Sweatin’ With the Oldie by Bryan Curtis

The unstoppable Richard Simmons

First Australians by Michael Finkel

Aboriginals had the continent to themselves for 50,000 years. Today they make up less than 3 percent of the population, and their traditional lifestyle is disappearing. Almost. In the homelands the ancient ways live on.

The Lethality of Loneliness by Judith Shulevitz

We now know how it can ravage our body and brain

Some of My Best Friends Are Germs by Michael Pollan

Drugstore Cowboy by Jake Pearson

Meet the career con man who made a fortune selling illegal pharmaceuticals online—and pulled off a federal sting that forced Google to pay $500 million.

Max Headroom and the Strange World of Pseudo-CGI by Neil Emmett

James Franco’s Impressions of ‘Gatsby’ by James Franco

Surf Fiction: The Evasive Wave by Tetsuhiko Endo

Surfing is awash with staggering stories of waves conquered and heroes made, but where are all the great surf books? Tetsuhiko Endo trawls through waveriding’s slim literary canon and finds a world that lies beyond words.

The Persistent Cult of Arrested Development by Will Leitch

Also, check the trailer for Season 4 of Arrested Development after the jump

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I Don’t Know Much About Music in New York by Gary Panter

*it’s a comic

The Luckiest Village in the World by Michael Paterniti

It was a tiny town of farmers, a village where everyone knew everyone and nearly all struggled to make ends meet. But then, a few days before Christmas, they won the largest lottery in the history of Spain. The entire town. All of them. (Well, almost all of them.) Instantly, Sodeto became known as the luckiest place on earth. Michael Paterniti visits the town that fortune smiled upon and finds that the people there—now flush—are still uncertain of just how lucky they really are

The Day That Punk Died Again by Sasha Frere-Jones

The Age of Jeff Koons by Carl Swanson

Jeff Koons is the closest thing to a household art-world name since Warhol, and he’s about to be fêted with shows all over New York. But in the art world itself, he can’t get any respect.

Basquiat: The Show Must Go On by Glenn O’Brien

I met Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1979 when he was 19 years old. I had been curious about SAMO©, whose rude and amusing graffiti had recently popped up around downtown Manhattan. People who made graffiti were then referred to as writers, but SAMO© was the first one who actually wrote more than a name. He was a poet and a provocateur, writing cryptic messages marking himself as a sort of a metacritical institution. Kilroy was here…and then there was Samo. If this was graffiti at all, it was something quite different. Graffiti had been almost a sport, a way for young urbanites to publicize their existence in a world of corporate logos by marking out territory, a practice so primal that a dog would understand.

*not printable

Legends Never Die by Caroline Rothstein

Two decades after a low-budget film turned Washington Square skaters into international celebrities, the kids from “Kids” struggle with lost lives, distant friendships, and the fine art of growing up.

photo by Gunars Elmuts

Apex Predator by Brian Lam

Can a crew of scientists and volunteers armed with homemade trackers save sharks from extinction?

Out in the Great Alone by Brian Phillips

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race pushes participants to the brink on an unforgiving trek to the end of the world. And, as one writer who tracked the race by air discovers, that is exactly the point.

*not printable

Smoke Without Fire by Benjamin Wallace

A little company called NJOY thinks it has finally designed an electronic cigarette that doesn’t look ridiculous. But would James Dean have smoked one?

I Love Winnie Cooper by Mike Spies

Also good: this failed tumblr Eat Shit, Winnie Cooper