2011
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Montaigne On Sympathy
“Montaigne’s general point is clear: that we have an inbuilt propensity for sympathy and understanding, but that proximity matters. And whilst some could see this as a depressing limit on the jurisdiction of our moral sympathies, we can also see…
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Iceland’s Literature Might Go Online
“Þorsteinn Hallgrímsson, formerly of the National Library of Iceland, had a big idea: digitize all Icelandic literature all the way to the current day and make it available to everyone interested in reading it.” Iceland could be the first country…
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The Latest from Egypt
Pro-government supporters are fighting back against demonstrators, and are armed, according to Nick Kristof, with machetes, straight-razors and clubs. Andrew Sullivan looks like he’s turned The Daily Dish over to Egypt roundups all day. If you can’t get Al Jazeerah…
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James Jajac
“I have really young memories of standing at the bus stop with the comic rack at eye level and these beautiful shiny colorful exciting things just staring back at me. It was completely hypnotizing.” Lucus Adams explores the world and…
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A Conversation So Imperfectly Understood
Rosanna Warren’s tautly elegant poetry in her collection Ghost in a Red Hat captivates me. Warren does not aim for obscure language and obstructed meaning; she carefully and clearly reveals her intent in writing her poems.
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The Last Book I Loved: Turtle Diary
The tempting line of thinking for lonely people is that if only there were somebody who’d understand, we could somehow be less alone.
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Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
It is a good day to think about Viking navigation (confession: it is ALWAYS a good day to think about Viking navigation). The wonderful world of generic record sleeves. (via AJAMS.) On frog teeth and re-evolution. Mid-century travel posters are…
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The Rumpus Interview with W. Kamau Bell
W. Kamau Bell wants stand-up comedy to be seen as an art form enjoyed by hip, educated people. He’s on a mission to raise the IQ and literacy of comedy audiences
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Danya Glabau’s Tech Links
Facebook manages my social calendar, and apparently I’m not the only one: a new book proposes that Facebook helps us connect offline. Is it possible to combine social media, popularity contests, and professionalism? A new crop of social websites thinks…
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Rimbaud And Wojnarowicz
“The two men shared a romance with violence and danger. Rimbaud was shot in the wrist by his lover, Paul Verlaine, as he tried to break off their affair. Wojnarowicz was shot at by a drag queen who mistook his…
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The Green Arcade
It’s always exhilarating to stumble on a bookstore in your own city that you never knew existed. Especially a bookstore that is curated specifically around the built environment, ecological sustainability and the intellectual cutting edge. A bookstore that basically only…
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Cendrars, The Extraordinary Daydreamer
Long before David Shields excoriated the strict boundaries between journalism and fiction, espousing, in its place, a loose and open-ended hybrid that is more in keeping with “reality”, a Swiss-born Frenchman with one arm, a Gauloises cigarette forever dangling from…