fans of the smack-addled screamer's early work with The Stooges.

BIG TOP BRITNEY

Hours before a recent "The Circus: Starring Britney Spears" performance at London’s enormous O2 Arena, a friend called to say he had an extra ticket to the show; mine if I wanted it. "Yes" bounded from my mouth before he had finished his sentence. Two hours later, we found ourselves 20 feet away from Miss Spears and her circus-themed entourage of mohawked clowns, buff acrobats, sexy dancers and midgets.

YOU GET THE TRAINS YOU DESERVE

Matthew Engel’s distinguished career in journalism, mainly with the Guardian, includes some fine accounts of train journeys, one of them on an early Eurostar. He has now written a book about British rail which is both paean and polemic. Engel’s chats with fellow passengers have much to say about the national psyche.

NEW YORK'S ELEVATED PARK

The newest addition to the New York City Parks Department’s stable of over 1,700 parks was unveiled on June 8th. The High Line, a former industrial elevated train track, is now a lush, 4.78-acre public park on Manhattan’s West Side, from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking district to West 20th Street in Chelsea, between 10th and 11th Avenues.

TALKING ABOUT FILMS, ONLINE

Last month a friend turned me on to a recently launched website called TheAuteurs.com. It defines itself as:

1. An online cinema house where you discover, watch and discuss film.

CELEBRATING ALVIN AILEY

Alvin Ailey's story is remarkable. Born to a single 17-year-old mother in segregated Texas during the Depression, he went on to found one of the most successful modern dance troupes of all time. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has been very busy celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the company, which Ailey founded in New York in 1958.