December 2009
33 posts
3 tags
Now we must dismantle the tree....
Well, so that is that. Now we must dismantle the tree, Putting the decorations back into their cardboard boxes— Some have got broken—and carrying them up to the attic. The holly and the mistletoe must be taken down and burnt, And the children got ready for school. There are enough Left-overs to do, warmed-up, for the rest of the week— Not that we have much appetite, having drunk such a lot,...
The Stupid Kids of 1999
In January 2000, the world was conquerable. New York City was cleaner, crime was down, Disney was taking up half of Times Square and you could buy a pack of cigarettes for three bucks. There were jobs everywhere, and it felt like the city was an infinite playground. It was what brought me here. It’s what brought thousands of us. It’s difficult to comprehend now, and you probably won’t even believe...
The High Cost of Ignoring Beauty
And in Venice or Prague, in Bath, Oxford, or Lisbon, you come to see that there is all the difference in the world between aesthetic judgement treated as an expression of individual taste, and aesthetic judgement treated in the opposite way, as the expression of a community. Architecture clearly illustrates the social, environmental, economic, and aesthetic costs of ignoring beauty. We are being...
“Where you Stop for a Minute,” Cotton...
Some interesting statistics
Membership of the Roman Catholic Church: ~1,147,000,000
Population of all countries (and their territories) in the Western Hemisphere: ~918,000,000
The difference (229,000,000) is roughly the same as the population of Indonesia, the world’s fourth largest country.
Now compare to the current membership of The Episcopal Church: ~2,206,000.
(Data compiled from the websites of Georgetown...
WatchJason and I made a short film for the Nikon Festival.
Our eligibility for one of the awards is based on views, so if you enjoy it, perhaps you’ll send it along.
Update: Apparently it’s based on votes, and you cast votes by clicking on star rating you want to give the film.
Update 2: The Audience Award is based on voting—which you can do by clicking on a star rating at the...
1 tag
“If you’ve ever sat through a teaching seminar, you’ve probably heard a lecture...”
– Matching Teaching Style to Learning Style May Not Help Students - Teaching - The Chronicle of Higher Education. “I’m so glad someone is finally saying this. Many a teacher has been ruined by frantic attempts to change his or her teaching to match (largely imaginary) students’ ‘learning...
1 tag
REMEMBER TOMORROW:
Starting point for search: It no longer avails to start with creatures and prove God. Yet it is impossible to rule God out. The only possible starting point: the strange fact of one’s own invincible apathy—that if the proofs were proved and God presented himself, nothing would be changed. Here is the strangest fact of all. Abraham saw signs of God and believed. Now the only sign is that...
“Since he started his career as a prank-and-smear shock jock with a bad perm, one...”
– From Salon’s article on Glenn Beck, “The Year of Crazy.”
[via Matt]
Value of College Degree Now Negative →
Tumblr Update: Unless you don’t have a college degree, or do and are relatively smug about those who don’t have jobs, there’s no reason to “Like” this post. But I have a low tumblarity, so don’t listen to me.
Jackson Pollock.org →
Fun.
[Thanks, Dara]
The New York Times Ninth Annual Year in Ideas →
Sen. Orrin Hatch Expresses Love of Jews Through... →
[Via Dara and Matt]
"Please do not write to me again." →
The author Robert A. Heinlein’s letter which he sent in reply to ever letter he received
[via ayjay]
2 tags
“My fourth customer was Harry Truman. He came in and asked me, “Go outside and...”
– Tommy Rowles, who has been bartending at Bemelmans for 51 years.
Can My iPod Make This Airplane Explode? →
Gizmodo: “Listening to an iPod or reading a Kindle during takeoff isn’t dangerous. It’s time the airlines stopped pretending that it is.”
1 tag
New Poetry from former Stegner Fellow Brett Foster →
“Especially appealing to academics is the way Critical Theory makes the analysis...”
– Adam Kirsch in TNR
“Some films let you down; you must have been in love or heartbroken, you must...”
– David Gilmour in his book The Film Club
@ The New School—Evangelicalism and the... →
If anyone is going to this and wants to record it for me…or write something on it, I’d love you forever. (email me at David at Wunderkammermag dot com)
Dave Eggers on being a critic
There is a point in one’s life when one cares about selling out and not selling out. One worries whether or not wearing a certain shirt means that they are behind the curve or ahead of it, or that having certain music in one’s collection means that they are impressive, or unimpressive.
Thankfully, for some, this all passes. I am here to tell you that I have, a few years ago, found my way out of...
“This poem originally appeared in the November 1915 issue of Poetry.
THIS ISSUE...”
– Note accompanying Wallace Steven’s poem “Sunday Morning” on the Poetry Foundation’s website
