February 2009
191 posts
Book Review
I’m pushing my way through Piers Brendon’s masterpiece of historical narrative, The Decline and Fall of the British Empire 1781-1997. It’s a compelling work for two reasons. The first is the obvious Gibbonsian (aside: My chief measure of a man’s success and influence beyond his mortal years is whether or not his last name persists in adjectival form.) connotations of...
January 2009
164 posts
Can Parents Name Their Child 'Adolf Hitler'? -... →
Naming a child ‘Adolf Hitler’ opens up a can of metaphysical worms, which I think Epstein either purposefully or unwittingly ignores. A name like ‘Adolf Hitler’ is a bit of a painted horse, but the philosophical relevance doesn’t diminish on its account.
At base, this is a question of meaning and association: does a name like ‘Adolf Hitler’, which is...
The Radio Dept. - It’s Personal
computer help!
Does anyone here with computorial acumen want to give me some advice? I’m trying to decide between a macbook pro and this computer, or something like it. Considerations:
I am going to be using my new computer primarily for writing, photo and website editing, music, and surfing the web. Pretty basic.
Cost isn’t too great a factor, but I’ve noticed that Macs aren’t built...
a new nadir's age of decadence list
With little aplomb and no more prefacing, I give you a new nadir’s list of “best chroniclers of decadent ages”.
a new nadir
prettylegit (because she symbolizes decadence, and is actually pretty nice and affable about it, too)
some trajectories
married to the sea
mcsweeney’s internet tendency
the new york review of books (which just gave me a free subscription! go...
“How I look at it, you can be the hammer or the nail,” the inner scientist in...”
– The Physics of ‘The Hit’ - NYTimes.com
“I was going to make a thing called Planet Rorschach. So you see this planet, and...”
– How Zack Snyder (Just Barely) Got ‘Watchmen’ to the Screen - ArtsBeat Blog - NYTimes.com
“At first glance, 17-year-old Misaki Nakajima seems like any other shy and...”
– Asian Teen Has Sweaty Middle-Aged-Man Fetish | The Onion - America’s Finest News Source
“No matter how much we may feel that fairness is a pure principle, it’s...”
– Fair’s fair - The Atlantic Business Channel
French crowds march for job security, pay rises →
I don’t know whether to admire the french for their steadfast opposition to anglo-american capitalism or deride them for their inability to understand that the dragon’s already been let out.
“—if it once gleamed, if it ticked, if it buzzed, if it
oiled eternal youth, if...”
– Porta Portese, by Rosanna Warren
“Speculation and news reports that the government was considering a deal to set...”
– Bank Stocks Rally on F.D.I.C. Proposal - NYTimes.com
I’m gonna get a checking account at the “Bad Bank”. I want a matching credit card, with an AC-DC-style logo.
I will be such a badass.
“Hey, bud! What’re the tears for? Sometimes the inside bread wrapper is a...”
– McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: Crisis-Aversion Index Cards That Get Me Through a Normal Day.
“The goal now, it seems, is simply to become known, to turn oneself into a sort...”
– The End of Solitude - ChronicleReview.com
I wanna follow this guy on Tumblr.
John Updike, Author, Dies at 76 - Obituary (Obit)... →
HOLY SHIT
Does anyone else who spends all of their time on the internet reading stuff ever feel like they do nothing useful? I want to put out a magazine printed on A4 from a photocopier, folded in half, and then stapled. I want to print out several hundred copies of said magazine and distribute them about campus.
“Other uses of scare quotes so defy convention as to suggest a novel dialect of...”
– Scared Yet?
“The crucial questions in history often turn out to involve things that people at...”
– Heroes and Zeroes: Books: The New Yorker
What a great fucking article.
“On the way back, Chotiner tried laughing at one of Emanuel’s jokes. He recalled,...”
– Here To There Dept.: Step On It: The Talk of the Town: The New Yorker
bebelestrange:
what’s google keyword search, smart ass?
link
bebelestrange:
Dig deep, don’t let blogs or magazines dictate your interests. With just a few key words, there’s a whole world waiting that you never dreamed of.
A message brought to you by Google keyword search®
I remember before we kissed that night how utterly natural it was for us to touch. I would put my arm around her and she would press herself into me, attracted to a warmth I knew was not there. The cold wind blowing through the crack in the metal windowframe made the distance between us all the more noticeable, so we closed the gap as if it were a matter of course (it never occurred to us to...
Chipotle Employee Just Gave Guy In Front Of You... →
writing checklist.
I had a friend who is much older than me and a real good writer and editor look over a short ditty I wrote several months ago. It was a bad piece of writing, lacking in confidence and with no discernible pretense. This is typical of a college student, but the critique my friend wrote had several truths in it, all of which I tried to distill into a checklist to be consulted every time I begin a...
Let us dwell at some length
magicmolly:
The difference between crunchy and smooth peanut butter is not just one of texture, but one of taxonomy. Crunchy peanut butter tastes like food. Smooth peanut butter tastes like a condiment.
more like tastonomy.
“Don’t for heaven’s sake, be afraid of talking nonsense! But you...”
– Ludwig Wittgenstein
“The book is full of life — not like a man, but like an ant-heap.”
– Ludwig Wittgenstein
“God grant the philosopher insight into what lies in front of everyone’s...”
– Ludwig Wittgenstein
“Perhaps one day this civilization will produce a culture.
When that happens...”
– Ludwig Wittgenstein
“When you are philosophizing you have to descend into primeval chaos and feel at...”
– Ludwig Wittgenstein