Yellowball.com has a little teaser site up, with a brief explanation of what we do, and list of job opportunities here. This is fun. I love my job. And if you're interested in coming and working for us, drop me a line!
LINK | 8:56 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Postings are going to be pretty slim here so long as I'm on dialup here. (and off my usual computer with all my bookmarks and everything). I tried to put all my bookmarks on Backflip but they haven't enabled that feature for Macs yet. It's kind of a handy thing since I commonly work on no less than four computers! (two big immobile Macs, and two Windows laptops, need to consolidate the laptops...) Other webapps I've tried recently: un, Blogger, obviously, DeepLeap and DailyRating which I just tried out today. It will send you a form in an email every day so you can keep track of, say, how much you've slept, or exercised, or how your mood is, and graph it over time. It can also, I think, overlay these different graphs so you can see if your mood tallies with the rise and fall of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. You could even sign up your s.o. and graph your moods against each other's. Hmmm.
LINK | 7:54 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Attention writers. Another excellent Writers on Writing piece by Hans Koning in the New York Times. On how to go about writing the "serious" novel, as opposed to what Koning calls the "two fingers of whiskey" novel.
LINK | 12:29 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Infidelity Planning Redux: One married couple that I know has agreed that in the event either one of them has an affair, they are NOT to tell their partner, ever, and that they are to use protection if they do. That's all. The only time one should say anything is in the event that they fall in love and can't stay married any more. I know of several marriages that operate by these principles.

Most of the other people that I've heard from on this issue take the "if you cheat on me, it's over" approach -- which I guess can be considered one form of Infidelity Planning. Others, perhaps the majority, take the "Never say die" stance, believing that to talk about it is to invite it.

I've always thought, why bother being involved with someone you don't trust? One of my friends asked the question, "Are there cheating types and non-cheating types?" I think that there are. I know a few people who have never not cheated on their boyfriends/girlfriends.
LINK | 12:04 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Infidelity Planning. What is the etiquette when you're asked out by someone you know to be married or in a long-term live-in monogamous relationship with someone? Who you like a great deal and would enjoy being friends with, but think they might have something more in mind?

It's kind of weird to ask whether or not the person's partner knows that you are having dinner or not -- that suggests that people in relationships are not autonomous individuals but manacled to one another and required to ask permission for anything that might be construed as even vaguely suspicious, a state of affairs I think should be avoided at all costs. But then again you don't want to be party to a betrayal either, even if it is only in thought and not in deed.

Today I was talking with a friend about our mutual friend's divorce after she'd cheated on her spouse and his response was:

I don't advocate cheating, one way or another, but couldn't she have had the courtesy to not tell him, especially if those dalliances didn't mean anything? Maybe they should have talked about the possibility of this happening in their relationship before they got married, and discussed possible actions/consequences. Nothing every plays out exactly as you expect, but if you try to work these things out (just like personal finance) ahead of time, you're at least facing these things.

Infidelity planning. Not at the top of anyone's list of things to discuss when entering into a relationship, but perhaps it should be?
LINK | 2:36 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

An excellent article by Scott Rosenberg, one of my favorite technology pundits, on Why the music industry has nothing to celebrate with the forced shutdown of Napster. Best article I've read on the subject yet.
LINK | 12:12 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

What is this? What a strange alliance! Sting and Compaq? It doesn't even seem to work. What gives? The Sting Store?
LINK | 12:10 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Also love the Design is Kinky blog.
LINK | 12:01 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Australian INfront. More! lovely! grottiness!
LINK | 11:56 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

When I was working at Organic in the early days we had a running joke about the Pleasure Clones that were having fun on our behalf while we worked all weekend. On Mondays we'd ask them, "Did we have fun? Go to any parties? Did we sleep in? Did we get lucky?" Evan said, well, why didn't you have Work Clones?

