Liars and Saints

An ambitious young tennis coach reads Dostoyevsky on the weekend. He--let's call him Jonathan--has a good deal on his mind. His client notes this. Some luck: The client is attached to an extraordinarily wealthy family. The client's father--let's call him Brian Cox--needs a new well-paid worker. Jonathan suddenly has a high-prestige job. Jonathan also has a girlfriend--Brian's daughter--who has a certain feigned meekness that can be wearying. Instead of proposing a tennis game, she feels the need to dance around the issue, until someone near her actually guesses her intentions and states them *for* her. But the meekness conceals a secret steeliness, and this will become clear, in time; let's call the meek character Emily Mortimer. A final twist: Jonathan, attached to Emily, actually finds that he prefers the company of his pseudo-sister-in-law, Scarlett. Because Scarlett is part of the family, she is continuously in Jonathan's orbit. Double-crossing e...

Do you hate your day job? Do the words "just checking" make you want to commit homicide? Or: "just reaching out" --? Or: "I am re-sending here the following information...." --? Or, perhaps: "There is no lesson plan but maybe you could cover and just do storytime..." --? I have a suggestion for you. The suggestion is Bonobos. Combat all of your anxiety, your depression, your rage, your helplessness at this small brick-and-mortar store on Court Street, in Brooklyn. Perhaps you will see Britain's Emily Mortimer, or even "Felicity"'s Keri Russell, as you shop. Drown your sense of existential helplessness, your questions about the possible futility of existence, in the contemplation of a seventy-dollar pair of swim trunks. Do you already own a pair of swim trunks? There's nothing wrong with having two. Particularly if one set has a fun festive striping pattern--a little gay, but not something that would make your frien...