Today’s Jewcy

The Jewcer:

The elementary hipsters: Michel Houllebecq and Sam Lipsyte: The civilized Believer exchange. Izzy: “Houllebecq (who is, for all his brattiness, is definitely a genius) has developed a reputation for outrageously bad behavior, so Lipsyte spends the trip on the edge of his seat, just waiting to witness some kinky sex or a provocative statement.” [Daily Shvitz]

The World

Gladwell jumps the shark, tips his point, whatever: The New York Observer interviews him, then filets: “At times, lately, Mr. Gladwell sounds like someone trying to tell other people about something he read once in a Malcolm Gladwell piece, after a few rounds of drinks.” [NYO]

Britney loses custody battle: To In Touch magazine: "’In Touch has displayed a concern for, and attention to, Sutton Pierce's health, welfare, development, and wardrobe that is sadly lacking in the child's biological mother,’ said a CDSS spokesman as the infant was dropped off at the magazine's reception desk.” [The Onion]

Lebanon still unsafe: Hundreds of thousands of cluster “bomblets” are strewn throughout the country: “United Nations officials estimate that southern Lebanon is littered with one million unexploded bomblets, far outnumbering the 650,000 people living in the region. They are stuck in the branches of olive trees and the broad leaves of banana trees. They are on rooftops, mixed in with rubble and littered across fields, farms, driveways, roads and outside schools.” [NYT]

Acquire the fire: I just can’t improve on that headline. Evangelical leaders worry that teenagers are going to grow up into godless sinners, so they’re having them renounce the fru-its of the de-vil now: “Trash cans filled with folded pieces of paper on which the teenagers had scribbled things like Ryan Seacrest, Louis Vuitton, ‘Gilmore Girls,’ ‘Days of Our Lives,’ Iron Maiden, Harry Potter, ‘need for a boyfriend’ and “my perfect teeth obsession.’ One had written in tiny letters: ‘fornication.’” [NYT]

Hudna, schmudna: Haniyeh collapses due to hunger (it’s Ramadan) but manages to get in a line about never recognizing Israel: “Cheered on by supporters, Haniyeh vowed that Hamas would never recognize Israel. He said, however, that the group was prepared to accept a long-term cease-fire with Israel if it withdrew to 1967 boundaries.” [J-Post]