Oh. Work clones. Hadn't thought of that. That's a much better idea.
LINK | 11:38 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I've been trying to read Flux : Women on Sex, Work, Kids, Love, and Life in a Half-Changed World but I've grown frustrated with it. The book consists largely of unstructured interviews with women, and the women that Orenstein interviews seem to be particularly unenlightened. Perhaps it was the chapter I was reading last night, but I had a "we have a long way to go, baby" response to it. Nonetheless, I think I'll write a review of it for Wench.
LINK | 8:43 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Really cool pictures from WebZine2000 all taken with a fisheye lens.
LINK | 3:11 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Productivity at Yellowball has been going down since I was introduced to Cabeem.
LINK | 11:04 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Oh. I thought that the discussion we had of the word "Flashturbation" last night was, you know, sui generis, but apparently it appeared on this weblog recently.
LINK | 1:51 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Went last night to Baobab, a Senegalese restaurant only a block from my office. The rare non-attitudinal new restaurant in the Mission. Unfortunately I found this place only after it had become hugely popular, but arriving at 7:30 we had no trouble getting a table. Yum yum.
LINK | 1:17 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ummm. Still don't know how I feel about this design appropriation.....but I send wishes for good health and balm for suffering.
LINK | 12:36 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Over here at House Industries they've got their new font "Chalet" displayed, which, like summer blockbusters, has had a great deal of advance hype preceding it, including a deluxe Flashturbatory site, and now i find that i've succumbed and desperately want -- need -- to buy this font at the earliest available opportunity.
LINK | 10:27 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It aint where ya from it's where ya at. Rakim say peace. Headphones: Eric B. & Rakim Paid in Full. this is just the best.
LINK | 11:48 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hookt on hip hop. I think this has been up for a while (It's in Flash 3) but I just found it.
LINK | 7:19 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Stamina and Originality are all you really need. I'm back on my hour of writing every day regime. Last time I did this I wrote 4 hours a day, wrote a screenplay that was a benchmark of "getting it done" and a pockmark of "is this thing any good?" Must go gently: also building doodad with Emily, and have lots of work work. Up at seven today! good start.

While I'm here turning over new leaves, I should also start flossing regularly.
LINK | 7:09 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Viagra for your Personality. Are your first dates painful experiences full of embarrassing faux pas, humiliating blunders, tongue-tied stupidity? Perhaps Cyrano is what you need. Makes you appear to be continually "on".

(...it'll walk your dog, double on sax... it filets it chops it slices, dices, never stops it lasts a lifetime, mows your lawn; it quits smoking, it's a friend, it's a companion, it's the only product you will ever need...)
LINK | 10:42 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Headphones: Quasi Featuring Birds. These songs are cool, smart, rocking, mellifluous, very indie. I love this album. And these songs would be songs of genius, but for whatever reason they never satisfactorily become songs. Instead of having the standard sort of "intro verse chorus verse chorus bridge verse chorus outro" structure with its infinite variations, the songs are more like "intro 1 intro 2, verse, chorus, bridge outro." They go around once and never repeat and so don't really seem to have any form.

In music, repetition is happiness, is everything. (Cf. Bach, Hank Sr., Jobim, The Supremes, Nirvana...)
LINK | 2:21 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Weekend in summary for those who care: lots of going out. Cocktails at Mark and Alexandra's, sushi at the Voodoo Lounge (good sushi! excellent uni!) Then the last Smokejumpers show at the Tip Top, til late. Big whomping rockabilly punk from a man with diabolical hair. Yeehaw.

Saturday morning, yech. Saturday afternoon: Webzine 2000. I was in the first panel with Rebecca Eisenberg and Emily Hancock Not much time to say much of anything, which perhaps was the problem with almost all of the panels. Great entertaining interstitial monologues of people describing their own peculiar sites. This is the kind of event that gives me faith that the San Francisco that I love will never die a dot com death: freaks and long-hairs, old hippies and geeks and dykes and drag queens and earnest dot commers and reluctant yuppies and a generally grotty creative un-Moscone Center environment and a meeting of minds.

Saturday night: Bollywood by the Bay at the Make Out Room. Outfits! Dancing! Performances! Lots of friends I really wanted to see. Late that night, off to El Rio to see 100 Watt Smile. Woohoo! Sunday brunch and a half-hearted attempt at the Sunday Times crossword puzzle, then alternately sleeping, snoozing, napping, dozing and lying around.
LINK | 11:13 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I just read on a list I'm on that Danes have candy named "sour farts", "wet nappies" and "ear wax". Can this be true ? Likely. There is a hilarious passage in Gravity's Rainbow about the disgusting candy they have in Britain.
LINK | 5:18 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Logo design is the haiku, the 20 yard dash, the pop ditty of design. It's one of the hardest things to do, and what I'm trying to do today, in one day, since some Yellowball people need business cards for a conference they're going to. It's ridiculous! It's like a one night stand that becomes a fifty year marriage, the limerick that stands in for an epic, ... this has *got* to be an interim logo. But maybe inspiration will strike. I'm hoping.
LINK | 2:43 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Those new Apple Harmon Kardon speakers. Love the woofers, but those speakers look like they could double as..... Nevermind. Love the cube.
LINK | 9:03 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I've always been fascinated by the portraits of Alice Neel but knew nothing about her. Here's a brief biography about her very up and down life, descriptions of her gnarly, sexualized paintings, and great quotes like, "I died every day."
LINK | 8:25 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I put up a webcam today, which was a fascinating exercise in vanity. I sat and watched myself all day. I decided I needed a haircut. I decided i looked best from a 3/4 view. It was even better than looking at myself in a mirror, since I could look at myself obliquely while not looking at myself. If you know what I mean. I don't think i'll make it public.
LINK | 7:52 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

