Possessed: Smitten With a Plain Jane
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Rob Pruitt's new paintings and sculpture opened last week at Gavin BrownÂs Enterprise.
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Tycho:  Gabriel and Kara are thinking about moving, but only one of them is approaching things with the correct amount of dread.  It is almost impossible to find a home these days which is not some unholy conduit - a winking anus of evil that acts as a revolving door for hell's starveling dead.  But a hollowed-out ghoul in shredded wedding gown doesn't need to be a dealbreaker.  Don't let a sundered soul turn your dream home into a nightmare charnel house!
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Comment is free: AgnÃ¨s Poirier: In the country of romance, a website is making sex and adultery as easy as buying a croissant.
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"Addickted: 12 Steps to Kicking Your Bad Boy Habit" by Kristina Grish (Polka Dot Press, $14.95 paper)  This lighter-than-air dating guide aims to wean women who can't get enough of men who treat them badly and guide them into relationships with nice guys.
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Western knockoffs and Islamic bling: Debunking some popular stereotypes of life in Iran.
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Tycho:  Despite what the Mr. Period comics might imply, I think of grammar as somewhat tyrannical, and believe that an obsession with the mechanical perfection of language is at odds with actual communication.  At the same time, I know (generally) how things should be arranged, and so non-standard uses deliver naughty thrills.  There are floating syllables in the recent Twisp & Catsby thing that can only be resolved by a very specific reading, and they project from the phrases in a suggestive way.  I even like trade names:  words that evoke fierce, yet sensitive gladiators or spry androids.
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Dating, negotiating, fragging and making money.  Play and its consequences.
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Suzy Welch, a former editor of the Harvard Business Review and the wife of John F. Welch Jr., the former chief executive of General Electric, has agreed to sell the rights to her book â10-10-10â to Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. A person involved in the negotiations said that Scribner paid Ms. Welch a price in the seven figures for world and audio rights to the book. Based on an article Ms. Welch wrote for O, the Oprah Magazine, in 2006, the book offers strategies for making decisions in which people think about what the consequences of a decision will be in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years. Robert Barnett, a Washington lawyer, negotiated the deal on behalf of Ms. Welch. Nan Graham, editor in chief of Scribner, will edit the book with Samantha Martin. Ms. Welch, who wrote the best-selling âWinningâ with Mr. Welch, said she originally thought there wasnât a book beyond the article. But, she said, âI began to encounter this hunger for people who were using it to play out its nuances.â She said the book would include examples from her own life as well as others she has observed using the â10-10-10â process. Susan Moldow, publisher of Scribner, said that although Ms. Welchâs article might seem sufficient for those who wanted to know about the strategy, Ms. Moldow believed the book would sell well. âThe Scarsdale Diet fit on a Xerox-ed sheet that you could fit on the front of a refrigerator,â Ms. Moldow said. âAnd it sold millions and millions of copies. Itâs often true that when something strikes an immediate âAha!,â you really want to have time to meditate on it and try to get to know more about it.â.
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Tycho: Some of you have probably already heard it, since I put it up yesterday - but we're trying new hosting for the podcast, and I wanted to make sure everything made sense before I dropped it on the front page. The podcast is for Wednesday's strip, "The Ungift, Part Two." You can download it here, or subscribe to the feed here. The levels are a little crazy in a couple spots, for which I apologize. I think we've got those ironed out, now. (CW)TB
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A sleek home-media PC looks creamy delicious; a carry bag becomes a chair storing laptop; and more. By Brian Lam from Wired magazine.
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By Anonymous  Critical Thinking About Sex, Love and Romance in the Mass Media, Mary-Lou Galician and Debra L. Merskin, eds. Erlbaum, 2007,408 pp., $34.95.  Contributors to this fascinating book examine popular media's roles in perpetuating romantic fantasy and myth.
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It's amazing how easy it is to get lazy and comfortable and accept things as they seem to be instead of trying to see them as they are. That's true, I'm sorry to say, even for someone like me who urges eternal vigilance and makes a living writing about financial fiascos.
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Life & style: Once marriage was portrayed as 'legalised prostitution'. This week it was presented as a cure for society's problems. Which is true? Decca Aitkenhead reports.
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For men seeking true romance there is now a new mating game with an unusual twist -- it is virtual and mobile. A fantasy world in which lovesick men can wine and dine a virtual girlfriend
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New media conferences embrace sexuality's role in developing new applications. Here's a preview of what the sex-tech experts have to say for 2007. Commentary by Regina Lynn.
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Sex-positive institution Good Vibrations takes its blend of irreverence and sex ed to the web with a new video blog. In Sex Drive Daily.
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Famous podcaster Violet Blue tells how you can still use iTunes for your erotic audio show without violating the terms of service. In Sex Drive Daily.