Tom Wolfe:
An intellectual is a person who is knowledgeable in one field but speaks out only in others.
February 13, 2011
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Bag It is a film that focuses on plastic as it relates to our society’s throwaway mentality, our culture of convenience, our over consumption of unnecessary, disposable products and packaging—things that we use one time and then, without another thought, throw them away. Where is AWAY?? Away is over flowing landfills, clogged rivers, islands of trash in our oceans, and even our very own toxic bodies. Jeb travels the globe on a fact-finding mission—not realizing that after his simple resolution, plastic will never look the same again!
(Source: vimeo.com, via librarysciences)
February 10, 2011
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"For every action there is an equal and opposite government program"
- Bob Wells. (via travors)
January 21, 2011
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"Marketers exploit the focusing illusion. When people are induced to believe that they “must have” a good, they greatly exaggerate the difference that the good will make to the quality of their life. The focusing illusion is greater for some goods than for others, depending on the extent to which the goods attract continued attention over time. The focusing illusion is likely to be more significant for leather car seats than for books on tape.
- Daniel Kahneman rseponding to the question “WHAT SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT WOULD IMPROVE EVERYBODY’S COGNITIVE TOOLKIT?” at Edge."
January 20, 2011
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shopping
Results of this weekend’s shopping spree:
- Shirts that fit except for cuffs that are 1/3 too large. What the…?
- Shoes that fit except they are about 1/4” too long and my feet are sloshing around.
- A coat that is bigger than my old coat and makes me look like a stovepipe and sleeves that are 1/2” too long.
I need adult supervision.
January 19, 2011
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Travors.com: Today
Got out of bed a little late, had trouble getting to sleep but the lie-in meant I was well rested. Today is the day I go in to my employer for a meeting during which I will be officially laid off.
I shaved my head and took a long shower. I exfoliated (honestly) and moisturised my face. Deodorant….
Hang in there!
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Don Juan on the immodest proposal
From my Dad:
Hi Josh, Here is a section of Man and Superman which puts the old philosophy of marriage into succinct perspective:
DON JUAN. I learnt it by experience. When I was on earth, and made those proposals to ladies which, though universally condemned, have made me so interesting a hero of legend, I was not infrequently met in some such way as this. The lady would say that she would countenance my advances, provided they were honorable. On inquiring what that proviso meant, I found that it meant that I proposed to get possession of her property if she had any, or to undertake her support for life if she had not; that I desired her continual companionship, counsel and conversation to the end of my days, and would bind myself under penalties to be always enraptured by them; and, above all, that I would turn my back on all other women for ever for her sake. I did not object to these conditions because they were exorbitant and inhuman: it was their extraordinary irrelevance that prostrated me. I invariably replied with perfect frankness that I had never dreamt of any of these things; that unless the lady’s character and intellect were equal or superior to my own, her conversation must degrade and her counsel mislead me; tha t her constant companionship might, for all I knew, become intolerably tedious to me; that I could not answer for my feelings for a week in advance, much less to the end of my life; that to cut me off from all natural and unconstrained relations with the rest of my fellow creatures would narrow and warp me if I submitted to it, and, if not, would bring me under the curse of clandestinity; that, finally, my proposals to her were wholly unconnected with any of these matters, and were the outcome of a perfectly simple impulse of my manhood towards her womanhood.”
Perhaps he has it right. You know, reading the play, I wonder how the characters could ever learn their extensive lines.
January 16, 2011
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Missing the Musée d’Orsay
Going through old notes, I’ve found a list of my favorites from the Musée d’Orsay. The list also inspired me to google my French ex girlfriend to discover that she is, as of December 23, engaged to be married. This is bittersweet. The relationship was transatlantic and so meshed with Paris that it is hard to separate my feelings for her with my feelings for the city. I may need to find another French girl to marry or I will never slay the confusion.
These notes are for myself or for you.
- Aurore by Denys Puech. A sculpture of the goddess of dawn. Playful and inspiring.
- The landscapes of Alfred Sisley, including Snow at Louveciennes.
- Raboteurs de parquets by Paul Cezanne.
- Vue de toits, effet de neige by Gustave Caillebotte.
- The photos of Roger Fenton.
- The work of Felix Vallotton. Idiot that I am, my notes from the museum ask if Vallotton had been influenced by Edward Hopper. It was Hopper who was influenced (I think this is too weak a word) by Vallotton. It is interesting that Hopper won the fame game when the works are so similar in their portrayals of loneliness and boredom.
- Espirit de la nuit (“The spirit of the night”) by Sir Alfred Drury.
- Les docks de cardiff by Lionel Walden. Stunning realism applied to a train in the night—even in grit one of the most romantic visual metaphors of the industrial era.
- La neige by Charles Francois Daubigny.
Incidentally, the museum web site has an absolutely awesome search engine.
January 15, 2011
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Mike Hudack: Read This Blog
A guy I’ve had the opportunity to meet over the last few months is Matt Danzico. (For the record: he’s the guy who wrote the BBC article on the Cult of Less.) But Matt is much more than just a journalist. He likes to start little projects himself.
He’s started a new project…
(via mikehudack)
January 8, 2011
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The real-life location of Zoltar from Big is now occupied by a Pepsi machine (Via scoutingny)