New Apple lineup announced, if you can get through on their site. Dual processor G4? yew betcha. I want to see the new cube.
LINK | 12:28 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Here's yet another list I've found of design books you can't live without. Some odd ones in here. Green Eggs and Ham? The Fountainhead? Please. But some standards of the field: Milton Glaser Graphic Design, Principles of Form and Design. I've been coveting the Milton Glaser book for years, and we now have a copy here at Yellowball.
LINK | 8:41 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Finally a chance to watch Kieslowski's The Decalogue last night, parts one and two. Magnificent. The first one, about the man who uses his computer to calculate the thickness of the ice his son will be skating on, was just marvellous, the kid, lovely, funny, touching. The thing I like most about Kieslowski's work is the intimacy of it: film after film is about what happens between two people, and two people only, like Louise Bourgeois says, the "moi and the toi."

While we're on the subject, Louise Bourgeois is one of my very favorite artists, and one of the things that most moves me is this exhibit of her drawings which was shown at the Pacific Film Archives in Berkeley, CA. There is also an associated web site here: Louise Bourgeois: Drawings. Be sure to listen to the recordings of Bourgeois speaking. There is also a magnificent sculpture of hers photographed in this month's ArtForum, and a book that I think everyone should have is Louise Bourgeois : Drawings & Observations.
LINK | 7:36 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Over the weekend, while I was off on a houseboat with 22 friends somewhere in the foothills of the Sierras, I had a dream that I was living in Freud's house, as redecorated by Ernest Jones, who was one of Freud's disciples and one of his biographers. Neither of them were there, but I somehow knew the history of the house. The house was modern, and bright yellow inside, and white outside, full of sunshine. I was later told -- I did not know this -- that during the war, Jones had found a house for Freud in Hampstead, and had brought all of Freud's belongings over from Vienna. The house itself was very airy and sunny, unlike his house in Vienna, which seems from photographs to be terribly dark, cluttered and oppressive. Oddly clairvoyant dream.
LINK | 8:18 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Love these illustrations in The Fray: big brother.
LINK | 7:47 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Madness, provided it comes as a gift from heaven, is the channel by which we receive the greatest blessings.... If a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the Muses, believing that technique alone will make him a great poet, he and his sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the performances of the inspired madman."

--Plato in "Phaedrus," quoted by Jeffrey Meyers in "The Greek Idea of Disease, Madness, and Art"
LINK | 9:16 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Headphones: Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy. Oh yeah.
LINK | 9:01 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Here is the Vitra Design Museum which has, as one might expect, a lovely design. Now what's the matter with those people at the Eames Office? They're really letting us (and Charles and Ray) down. A confusion of type weights, highlighted text, bad photography...
LINK | 7:35 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Next up on the movie list: kieslowski's decalogue. Thanks, lopati. Loved Kieslowski's The Double Life of Veronique as well. Irene Jacobs is just luminous.
LINK | 9:44 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Headphones: Neutral Milk Hotel: On Avery Island. I'm beginning to think that I like this album better than "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea".
LINK | 9:16 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

From Hofstadter's intro to Le Ton Beau de Marot:

If one is lucky, one has the luxury of becoming totally immersed in an artistic project, letting almost all other things go by the wayside -- family, friends, students, colleagues, food, bills, correspondence, neatness, books, music, movies, shopping, and sleep, to give a few examples. The house becomes a pigsty, the kids a bit starved for affection, weight goes down, friends wonder where you are... Fortunately, this monomaniacal state will be transitory, but it seems absolutely necessary, at least in my own case, for the emergence of that overarching frame of mind that allows the project to take on a true unity of purpose and style.

