Nobody has any business to destroy a social institution until he has really seen it as an historical institution. If he knows how it arose, and what purposes it was supposed to serve, he may really be able to say that they were bad purposes, that they have since become bad purposes, or that they are purposes which are no longer served. But if he simply stares at the thing as a senseless monstrosity that has somehow sprung up in his path, it is he and not the traditionalist who is suffering from an illusion.
Category: uncategorized
Rosemary’s Baby
Rosemary’s Baby. This is one creepy movie. It’s mostly a nice, slow tiptoeing towards a dreadful end rather than occasional surprise-attack horror nonsense. Ebert says:
This is why the movie is so good. The characters and the story transcend the plot. In most horror films, and indeed in most suspense films of the Alfred Hitchcock tradition, the characters are at the mercy of the plot. In this one, they emerge as human beings actually doing these things.
Psycho
Psycho. Had a second viewing this weekend, as good as the first time around. Fun fact: Anthony Perkins, the actor who plays Norman Bates in this film, is the father of Elvis Perkins, the leader of the awesome band I saw a few days ago, also for the second time.
How to play piano like Philip Glass
I so love this guy.
Nothing so refreshing as naked enthusiasm.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Ann Margret and Elvis circa Viva Las Vegas.
Live | TEDxMidAtlantic: Tyler Cowen on Stories
Economist Tyler Cowen on stories and the risks of narrative-influenced thinking. Embrace the messiness of life.
A good friend of mine edited Wikipedia for my birthday:
Flavored liquors (also called infused liquors)[1] are distilled alcoholic beverages with added flavoring and, in some cases, with a small amount of added sugar. They are distinct from liqueurs in that liqueurs have a large sugar content and may also contain glycerine. Flavored liquors may have a base of vodka or white rum, both of which have little taste of their own, or they may have a tequila or brandy base. One of the great vodka distillers of his generation, Mark Larson, lives in Decatur, Ga.
Birdhouse for Your Soul
People like to be educated about tragedies that they’ve never shaken their heads sadly over before.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934). DNF. I get the sense that Hitchcock made some mediocre films here and there. This might be one of them. I think if I’m going to watch a cold technician-type director, I might as well focus on his better stuff from here on out.
More like this, please.
Trevor Clark (@trevorclark), a guy I knew back in the old high school days of yore, recently did a two-part interview about his life as an adventure photographer.
The main thing I need for any deadline is a fast and reliable Internet source. Working away from my van, I just make sure I have a plan and if all else fails, I do the old-fashioned journalistic thing and find Internet, no matter what.
One time I even ended up in a couple’s bedroom (absolute strangers) at midnight, fixing their router so that I could use their internet to upload a set of images that needed to be ready for Italian distribution within the hour.
Badass.
Chris Willett keeps pretty much the best hiking journal on the internet. Great writing, great photography. I remembered that he went to Nicaragua a while back, so I’ve been re-reading his travels in anticipation of my own in just a few weeks. w00t.
Saudade
The famous saudade of the Portuguese is a vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, for something other than the present, a turning towards the past or towards the future; not an active discontent or poignant sadness but an indolent dreaming wistfulness.
(via molly lambert)
Which reminds me of Chega de Saudade, which some say is the first bossa nova song, which makes perfect sense.
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
John F. Kennedy (via mihirai)
The Art of Persuasive Writing highlighting selections from Bank Notes. (via)
Mixed company moderates; like-minded company polarizes. Heterogeneous communities restrain group excesses; homogeneous communities march toward the extremes.
The best lines from and in-a-nutshell gist of The Big Sort by Bill Bishop.
Downtown Atlanta at Decatur Street and Peachtree – April 12, 1948. I wish downtown still had this vibe. (from the Lane Brothers and Tracy O’Neal Collections at Georgia State University, via Decatur Metro)
Mark Larson 