June 2010
14 posts
3 tags
“The first month will be hell. Early mornings, uncaring stars, frost on the car...”
– Typed on a 3” × 5” after becoming frustrated with a stalled fitness routine. Just got righteously angry at my indolence and banged this out in one shot on the typewriter, then thumbtacked it to my bathroom wall, in the spirit of doing something rather than stewing, beating myself up, and...
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When "Star Wars" Meets "GoodFellas"
Now the guy’s got Jabba the Hutt as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Jabba. Trouble with the Sandpeople? He can go to Jabba. Trouble with the Empire, the Corporate Sector, Boba Fett? He can call Jabba.
Now the guy’s gotta come up with Jabba’s money every week no matter what. Had to dump a load of spice to keep from being boarded? Fuck you, pay me! You had a hyperdrive malfunction? Fuck you,...
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"Rent a White Guy" (The Atlantic) →
A short piece by Mitch Moxley on how Westerners are being used as Potemkin businessmen to lend “face” to new-venture photo-ops in China—in the case of the author, for free room and board, plus a grand a week:
“I call these things ‘White Guy in a Tie’ events,” a Canadian friend of a friend named Jake told me during the recruitment pitch he gave me in Beijing, where I live....
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"France Is Not Alone!" →
The leaders who, for many years, were at the head of French armies, have formed a government. This government, alleging our armies to be undone, agreed with the enemy to stop fighting. Of course, we were subdued by the mechanical, ground and air forces of the enemy. Infinitely more than their number, it was the tanks, the airplanes, the tactics of the Germans which made us retreat. It was...
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“The managing editor was a mythic character named Andre Laguerre, who had...”
– Frank Deford, “Sometimes The Bear Eats You: Confessions of a Sportswriter,” Sports Illustrated
Many delightful details about the way the news was written before ARPANET’s little communications experiment went rogue:
In those halcyon days there was still a lot of booze in...
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“I’d argue that the climate in Washington is being shaped by an artificial...”
– Michael Smerconish, “On Cable TV and Talk Radio, a Push Toward Polarization,” The Washington Post (via POLITICO’s Playbook)
Written upon reflection of the departure of moderate CNN reporter Campbell Brown from her show. Smerconish also describes how bookers for CNN and FOX News...
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“After my first visit to the shattered middle school, I am haunted by what I...”
– “I, Scrapper,” from Sweet Juniper!
Just ran across this blog today, via a link on The Morning News to scary, Nixon-era children’s books. Looks like a trove of urban exploring in, and reporting upon, the slow-motion demise of Detroit.
Consider this recent plan to...
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“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a...”
– Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole), Ratatouille, apropos to the recent discussion of criticism.
There are a number of points in the Pixar oeuvre where I mist up. Ego’s madeleine moment at Gasteau’s is one of them.
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“But criticism, for the most part, comes from the opposite place that...”
– Another quote from the same magisterial Dave Eggers email I quoted earlier today.
The bold section is the exact reason—indeed, the exact metaphor—why, when I reached senior year of college, I decided against graduate school. I got sick of tearing beauty to pieces.
A facilitating factor was the...
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“When I go to libraries or archives, I make notes in a continuous form on sheets...”
– Keith Thomas, “Diary,” on the history of note taking, in the London Review of Books (via The Morning News)
Boy, do I ever identify with Crump’s advice. I made an ill-advised detour into keeping my diary in script for a couple of years. Big mistake. My cursive looks like a coterie...
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Austin Kleon: Dave Eggers on "selling out" vs.... →
From austinkleon, who inspired me to start a Tumblr log under my own name. Dave Eggers puts into words the free-floating urge I’ve always had to punch people who use the word “sellout”:
This e-mail is making the rounds. I’d reblog it from someone, but that would seem pointless. What I really like are the bits about the Flaming Lips and “saying yes”:
The thing is, I really...
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“One lobbyist even complained to The Washington Post that the [financial system...”
– Matt Taibbi, “Wall Street’s War,” Rolling Stone #1106 