How right he is.
LINK | 3:10 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I really really really need to spend some time at home. Really really. It's a catastrophe here. Haven't unpacked from last weekend, and have to pack for this weekend; dishes in the sink, clothes on the floor, papers everywhere, boxes from work. Agh.
LINK | 12:27 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Headphones: Will Oldham, Guarapero.
LINK | 3:25 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Jason writes with some banjo recommendations:

Arlo Leach just released a new CD inspired by the old Harry Smith collection called Music of My Ancestors. You can find info on it at www.arlotone.com. (Of course, the joke is that these "remastered" recordings are actually new compositions by Arlo himself.)

Also, there is a wonderful cultural analysis of banjos available called "That Half-Barbaric Twang: The Banjo in American Popular Culture" by Karen Linn. It's out of print, but I've seen a copy or two pass through Powells.com and Half.com.

If you're in Chicago, I can't recommend the Old Town School Of Folk Music enough for banjo (and other) lessons. . A venerable old institution.

Went to Amanda's show last night at The Art Institute garage, and had a wonderful time, in spite of the fact that it was boiling hot and there was nothing to eat. Ran into lots of people as I generally do at these things. Didn't like much of the art though, besides Amanda's work, which I'd seen many times before. Amanda sold 5 paintings, which was wonderful. She looked fabulous. Shana looked fabulous. Jennifer looked fabulous. It was a night for being fabulous. Jim had some fabulous new shoes.

About 7 of us went out for some italian food with , where Jennifer told me stories of her month in Japan, the girls in Tokyo on 10-inch platforms and tiny skirts and blue hair -- geishas all over again. Then to Tosca, where we didn't have a drink, but looked at JJ's sketchbook full of drawings and puns "The Gladiator was glad he ate her..." On the way home Tim said that there had been an interesting new development at work. One of the secretaries there, a really nice woman, about 20 or so, said that she was going to be gone for an operation. She was gone for two days. When she got back she had new breasts. Now, Tim said, what should I say? How did your operation go? How are you feeling? Nice breasts? Should I say anything at all?

Apparently the way that operation is done is they remove your nipple, shove the thing in there, and stretch your skin over it all, sewing the nipple back on again. And when you die, since silicone doesn't biodegrade, your coffin is full of dust and two little jelly sacs, forever and ever and ever. Think of all the coffins in Southern California...
LINK | 9:38 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Today I am listening to Sasha's album, Hell Among the Yearlings by Gillian Welch, which kind of sounds like Appalachian folk music. I just adore this album. Last year I traded a bunch of CDs for The Anthology of American Folk Music which was a CD reissue of Harry Smith's collection from 1959. It was the bible of folk singers in the 60s such as Dylan and Baez. I stayed up three nights in a row listening to it, eschewing sleep for the sake of listening to that weird old music, some of the songs dating back to the Middle Ages. I've been looking for a cheap 5 string banjo ever since. Any leads?
LINK | 2:53 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Today I received my copy of Le Ton Beau de Marot which I can't wait to read. Of course, I haven't really finished Hofstadter's other book Metamagical Themas yet. This is the poem by Clement Marot, a little known Renaissance poet, that inspired Hofstadter's exploration of language and translation. (thank you Stewart)

A une Damoyselle malade
Octobre, 1537

Ma mignonne,
Je vous donne
Le bon jour;
Le séjour
C'est prison.
Guérison
Recouvrez,
Puis ouvrez
Votre porte
Et qu 'on sorte
Vitement,
Car Clément
Le vous mande.
Va, friande
De ta bouche,
Qui se couche
En danger
Pour manger
Confitures;
Si tu dures
Trop malade,
Couleur fade
Tu prendras,
Et perdras
L'embonpoint.
Dieu te doint
Santé bonne,
Ma mignonne.
LINK | 6:30 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Last night I saw one of the loveliest movies I have seen in recent weeks, Red directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski. I can't believe no one ever told me to see this movie. A woman runs over a dog, and takes it back to its owner, who turns out to be a nasty, mean old man who eavesdrops on the phone conversations of his neighbors. Over the course of the movie, her contact with him transforms him from a spiritually dead man to a warm and loving being. There are a lot of lovely subplots concerning the adventures and misadventures of the people that he has been eavesdropping on. And at the end, pure beauty: a puppy, a shipwreck and the look of love and worry on the face of the old man. I saw it just before bed, and woke dreaming about the lovely old man.
LINK | 5:21 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

And also, Summertime Dues by Walter Kirn, "Neither leisure nor study can replace that great American tradition, the pointless summer job."

