October 2009
26 posts
I’m not sure what’s more remarkable: that the baristas at Tea Lounge in Park Slope insist on playing TLC’s “CrazySexyCool” in its entirety and at a relatively high volume; or that no one seems to care much either way.
This is it. →
Fact check
A little known fact is that while Canada, wisely, opted out of military engagement in Iraq, it did commit troops by the thousands to the war in Afghanistan. So it’s a little unsettling today to read Roger Cohen’s op-ed today in the Times, which begins:
In Afghanistan there’s the United States, Britain and then the rest. Britain has lost 85 soldiers this year, more than all other...
“Freedom enforces freedom; a reboot is the only circumvention of the Freedom time...”
– From the benevolent dictators of time and productivity at macfreedom.com
Rockin’ good news. The public option is “in.” Well, some version of it, at least.
wrestling with theory. for reals.
“The next real literary “rebels” in this country might well emerge as some weird...”
– David Foster Wallace, ‘E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction’ (via Mer, via claytoncubitt, via melissa)
David Byrne talks bikes and his new book The...
Judith Butler was far and away the brightest light at today’s Rethinking Secularism conference at the Cooper Union. A tour de force.
oh, regular paycheck, with your health care and dental benefits, i do love thee.
Damn near close to throwing this computer across the room.
David Simon on why he created The Wire
David Simon, co-creator of The Wire, explains here why he created the show. It’s worth a listen and a read, in particular the part where he discusses two American myths—myths that now seem universally disseminated (and accepted and acceptable), in India, China, and across much of the developing world:
To state our case, The Wire began as a story wedged between two American myths....
“What does it mean to know and then to will oneself not to know?”
– Patricia Hill-Collins, opening plenary, “Taking it Big,” A Conference on C. Wright Mills, CUNY Graduate Center, Friday, October 16, 2009
“The next chapter, holy fuckin’ shit, it’s 50 fuckin’ pages....”
– A student at the Borough of Manhattan Community Colleage, on an escalator, talking into a cellphone.
There is no photography permitted at the Robert Frank photography exhibit.
“The rise of Beck, Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and the rest has correlated almost...”
– “The Wizard of Beck,” David Brooks, The New York Times, October 2, 2009