Article: Now and then: Sex still sells

I really liked this article about sex being used in the media since...well, forever. It's a point that has been made many times before but it's well-written, clear and has some great examples from the media past.

from idsgn blog.

Things that make me happy:

Karl Lagerfeld's Twitter feed.

Article: How to Disappear

from here.

There are three key steps to disappearing. First, destroy old information about yourself. Call your video store or electricity company and replace your old, correct phone number with a new, invented one. Introduce spelling mistakes into your utility bills. Create a PO Box for your mail. Don’t use your credit cards and the like.

Then, create bogus information to fool private investigators who might be looking for you. Go to one city and apply for an apartment. Rent a car in another one.

The next, final step is the most important one. Move from point A to point B. Create a dummy company to pay your bills. Only use prepaid mobile phones and change them every month. It is nearly impossible to find out where you are unless you make a mistake.

Today.

Today, I feel like: Baysplosions!

Today: Viv

Viv: I want to evolve into a Spaceman.

Me: Okay.

Food: Chef Burger

Finally something to say about Kansas City besides anti-abortion shootings:



Chef Burger looks yummy. I want a burger with fried green tomatoes.

from here.

Video: Disney peddling eggs

Weird. Just waiting for a James Frey-like farmer to bust it all up.

from here.

Video: The PC guy schooling Obama on being a nerd

Video of John Hodgman's speech at the Radio & TV Correspondents' Dinner.

Video: Miss Piggy doing Peaches

This is probably old but I just discovered it.

Video: Pogo

profile at last.fm (non-English)

Artist: Claire Morgan

I like sculptor Claire Morgan

Author: Beryl Markham

Note to self.
Self, go to library and check out copy of West With The Night. Must read more of this:

I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesterdays are buried deep—leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance.

by Beryl Markham from West With The Night

Artist: Amelia Bauer

I like this.

Recipe: A New Twist on Migas

from ny times

Article: The Case for Working With Your Hands

I like this. I like this a lot.

The organization had taken certain positions, and there were some facts it was more fond of than others. As its figurehead, I was making arguments I didn’t fully buy myself. Further, my boss seemed intent on retraining me according to a certain cognitive style — that of the corporate world, from which he had recently come. This style demanded that I project an image of rationality but not indulge too much in actual reasoning.

from the nytimes.

Video: Murakami for Vuitton

Just when I was about to give up on you.

Book: Flesh and Blood by Michael Cunningham

Flesh and Blood is about the importance of people's actions on others and how their convinced belief of unimportance fucks it all up; or in other words, "Damn you Michael Cunningham for making me cry all fucking day."

Article: Poverty Goes Straight to the Brain

Another bullet point to add to the list of, "What is wrong with you?"

from Wired.

Today: What is the effin point of nostalgia?

I'm sure there's some study on it somewhere. Aurgh. Move on, move on. To what?

I don't want my life to be a repeating fractal. Every year an iteration of every month, of every day, of every hour, of every minute.

Frustration.

Because It's Always About Me.

Recent article in the New Yorker about the effects of solitary confinement on prisoners is fascinating. (Sidenote: I love Atul Gawande. I wonder if he has a Twitter feed.)

I spoke to Keron Fletcher, a former British military psychiatrist who had been on the receiving team for Anderson and many other hostages, and followed them for years afterward. Initially, Fletcher said, everyone experiences the pure elation of being able to see and talk to people again, especially family and friends. They can’t get enough of other people, and talk almost non-stop for hours. They are optimistic and hopeful. But, afterward, normal sleeping and eating patterns prove difficult to reëstablish. Some have lost their sense of time. For weeks, they have trouble managing the sensations and emotional complexities of their freedom.

Of course my immediate thought after reading the article is, what irreparable damage have I done to myself with my self-imposed isolation? Because being tortured in prison camps and locked in a grey room and terrorized by captors is exactly the same as moving to New York and not talking to anyone for a year and a half.