The person leading the Well-Planned Life emphasizes individual agency, and asks, “What should I do?” The person leading the Summoned Life emphasizes the context, and asks, “What are my circumstances asking me to do?”
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Tag: nyt
Up From Darkness – Book Review: “Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light” by Jane Brox – NYTimes.com
Who had light and who did not? What did different types of people do with their newfound hours? How did street lighting change public behavior? (Once drinkers could move safely between taverns, instead of perching on a single tavern stool all night … the streets became far rowdier; prostitutes previously confined to brothels could now sell their wares al fresco.) With increased mobility and safety, those who could afford lighting stayed up later. Sleeping in became a mark of prestige. Meanwhile, those who lived near the gasworks — never located in a city’s high-rent district — endured foul-smelling and dangerous emissions.
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Red Eye – Abstract City Blog – NYTimes.com. “A visual diary documenting a flight from New York to Berlin (with a layover in London).” I, too, ♥ my seat back monitor.
101 Fast Recipes for Grilling. Note to self.
To Invigorate Literary Mind, Start Moving Literary Feet
Through childhood I hiked, roamed, tirelessly explored the countryside: neighboring farms, a treasure trove of old barns, abandoned houses and forbidden properties of all kinds, some of them presumably dangerous, like cisterns and wells covered with loose boards.
These activities are intimately bound up with storytelling, for always there’s a ghost-self, a “fictitious” self, in such settings. For this reason I believe that any form of art is a species of exploration and transgression.
A World Cup Mentality – Opinionator Blog – NYTimes.com
Soccer is a sport perfectly designed to reinforce a tragic view of the universe, because basically it is a long series of frustrations leading up to near certain heartbreak.
Be true to yourself. Make each day a masterpiece. Help others. Drink deeply from good books. Make friendship a fine art. Build a shelter against a rainy day.
A message from John Wooden’s father that he always kept with him. John Wooden, 99, Legendary U.C.L.A. Coach, Dies – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com.
For Movie Watching, Pairing a DVD and a Drink Takes Care – NYTimes.com
I’ve been matching my drinks to my movies for at least 15 years. I’ve done it with my wife, in groups, or (and I’m not ashamed to say this) alone. It adds a new dimension — Alc-O-Vision? — to the plot, the photography and, especially, the sense of immersion if the film takes place in the same country from which the drink in my hand originated.
Yes and yes. The article also includes a shout-out to Out of the Past, which I rewatched the other night, and which might be my favorite movie of all time. OF ALL TIME!
For Movie Watching, Pairing a DVD and a Drink Takes Care – NYTimes.com
Christian Boltanski Has a Show at the Park Avenue Armory – NYTimes.com
“You can hold onto the clothes, and even the heartbeats of many, many people. But you can’t keep anybody.”
Christian Boltanski Has a Show at the Park Avenue Armory – NYTimes.com
The Data-Driven Life – New York Times Magazine
“What happens when technology can analyze every quotidian thing that happened to you today.”
Score for “Piano Etudes” (2009) by Jason Freeman. (via)
Sleeping (or Not) by the Wrong Clock – Opinionator Blog – NYTimes.com
An unbalanced circadian rhythm can be returned to equilibrium through the application of light to a sleeper’s retina near the end of a person’s “internal night.” Internal night? Yes — it may be night outside, but if your circadian clock is not prepared for sleep, internal night may not start until late and last well into morning. Biologically, it coincides with the secretion of melatonin by the brain’s pineal gland. It is difficult to know where your internal night lies if you artificially force sleep earlier, for example with sleeping pills. You can estimate internal night with a quick chronotype questionnaire that helps determine when light exposure will be most effective for syncing your circadian rhythm with external reality.
Seems like my natural bedtime is right around midnight. I do notice that I sleep better on days when I spend time outdoors, though maybe that’s tied up with better eating or moderate physical activity, too.
Sleeping (or Not) by the Wrong Clock – Opinionator Blog – NYTimes.com
Most culture is dark matter.
Britain Closes Airspace as Volcanic Ash Spreads – NYTimes.com. Eyjafjallajökull is erupting. So strange to remember I hiked by it just a year and a half ago. More photos on Flickr.
First Camera, Then Fork: People Who Photograph Food and Display the Pictures Online – NYTimes.com
“One guy arrived with the wrong lens or something on his camera and left his wife sitting at the table for an hour while he went home to get it.”
First Camera, Then Fork: People Who Photograph Food and Display the Pictures Online – NYTimes.com
Joanna Newsom, the Changeling – NYTimes.com
Okay-ish profile, but I like this bit in particular:
In “Sadie,” a ballad with a distinct Appalachian flavor, Newsom sings lines that could speak for thousands of musicians who’ve drawn on the deep well of American folk music: “This is an old song/These are old blues/This is not my tune/But it’s mine to use.”
Bernstein on the Blues – The New York Times
Video of Leonard Bernstein finding iambic pentameter in blues lyrics, then inventing a brief tune out of an excerpt from Macbeth.
Modern Love – In a Foreign Language, Are the Words ‘I Love You’ Just Sounds? – NYTimes.com
Jeanne-Claude, Christo’s Collaborator on Environmental Canvas, Is Dead at 74 – Obituary – NYTimes.com
This is a real downer. (via kottke)
People like to be educated about tragedies that they’ve never shaken their heads sadly over before.
Mark Larson 