In his post on the emotional intelligence of long experience, Alan Jacobs spotlights a letter from the great 18th century writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson to his younger friend, who at one point thought he had said something to offend Johnson: You are not to imagine that my friendship is light enough to be blown … Continue reading Hope to love you long
Lowercase truths
Bret Stephens, in a column on the New York Times’s 1619 Project: Journalists are, most often, in the business of writing the first rough draft of history, not trying to have the last word on it. We are best when we try to tell truths with a lowercase t, following evidence in directions unseen, not … Continue reading Lowercase truths
Send everyone all your vibe
Magazine mashup from the Shutterfly 2020 Cards & Gifts catalog. More mashups here.
Hand in hand
Did some hand tracing with Mr. 21 Months, which reminded me of a picture I took of us last year while on a walk. Using a crayon made our hands look chunkier than they really are, but little man’s hand in the picture was just as chunky as it looks.
Our flag was still there
I took this picture of my library’s flagpole not long before a sudden and severe thunderstorm tore through the area, which is evident in the ominous clouds and shadows obscuring the otherwise vibrant colors on the flag. This view brought to mind the final lines of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, which I pondered a few years … Continue reading Our flag was still there
A cheerful failure
For Filmspotting's latest poll, they ask which of the provided movie failures you are the biggest cheerleader for. The criteria: “These are movie ‘failures’ that paired well-respected, ‘auteurist’ filmmakers with existing properties—and high expectations—resulting in significant disappointments critically and (usually) at the box office.” Check out the poll for all the options. I’ve only actually … Continue reading A cheerful failure
Media of the moment
An ongoing series on books, movies, and music I’ve encountered recently. Portrait of a Lady on Fire. 🔥 Watchmen (TV show). This whole limited series is something special, but the three-episode stretch of "This Extraordinary Being", "An Almost Religious Awe", and "A God Walks Into Abar" is spectacular. I went into this basically as a … Continue reading Media of the moment
Pick up your kid
There’s a post by Jason Kottke I’ve thought about almost every day since he wrote it last year. He links to an animated version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, then reminisces about reading picture books with his now-older kids: We’ll likely never read any of those books together again. It reminds me of one of … Continue reading Pick up your kid
Are You Paying Attention? On ‘The Social Dilemma’ and ‘My Octopus Teacher’
I don't have to go looking for synchronicity because it always finds me. This time it was on Netflix. The other day I watched Netflix's new docu-drama The Social Dilemma (trailer) based on the recommendation from a friend and a lively text thread about its implications. The film's thesis is that social networks are engineered … Continue reading Are You Paying Attention? On ‘The Social Dilemma’ and ‘My Octopus Teacher’
An Iceberg to Remember
One of my favorite books of all time is Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember, a retelling of the Titanic’s demise. I finally got around to watching Roy Ward Baker’s 1958 film adaptation of the book on a beautiful Criterion Blu-ray from the library, and it got me wondering: what about the iceberg? In both … Continue reading An Iceberg to Remember