Author: Chad
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Our Art, Our Lives: On ‘Salty’ and ‘The Last Movie Stars’
When we make our art, we are also making our lives. And I’m sure that the reverse is equally true. That line is from Look & See, the beautiful documentary about the life and work of Wendell Berry. I think about it often, and I thought about it again recently as I feasted on two…
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The Actor’s Vow
“The Actor’s Vow” by Elia Kazan (via The Last Movie Stars on HBO Max): I will take my rightful place on stageand I will be myself.I am not a cosmic orphan.I have no reason to be timid.I will respond as I feel;awkwardly, vulgarly,but respond. I will have my throat open,I will have my heart open,I…
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Recent Views
More photography here and on my Instagram. Watching and waiting: Really proud of capturing this absolutely perfect arc between the moon, basketball, hoop, and sun: The 3 year old and his cousin tearing it up in Michigan: Sandy sunset shadows: Sure, sunset photos are cliché, but damned if I care: Like I said:
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Links of the moment
An ongoing series How to show up for your friends with and without kids. The story of the Minnesota man who invented water skiing 100 years ago. Meet the Texas man keeping Blockbuster alive. Beautiful landscape art made by laser data.
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Let gun violence be your guiding force in Indiana
Magazine mashup of the July/August 2021 issue of Chicago Parent. More mashups here.
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Media of the moment
An ongoing series Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild Story of Mad Max: Fury Road by Kyle Buchanan. An excellent oral history of one of the greatest films ever made. One of the many tidbits: George Miller’s first choice to play Max was Heath Ledger, which I now can’t stop thinking about. The Northman. A…
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On a beach waiting to witness
A poem ⁂ On a beach waiting to witnessworks of fire thundering forth for the Fourth of July,sparklers burst against a cloudy sunset—the flames of liberty burning out fast. Darkness descendsand the main event announces itselfwith flash-bangs against the firmament:Declarations of incandescence,self-evident in their light, loudness, and pursuit of happy viewers. United they fall,a coterie…
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Links of the moment
An ongoing series Clippy is back in this fun WordArt generator. Build your own ocean town with Townscaper. Every morning I do Framed and Actorle. Props to The Ringer for all their Pixar Week content.
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Recent Views
More photography here and on my Instagram. Perusing the pond during an unseasonably cold spring: Bubbles in the backyard: Loved the geometry and colors on this rainy tennis court: Potential album cover for our future father/son band: *heart eyes emoji*: Fun with focus:
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What does that cloud mean?
That was a question from my 3 year old during a recent walk as he was looking at the sky. We’d recently introduced him to the concept of seeing recognizable shapes in clouds, so I’m guessing that’s what he was getting at. But this phrasing was so much more deep, man. Previously in Accidentally Philosophical…
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At home in the Library of Congress
In a delightful convergence of two of my favorite things, Steven Johnson wrote about a research trip to the Library of Congress: Everything about my visit was an object lesson how a government agency can make a public resource available to its citizens in an efficient, useful, and even aesthetically-pleasing fashion. I am generally not…
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Links of the moment
An ongoing series Reading a 2000-year-old postcard. 3-D scans revealed gigantic Native American cave art in Alabama. Get Google search results in reverse-order to see the oldest webpages first. The White House has an official record collection thanks to Jimmy Carter. A breakdown of “the most insane comeback” in Classic Tetris history.
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My son’s media of the moment
A spinoff of an ongoing series Bluey. A not-small number of times after watching an episode I’ve thought, “Was that one of the greatest episodes of TV ever?” Hot take: the only TV shows a kid needs, really, are this and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood—the yin and yang of instructive, high-quality children’s entertainment. Picture books aplenty.…
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My home screen
The funny thing is this looks similar to the last time I shared my home screen, despite having gone through a few different iterations since then. But I landed back at the black wallpaper and (even more) minimalist layout for a few reasons: My recent job change allowed me to delete several apps I didn’t…