a | b

Photo

Sat, 19 May 2012 23:32:03 -0400

Best Movie Closing Songs, In Order

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 09:20:21 -0400

Best Movie Closing Songs, In Order

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/let-it-dough/

Mon, 30 May 2011 13:45:47 -0400

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/let-it-dough/

cheatsheet: braiker: Peanut Zombies (via reddit) LOVE this.

Tue, 17 May 2011 21:41:07 -0400

cheatsheet:

braiker:

Peanut Zombies (via reddit)

LOVE this.

"It is sometimes difficult to know what some Republican candidates stand for, as they pander to the..."

Thu, 12 May 2011 11:46:42 -0400

“It is sometimes difficult to know what some Republican candidates stand for, as they pander to the far right without alienating the center. It is not difficult to know what Newt Gingrich stands for, and to find it repellent.”

- Mr. Gingrich’s Intolerant History, NY Times 5/12/11

Patients Are Not Consumers

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:08:29 -0400

But the fact that Republicans are demanding that we literally stake our health, even our lives, on an already failed approach is only part of what’s wrong here. As I said earlier, there’s something terribly wrong with the whole notion of patients as “consumers” and health care as simply a financial transaction.

Medical care, after all, is an area in which crucial decisions — life and death decisions — must be made. Yet making such decisions intelligently requires a vast amount of specialized knowledge. Furthermore, those decisions often must be made under conditions in which the patient is incapacitated, under severe stress, or needs action immediately, with no time for discussion, let alone comparison shopping.

That’s why we have medical ethics. That’s why doctors have traditionally both been viewed as something special and been expected to behave according to higher standards than the average professional. There’s a reason we have TV series about heroic doctors, while we don’t have TV series about heroic middle managers.

The idea that all this can be reduced to money — that doctors are just “providers” selling services to health care “consumers” — is, well, sickening. And the prevalence of this kind of language is a sign that something has gone very wrong not just with this discussion, but with our society’s values.

-Paul Krugman

The greatest video in the world.

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:11:33 -0400

The greatest video in the world.

From Andrew Sullivan.

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 10:11:00 -0400

From Andrew Sullivan.

A Brief History of Title Design

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 12:07:38 -0400

A Brief History of Title Design

The Modesty Manifesto

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:28:49 -0500

… Perhaps the enlargement of the self has also attenuated the links between the generations. Every generation has an incentive to push costs of current spending onto future generations. But no generation has done it as freely as this one. Maybe people in the past had a visceral sense of themselves as a small piece of a larger chain across the centuries. As a result, it felt viscerally wrong to privilege the current generation over the future ones, in a way it no longer does… .

- David Brooks

The Miracle of Great Coffee

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:21:53 -0500

Great coffee is this amazing miracle. It is more aromatic and complex than anything else we eat or drink. We baristas are familiar with its other miraculous property — its warm deliciousness in the morning transforms even the most rough edged of us into intelligent, sparkling, upstanding men and women. The best coffees — those whose flavors are the most stimulating and soul-enriching — are grown by farmers across the globe who approach their coffee as artisans. Specialty coffee is this amazing intersection of agriculture, global trade and food craft.

Here’s my advice: stop drinking cheap coffee. It’s getting worse, as those who deal in bargain-basement coffees blend in more and more of the “bad stuff” to meet a price point. The “good stuff” will get better and better, as food lovers recognize the miracle that great coffee is, and value it as such. It’s a truism in food: eating less but better leads to maximum health, happiness and value. That’s true for coffee too — and that’s where we’re going with specialty coffee. Less but better.Like many natural wonders, specialty coffee is at risk. We know the reasons- global warming and land use pressure make it increasingly difficult and risky for farmers and roasters to trade in these rare, delicious coffees. But I know coffee and I know coffee lovers, and they will not be dissuaded. Special coffees have a permanent place in the culinary landscape, and although they might get more expensive, their intrinsic value and sheer irreplaceability will keep spectacular coffees to those who love flavor. Those people who truly love great coffee will have it, and though it might be a little dearer, it will continue to get better.

-Peter Giuliano

Book Review Leads to Criminal Libel Charge - NYTimes.com

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:19:34 -0500

Book Review Leads to Criminal Libel Charge - NYTimes.com:

Wow.

