Excerpt from Jay-Z’s New Book ‘Decoded’: Cristal’s Diss of Hip-Hop – TIME

~ Mark

The same goes for other brands: Timberland and Courvoisier, Versace and Maybach. We gave those brands a narrative, which is one of the reasons anyone buys anything: not just to own a product, but to become part of a story. […] It wasn’t just a premium champagne anymore — it was a prop in an exciting story, a portal into a whole world. Just by drinking it, we infused their product with our story, an ingredient that they could never bottle on their own.

Excerpt from Jay-Z’s New Book ‘Decoded’: Cristal’s Diss of Hip-Hop – TIME

~ Mark

Hang around people who are better than you all the time. You do pick up the behavior of people who are around you. It will make you a better person. Marry upward. That is the person who is going to have the biggest effect on you. A relationship like that over the decades will do nothing but good.

Warren Buffett. And if you can’t find/identify people who are better than you, you’re probably an asshole.
~ Mark

patpadua:

Purchased at the Antiques Garage in Chelsea. The only identifying mark on the back of this print was the handwritten word “Beatles.”

~ Mark

When Charlie and I disagree, Charlie says, “In the end you’ll see it my way, because you’re smart and I’m right!”

Warren Buffett.

El Secreto de Sus Ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes)

~ Mark

El Secreto de Sus Ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes). A retired detective-cum-novelist pursues a cold case and a lost love, and it’s pretty damn good. A few parts here and there feel a bit telenovela, but on the whole it’s a steady, confident story with some really solid side characters–especially Guillermo Francella. Also includes a ridiculously good chase and one of the most electric elevator scenes on film. You just feel your stomach drop. Ebert says ★★★★.

~ Mark

We do not bring in compensation consultants and we don’t have a human resources department, legal department, etc. That makes life way too complicated, and people get vested in going to conferences.

Warren Buffett.
~ Mark

Ideas and views that differ from one’s own should not be targets for demolition, but whetstones for sharpening one’s own thoughts.

Philip Ball in the preface to his very good book, The Music Instinct.
~ Mark

Of all the duties required of the professional critic, the least important–certainly the least enduring–is the verdict.

Anthony Lane. (via)

La Collectionneuse

~ Mark

La Collectionneuse. One of Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales. Like Roman Holiday, this one centers on a question that doesn’t get answered until the last minute. It wasn’t as much pure fun, but I still respect a patient movie. From Phillip Lopate’s Criterion essay:

Here we see one of Rohmer’s most original tropes: the tepid attraction. It flies in the face of all cinematic convention, which dictates that the encounter of a good-­looking man and a good-looking woman must lead to grand narrative passion. […] Rohmer views the problems of indolent, potential-laden, prolonged youth in this film from the perspective of the middle-aged artist, who knows that the clock is ticking.