December 2009
61 posts
Love and failure →
The Post’s OnLove column talked recently to a psychologist and author espousing his theory that we have greater control over love than we often believe. I was with him that far. But the last quote…
Zoolights pictures: No-panda edition →
(For the all-panda edition, see here.)
You ready? I’m gonna start with trees and only get more real on you. (These trees are more real because they danced to music.) Anteater! Gorillas! Lizard!…
Would you read a book consisting entirely of... →
I think I might. Or maybe… I think I might? Blogcritics? “Is this the most original book I’ve read this year? What’s wrong with The Interrogative Mood? Nothing? Can I stop reading it? Why is this…
Both a stretch and a waffle, yes →
Hunted thermal shirts. Found Jockey’s stretch waffle shirt.
'Duende is something you don't have in your... →
The other curious item on the dog-eared page was this one:
Dec. 3-6 [at the Jazz Standard]: The pianist Chano Dominguez reinterprets Miles Davis’s timeless 1959 album, “Kind of Blue,” for a flamenco…
Zoolights pictures: All-panda edition →
We love our pandas in Washington. We love them so much. If the zoo held twice-daily feedings of cute toddlers to our pandas, we would buy tickets, stand in line and buy panda hats. Just like we do…
Reading is rereading (and then listening to good... →
Ever dog-eared a page in a magazine, then returned to find you have no idea why? Happens to me all the time. In this month’s instance, the page was from the New Yorker’s music listings. Split between…
On a closed campus, facades don't matter →
We read recently about the great campus Novartis is building for itself in Basel, Switzerland. Billions of dollars, you have to assume. in its star architect building. Hello, Frank Gehry and his…
Better the pig than you →
I hear Jonny fought the pig, then took off its head with his bare hands. It was my idea to have Jeff pose with the pig head. It was Jeff’s idea to pose kissing the pig head. The egg roll is in my…
Perfect graf to start a night of work … and... →
Whatever your politics, recent David Brooks has good lines. Go Skins.
A protocol economy tends toward inequality because some societies and subcultures have norms, attitudes and customs that increase…
I would live at the cardboard-box customer... →
When the Times wrote about “customer innovation centers,” and I was initially doubtful. Consider 3M’s “World of Innovation” showroom:
The company has more than 40 of what it calls technology…
He's no baby Jesus, but he'll do →
And I was around this age when I toppled the family Christmas tree.
My other favorite 'Bird by Bird' graf →
Among many grafs, for how vanity, confidence and aspiration differ:
Interviewers ask famous writers why they write, and it was (if I remember correctly) the poet John Ashbery who answered, “Because I…
Last night's dream →
In the dream, I was climbing a steep and free-standing staircase.
It was a ladder with character, villainous for putting such normal airs on a scare. Two people I recognized had either finished their…
When story and rewriting is life →
Thought I might need Bird by Bird late this week and started reading the book preemptively. Turned out to be right. Bird by bird, buddy…
I read a wonderful passage in an interview with Carolyn Chute,…
The bottle of Noche →
A year and a half ago, Jess and I saw a sign for Cooper Vineyards at a Virginia wine festival, and we rushed to the table. Among the tastings was Noche, described in the tasting notes as “Virginia…
On the inside looking out →
The best argument I’ve read for the continued removal of handwriting from society’s pedestal comes this week from Oberlin prof Anne Trubek in Miller-McCune. About her young son Simon, telling a story…
The ups and downs of Tysons Corner holiday traffic →
Up! On the smooth drive into work yesterday: A GLEEK license plate. Down! On the way from the office to happy hour last night, the red line shows the normal, five-minute route. The green line shows:…
Really, Wordpress? Really? →
After I finally realize what missing slashes can do to your config, after months of successful automatic upgrades of the the central software and plugins, you decide to go wrong? You blank my entire…
In the end, we all work for E. H. Harriman →
As transcribed by an anonymous IMDB contributor.
Butch Cassidy: Hey, wait a minute.
Sundance Kid: What?
Butch Cassidy: You didn’t see Lefors out there, did you?
Sundance Kid: Lefors? No.
Butch…
Snowstorm weekend in summary →
Above, the snow that followed in the possible vampire bats/hail.
Summary: Just-invented spiked hot-chocolate brunching with crab plus eggs florentine/french toast at Ragtime, Out of Sight, the…
Active reading →
There is active reading, which this blog post was originally going to address. There is active listening, which this post subsequently drew to mind. Beyond them, there is active friendship, which…
The most dramatic thing to happen during the... →
In my Virginia neighborhood, which had no snowball vs. gun fight.
A U-Haul is stuck in the intersection. But the truck itself isn’t stuck. Two feet of blizzard coming down, and you are a man on a…
Goodnight moon →
Pix: Blizzard breakfast →
The beginning of the storm late Friday, after a day of prep and waiting. Walked to the Metro to meet a visiting Lindsay, in town just in time. Where’d the city go? Venturing out Saturday morning. A…
The publishing industry as explained by Pedro the... →
AKA long-time mascot of Boys’ Life, the classic magazine for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, and just about my favorite publication from ages 8-11. Pedro now writes a blog answering reader e-mail. If you…
Annnnnd the Muppets →
Democrat Herald: “It may be his Christmas, but, man, it’s crowded.”
