One of our favorite things about the Times is the totally Times-y voice that permeates the paper. With the exception of a handful of features, most every story is written in The Voice, which is always kind of blasé and unimpressed, even when the things being reported are really kind of weird. Such as this incident at the memorial for Norman Mailer at Carnegie Hall last night:

His son Stephen, an actor, offered to directly channel his father, stretching his arms up to the heavens and then dropping to the floor as if smacked by Mr. Mailer's stupendous forcefulness.

Children who offer to "channel" their dead parents at a funeral and then appear to have an out-of-body experience. Sure, happens all the time.

At Tribute, Mailer Children Recall a Family Man [NYT]