News stories are not often places for poetry — filled, as they are, with facts and grafs and ledes and quotes, all arranged in pyramids. But that’s changed with the launch of “Times Haiku,” a project that turns The New York Times’ copy into splendid 15-word poems.
Subtitled “serendipitous poetry from The New York Times,” the blog’s launch comes concurrent with National Poetry Month. It’s powered by Jacob Harris’ algorithm, which he wrote “scans each sentence looking for potential haikus by using an electronic dictionary containing syllable counts.” Harris, a senior software architect at the Times, reversed-engineered the coding behind @horse_ebooks for his @nytimes_ebooks last year.
The new algorithm’s only requirement is numeric: Like classic haikus, its selections must contain five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five again in the third. “The nice thing about haikus is they’re very short, so they’ll fit inside a tweet,” Harris said.
Ed Falco’s highly anticipated The Family Corleone, a prequel to The Godfather based on Mario Puzo’s unproduced screenplay, promises to tell the story of Vito Corleone’s climb to become one of the most powerful crooks in New York. But as you count down the minutes until May 8 — when the Mafia novel makes its way to bookstores — we have a wacky exclusive trailer that will remind you why we get obsessed with chronicles about “the family business.” Face it: We’re making you an offer you can’t refuse.
Who knew such hilarity could be found in confectionery calamities? Blogger Jen Yates has an eye for botched cakes — her first book, Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong shot to the New York Times best-seller list, and her new holiday-themed edition, 
Hot guys and baby animals are both great, but something magical happens when you put them together. This winning combination — why didn’t I think of it? — dreamed up by Audrey Khuner and Carolyn Newman, has already inspired a calendar, and now it’s becoming a worldwide brand. Treat your eyes to eight photos from the new book, 