But lest you cry sellout — because, seeing this sign in a NYC subway tunnel, I know I did (not having been much of a Andrea Bocelli…
The Hitler meme comes to USA TODAY commenting →
Via our moderators. A reader creates an appropriately vulgar work of art. Most of our commenters are great, but here’s a tribute to trouble. They love us, they really love us! With good or bad, we…
I, Patrick Cooper, am still not mayor of... →
In recent weeks, I’ve been invited to a nice Birmingham family’s holiday party and asked to speak to Birmingham minority contractors. The Web traffic from the greater Birmingham area has continued…
Song one of the Beatles box set →
The first notes, from the masterful Alan Pollack: “The intro is a simple four measures of vamping on the tonic chord of E, but the count-in, the eighth note pickup in the bass, and the generally…
Two Christmas trees →
Too tired for typing, so enjoy these trees for now. From friend Emily’s desk at work and from the farm at the family’s annual tree-cutting.
About what inspires 'Panorama' — and what should... →
Good words from Nathan Heller at Slate about the old-school leanings of Dave Eggers’ newspaper and what the real challenge should be:
The quirky efflorescence of that era seems to inspire the…
First trip to Good Stuff: Let the burger battle... →
I didn’t want a war, particularly not in my mouth. But then I met friend Monica for lunch at Good Stuff Eatery and ordered Spike’s Sunny Side. Blurb: “Dairy Fresh Cheese, Maple Bacon & A Farm Fresh…
Songs stuck in my head tonight →
Al Green and Lucy Pearl. I blame it on red wine and everywhere fog.
Journalism's next frontier is patronizing the Web? →
(Isn’t that its current frontier?) Post Story Lab blog, you’re gonna kill me. “Reporters, readers and the quest for journalism’s next frontier,” really? Let us review your two weeks of publication…
The other two songs I liked: Death and life →
Said the Gramophone’s aspirations run more indie than rock, so when the site lists a top 75 songs of 2009, I’m happy I like four. Here’s the third. #38. Vic Chesnutt, Flirted with You All My Life. “I…
The four songs that I liked of the 75 →
Said the Gramophone’s aspirations run more indie than rock, so when the site lists a top 75 songs of 2009, I’m happy I like four. Here’s the first.
#14. The XX, Islands. Crumblr introduced me to the…
Don't let the bastards grind you down →
“Newspapers won’t love you back. They’ll break your heart if you let them. You are bright enough to understand what I’m trying to tell you.”
That’s the line of this week. Friend Kellen got the line…
Everyone else blogged this, but I need to as well →
I only sometimes agree with his opinions on journalism, but I loved the conclusion of David Carr’s recent “Fall and Rise of Media” column:
So what do we get instead? The future, which is not a bad…
The jackets I'm briefly tempted to buy →
U2 in Redskins colors, from Fedex Field’s 360 show I saw. U2+Redskins makes no sense and I’d never wear this thing, but it’s briefly tempting. Briefly tempting for totally different reasons? The…
'What Christmas Means to Me' →
There are at least 50-75 better Stevie Wonder songs. Blindfolded, you can drop a bucket anywhere in iTunes and pull 20 far better. This song isn’t even the best on Stevie’s Christmas album. Someday…
Love this bottomless lede →
Topping a NYT theater review from Ben Brantley:
They’re two of the most straight-backed people you have ever seen. But inside their rigid bodies, they’re swooning. And there come those glorious…
My favorite drive of 2009 →
I know the year isn’t over yet, and there could be even better drives in the remaining holi-days. I could find a traffic-empty George Washington Parkway. I could be invited by neighbor play-in to the…
The loneliest lede — and the happier grafs →
“Loneliness is like a disease — and what’s worse, it’s contagious.”
A single-item lede on a story about loneliness! Yes, two independent clauses, but one intention, expressing the themes in narrative…
The USA TODAY lottery winner's story →
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned the passing of Bob Twigg, the USA TODAY staffer before my time who notably won the lottery in 1996. At the time of my post, Twigg’s 1A account of winning wasn’t…
Why I continue to watch 'Scrubs' →
I have mixed impressions of the new Scrubs: Med School reincarnation. The episodes were above the average of the last three seasons (post-JD’s-having-a-baby surprise), but that’s not saying much. The…
Lost in the crowd →
The song I first wanted to blog last night was the one above. Outside is inside, feeling is nothing, emptiness is guitar strum and Caitlin Cary wailing, the rain that comes down is sound enough to…
Not an official Patrick Cooper campaign video →
A kind Birmingham family mistakenly invited me to their Christmas party last week, and I went searching for how they could contact the Patrick Cooper they wanted. I found his site but also found an…
Where pecan pie comes from →
The pumpkin vs. sweet potato battle adds a new contender: pecan. Meghan brings us a photo gallery worthy of National Pie Geographic:
Patrick asked last week for a show of hands from pecan pie people….
'Two vast and trunkless legs' →
Modern, English, devil-dealing blues inverts a schoolboy “Ozymandias” and trades the now-known Arab sand for the local Plynth (Water Down the Drain). A band generation later, the Faces’ Around the…