“Bill Simmons has set a new and unbeatable standard by writing like a fan—just far better.”
Links
Wehr in the World: The best uses of my time
One of the things I wish more people (anyone) would blog about is not just the books, movies, blog posts, or magazine articles they liked, but rather what in their estimation were the best uses of their time. Was it a chapter of a book or a particular article from the New York Times? Beyond just the content they consumed, was it maybe a conversation with a friend?
A Funkaoshi Production :: India 2010
I really loving Ramanan’s posts about his trip to India. Wonderful photos + in-the-moment notes on the iPhone. Great combo.
When the last recording studio goes, what will go with it? | Word Magazine
Marginal Revolution: Why do people ask questions at public events?
It matters a great deal if people have to write out questions in advance, or during the talk, and a moderator then reads out the question. That mechanism improves question quality and cuts down on the first three motives cited. Yet it is rarely used. In part we wish to experience the contrast between the speaker and the erratic questioners and the resulting drama.
I like the second commenter’s suggestion: “Take multiple questions at once. The moderator will take say three questions from three audience members before giving the presenter a chance to answer them one-by-one.”
Marginal Revolution: Why do people ask questions at public events?
Working: The Graphic Novel – Bryan Caplan | EconLog
Interesting. There’s a graphically-novelized version of Studs Terkel’s book from 1974, Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do. Graphic novelizations make me cringe a little, but Harvey Pekar is behind it, so who knows.
Five tips for writing non-fiction | The Undercover Economist | FT.com
I like #2: “Read people whose ideas or research you understand value.”
Five tips for writing non-fiction | The Undercover Economist | FT.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.”
Being foreign: The others | The Economist
An American child psychologist, Alison Gopnik, when reaching for an analogy to illuminate the world as experienced by a baby, compared it to Paris as experienced for the first time by an adult American: a pageant of novelty, colour, excitement. Reverse the analogy and you see that living in a foreign country can evoke many of the emotions of childhood: novelty, surprise, anxiety, relief, powerlessness, frustration, irresponsibility. It may be this sense of a return to childhood, consciously or not, that gives the pleasure of foreignness its edge of embarrassment.
Barry White Gets Pissed at the Copywriter During a Recording Session – Adrants
In which Barry White “cordially invites yo ass” to something or other at Paul Quinn College. Archival outtakes ftw.
Barry White Gets Pissed at the Copywriter During a Recording Session – Adrants
Wired for Books : Author interviews on MP3
Amazing archive of interviews with authors from the 80s and 90s. A must-bookmark.
Woah.
Jeff Buckley Live at KCRW on Morning Becomes Eclectic, July 28, 1994
Why you’ve never really heard the “Moonlight” Sonata. – By Jan Swafford – Slate Magazine
The audio examples are really fascinating. (via).
When composers wrote for these instruments they sometimes loved them and sometimes chafed at their limitations, but in any case they wrote for those sounds, that touch, those bells and whistles. From old instruments, performers on modern pianos can get important insights into the sound image that Mozart, Schubert, et al., were aiming for. But music from the 18th and 19th centuries doesn’t just sound different now than on the original instruments; some of it can’t even be played as written on modern pianos.
Why you’ve never really heard the “Moonlight” Sonata. – By Jan Swafford – Slate Magazine
The Hungry Metropolis – Saveur.com
I’m to make my first trip to Los Angeles in just a couple weeks. I will bring my elastic pants.
Manhattan may boast the highest concentration of high-end restaurants in the world, and Singapore hawker centers may pack more joy into each square inch, but Los Angeles is the best place in the world to eat at the moment, a frieze of fine dining overlaying a huge patchwork of immigrant communities big enough and self-sustaining enough to produce exactly the food that they want to eat.
Baffler – A Cottage for Sale
A piece about painter Thomas Kinkade and the California real estate market.
We have to accept that the violent orange glow that emanates from the interior of nearly every house in a Kinkade painting merely indicates that the house is warm and inviting, not burning to the ground. […] He says that as the son of a single mother who worked late, he often came home to a house that was dark and cold, especially in winter. The “Kinkade glow” represents what he wished was there instead. He tells the story more than once, which raises a question or two: Didn’t he maybe just want to burn the place down? Is his art really a form of arson?
Top Ten Glissandos
Sorry about the couple photo-less posts in a row, but you have to hear this: Alex Ross’s “Top Ten Glissandos.”
For maximum effect, press all the buttons in quick succession.
(via Unquiet Thoughts)
This is delightful. Might I also suggest The Beatles’ A Day In the Life?
The Cocktail Renaissance
You should be able to anticipate your first drink after the day’s work and use it to refresh your spirit and relax your mind. It should awaken senses dulled at the office and by the speed and distances of contemporary life. It should move you from the determined needs of a workday to a thoughtful consideration of the better and more charming aspects of living and talking and reading. Anticipation should not be underrated as an aspect of any aesthetic experience.
And also: “Drinks that don’t taste of alcohol were developed for coeds and the saps who try to get them drunk.”
Figure Skating Fashion Through The Years
“Today, according to the ISU, figure skating’s governing body, ‘Ladies must wear a skirt. The Ladies dress must not give the effect of excessive nudity inappropriate for an athletic sport. Men must wear full-length trousers: no tights are allowed and the man’s costume may not be sleeveless.’”
Tasting wine blind | Analysis & Opinion | Reuters
“The kind of wines one loves in blind tastings are not necessarily the kind of wines one actually likes to drink in real life.” See also: Pepsi vs. Coke. I’m wondering how this would apply in a museum, perhaps. Maybe what you like to gawk at for a few moments in a gallery is different from what you’d want in your living room. Is there psychological concept for liking different things depending on the length of exposure?
First Listen: Joanna Newsom : NPR
Hear ‘Have One On Me’ In Its Entirety. Finally.
Mark Larson 