Egyptian Justice: What to Do About the Mubaraks?

In the nearly three months since the revolution in Egypt, the popular imagination of the Arab world’s largest country has been gripped by a new obsession: how to mete justice to ex-President Hosni Mubarak and high-ranking members of his regime, including his two sons. Some Egyptians want clean, flat-out revenge, with punishments handed out and heads rolling.

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Is China’s Architectural Ambition Leaving Its Own Talent Behind?

These days, fanfare and trumpets typically accompany architects when they begin new projects in China — and with good reason. In recent years, China, along with a smattering of other regions including the Middle East and Russia, has become a global architectural frontier, with star architects like Rem Koolhaas, Paul Andreu and Norman Foster all leaving their mark on the nation’s rapidly expanding cities

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Raising the Game

Four years ago, when releases for other home consoles trended toward ever more elaborate graphics and cutthroat multiplayer game designs, Nintendo unleashed the cartoony avatars and easy-to-understand motion control of the Wii. Its user-friendliness managed to ensnare a new generation of gamers — i.e., parents and retirees — and make the Wii one of the best-selling game machines of all time.

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Sidney Lumet: Apostle of Streetwise Cinema

In the 76-year history of the New York Film Critics, only two moviemakers have been honored with life achievement awards: Jean-Luc Godard and Sidney Lumet. The French director is of course the prickly master of movie modernism, but Lumet was something Gotham critics could appreciate: the primary apostle of streetwise cinema, the torch-bearer of ground-glass realism and, for a half-century, the ultimate chronicler of New York City in all its agita and chutzpah.

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