Chelsea morning
Big Gay Ice Cream Store, East Village
science experiment
- still from Gilles Bourdos’s film RENOIR
Jonathan’s flannel loafers
Melissa and Don
Archive for April, 2013
Photo diary: spring awakening 2013
April 15, 2013Quote of the day: SEX
April 14, 2013SEX
Nothing is more real than sex when it is happening, nothing more illusory when it has just ended.
— Dan Chiasson
Good stuff online: Russell Brand on Margaret Thatcher
April 14, 2013The Guardian of London published this remarkably deep, thoughtfully enraged remembrance of Margaret Thatcher from a surprising corner — as Andy remarked, who knew Russell Brand (the comic actor with the out-of-control hair and five-minute-marriage to pop star Katy Perry) was such a fine, intelligent, self-searching writer?
“I hope I’m not being reductive but it seems Thatcher’s time in power was solely spent diminishing the resources of those who had least for the advancement of those who had most. I know from my own indulgence in selfish behaviour that it’s much easier to get what you want if you remove from consideration the effect your actions will have on others.”
In this week’s New Yorker
April 14, 2013The April 15 issue is dominated by four long, strong feature stories:
* John Le Carre’s remembrance of how his early novel The Spy Who Loved Me got made into a film starring Richard Burton (who knew that LeCarre goes by the name of David among his friends?);
* Joan Acocella’s extremely entertaining profile of puppet master Basil Twist;
* Nick Paumgarten’s long consideration of James Salter, making a case for the greatness of a writer who’s never been on my radar; and
* Susan Faludi’s piece on Shulamith Firestone, the once extremely influential radical feminist who quickly receded from the fray (bearing the brunt of being trashed by her comrades, in all too familiar internal divisiveness that infects progressive movements) and died last year, alone and mentally ill.
Nicholas Lemann reviews a number of books astutely analyzing the environmentalist movement and what it could learn from the original Earth Day (April 22, 1970). Sasha Frere-Jones makes me want to track down a hit single from 2002 that somehow escaped me, the Knife’s “Heartbeats.” And David Denby’s review makes me curious to see the new Robert Redford film The Company You Keep, though I probably won’t.
Quote of the day: DESIRE
April 10, 2013DESIRE
God gave us desire. Letting go of desire is not the way to peace or godliness. Rather desire is God’s way of making sure we join the parade rather than watching from the curb.
It’s okay to want a bigger TV but no one ever made a movie about a man who finally bought a Volvo. So embrace your desire but ask yourself whether your desire saves lives or whether it all goes with you to the grave.
The problem with your desires may be lack of meaning. Love is a common, but not the only, factor that adds meaning to otherwise boring desires.
— Don Miller
another eye opens 