Alexander Chen » Archive » Conductor: mta.me

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:52:41 -0500

Alexander Chen » Archive » Conductor: mta.me

via NPR

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:49:48 -0500

via NPR

"They told me I have two minutes. I’m going to pop this Red Hot, so I can finish in two minutes. [He..."

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:51:06 -0500

“

They told me I have two minutes. I’m going to pop this Red Hot, so I can finish in two minutes. [He pops the Red Hot.]

Why to give this award, why? Because you have to throw a party. Because you have to compete with the Golden Globes. We all ask that question, if you were able to get out tonight, celebrate, without your relatives, you’ve earned it, you deserve it. Meredith [Viera, the host] is doing a really a good job moving the crowd along, isn’t she? [Applause as he mouths the Red Hot] Why would you give it to Sofia Coppola, why? Because you want to encourage her, I think. I think that’s the real reason. Look at her. [yelling] Look at her! She comes from a family, mother and father, both very successful creating entertainments and amusements and thought-provoking work. She wrote a spec on script for the ‘Virgin Suicides.’ The ambition of these young people, can you believe it? The ambition. She got the job as the director. She directed ‘Lost in Translation’ in another country and another language and got a prize for it. God, this is a hot, hot Red Hot. I’m not going to fool you people because I got another half in my pocket. [He pops it in.] I got one-and-a-half in my mouth right now.

Then she decided to work in France and do ‘Marie Antoinette.’ A woman who was beheaded, not a sympathetic creature, you know what I mean. A lot of directors who would pass on that. Who do you root for, you know? She did that beautiful, beautiful movie and now she’s done this ‘Somewhere,’ which takes place – somewhere. I know, it’s the west coast, southern California basin. So why do you give this person an award? You give them an award because they need to be encouraged. You can look around this room and you could look around the world of film and you can see people that had great success early in your career. Some earned it, some were lucky, some got it, but in a certain point they live life, they get into life. Like Sofia’s gotten into life. She’s married, now she’s got a French lover [Thomas Mars, the singer of the band Phoenix]. She has two children, beautiful children by this French lover — and honestly I’m sick of these directors with the homely kids, I can’t stand it anymore! – she’s got beautiful children and she lives with a man who is the only Frenchman that could ever play rock and roll, ever. [Expletive] Johnny Hallyday! [Beat] Pardon [beat] my [beat] French.

So why do you encourage these people, because now she’s had this success, she’s had this work, she has this life, she has this family, she has this thing going and now is when people like you have chosen well to say, let’s give this person another boost, let’s give this public person another boost, to say, keep going, because now life will come to you, hard, like it’s come to everyone that’s lived long enough, it comes hard, it gets in the way of your career, it stops your career, it stunts your life. It definitely will make your career go left. You show me an actor doing a [expletive for terrible] movie, I’ll show you a guy with a bad divorce. [Looking directly at someone in the audience] You know who I’m talking about!

I want the best for her because she’s a lady, she acts like a lady. The women in her movies are ladies, they have strength and they have power and they’re strong. Even the pole dancers in this movie had enough of themselves to call the lead actor a moron, as all you women should call your men this evening – pole or not. Give her a boost to say, go on, you’ve made it this far, push her out into the deep water, push her out into bigger and deeper films, more and more films. She has a beautiful eye, she has great taste in the people she chooses to work with, she’s a kind and thoughtful director and editor and producer. She’s all the things that we hoped we could be when we work like this. She’s been lucky so far and she’s been strong so far. Let’s keep her going. I appreciate your asking her to receive this award for filmmaking achievement. Miss, Ms. Ms. Ms. Sofia Coppola.

”

- Bill Murray, presenting an award to Sofia Coppola at the National Board of Review Gala. 1/11/11.

Mmmmhmmm.

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:36:55 -0500

Mmmmhmmm.

No one is likely reading this, but if you are, support some good people.

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 21:18:40 -0500

No one is likely reading this, but if you are, support some good people.

credit

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 19:26:46 -0500

credit

Overrated, slightly.

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 10:09:13 -0500

Overrated, slightly.

Taken with instagram

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:48:57 -0500

Taken with instagram