We talked about our respective summer jobs on the ride up to the Coloma Valley. Evan worked on his family's farm irrigating corn and beans; I worked at the Lincoln Park Nursing Home feeding people who couldn't feed themselves. It was a terrible place, the smell of urine, cries of pain, the deafening roar of soap operas turned up to their maximum volume and a terrible pervasive despair. A warehouse for the old and incontinent. My mother sent me there to teach me compassion because my beloved grandmother, Lola, was very ill, and because she never wanted me to put her in one of those places. It was the first time that I ever felt needed, I think, the first time anyone ever depended on me for more than babysitting their toddlers. When people depended on me for conversation, and kindness and, sadly, love. No one's families ever came to visit them there. I don't remember one family visit during my three summers there. I would feel guilty leaving at the end of the summer. And people dying, every day.
LINK | 9:07 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Away for the weekend, rafting on the American River. Terrific fun! Camped right on the river at our guide's house. Returned dirty and tired and happy.

Rem Koolhaas Builds. Finally. Seemed to be spending all his time writing about architecture. Which is kind of like dancing about architecture...
LINK | 8:58 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I've noticed that the caterina.net interestingness ratio has an inverse relationship to the interestingness of my offline life, at least along the introversion/extroversion divide.
LINK | 12:07 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A lovely photo essay about the decline of farmhouses in the Midwest on the PBS web site DEATH OF THE DREAM
LINK | 10:57 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

An article related to both the "Love Lab" and the FACS articles below, Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker article, The New-Boy Network in which an experimental psychologist, Nalini Ambady relates how people viewing 2 seconds of a videotape were able to judge a professor's effectiveness, and how, in a job interview, it's all decided with the handshake. And yet...
LINK | 8:15 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

An article in Lingua Franca called Inside the Love Lab about Seattle psychologist John Gottman's move from research scientist to pop culture self-help guru. There was an article in the New York Times Magazine recently written by a writer who went with his wife to be videotaped at Gottman's so-called "Love Lab." Apparently the guy can predict with 85% certainty whether or not a couple with be together in 6 years from watching 15 minutes of video tape, and, frighteningly, 75% certainty from watching only 3 minutes of tape.

Also, a fascinating study of facial "microexpressions" -- how we give ourselves away with tiny twitches of facial muscles. Do you scrunch up your eyes when you smile?
LINK | 7:53 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

For all your writers out there, a lovely little essay by Walter Mosley about writing a little bit every day, and why you have to do it.
LINK | 7:08 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Invertebrae: a "design education site" with more links than you can shake a stick at. click on "Cover Gallery" -- it seems as if every designer on the web has produced a cover here. And yet they look so similar!
LINK | 9:35 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ah, beautiful design and photography. Tiny type that is anti-aliased (which now seems a novelty), black and white and grey, some of my favorite colors. Oooh! Aaahhh!
LINK | 10:54 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Following some links rough the Royal College of Art pages, I found prototype world, a collaborative space. pretty nifty looking avatars there, cubic robot style.

Read Harriet the Spy again today, which was one of my favorite books when I was about 9, along with A Room made of Windows and From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler. An almost forgotten pleasure: reading a book in one sitting.
LINK | 7:55 PM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

From the California Museum of Photography, Frame by Frame, short gif animations presented as "movies": people spinning in circles, getting thrown off a balcony, putting on and taking off sunglasses, throwing kisses. Stories in 4-12 frames.
LINK | 10:49 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Went to the Justice League last night to see DannyB's movie turntables. Just a year ago, he was putting a digital editing system together; nary 12 months later, a movie appears. Amazing. The movie was cute and funny and fun. Bravo!

After the movie, there were a couple of real Fred Astaires out there on the dance floor; one guy in particular, dressed in the world's loudest plaid pants, was really laying down the moves. I don't think he was affiliated with the turntables crowd at all, but had just shown up to dance. He was in his own world out there. Another guy later in the evening was throwing out some risky motions and Break Dancing!
LINK | 10:07 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tom sends me a link to Jessamyn's Barn. What a beautiful thing it is! That's my dream house.
LINK | 9:42 AM |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .