Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Slice of pie
"I have less time, less tolerance for bullshit, more interest in good taste, more confidence in my own judgment. The culture with which I surround myself is a reflection of my personality and the circumstances of my life, which is in part how it should be."
–
Nick Hornby
Monday, December 19, 2011
Sprouts
"If I really wanted the music to go there, the best way would be to listen. This is a science of 'Listening'. It has far more to do with what I can perceive than what it is that I can do. So if I want the music to get to a certain level of intensity, the first step for me is to be patient, to listen to what's going on and pull from something that's going on around me. When you do that, you engage and inspire the other musicians and they give you more, and gradually it builds...
...It's a totally different experience when I'm pulling ideas. It's much more organic. It's much more nuanced. It's not about bullying my vision or anything like that. It's about being here in the moment and accepting one another, and allowing creativity to flow."
Double up
"I was met by immaculate specimens of young American womanhood, holding silver trays and flashing perfect dentition. What would I like? I thought a gin and tonic would meet the case. 'Sir, that would be inappropriate.' 'In what respect?' 'At this altitude gin would be very much more toxic than at ground level.' In that case, I said, make it a double."
- Christopher Hitchens
- Christopher Hitchens
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Mr Mr
-?
Le Corbusier & Albert Einstein.
Had to look up the guy on the left. This is quite a cool photo capturing the mingling ideas of Arts & Science, if you think about it...
Monday, December 12, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Rock Rolla
"It’s not so much that I like retro shit. I just like classic shit."
Fantastic band topped with steeze.
Don't be poppin'
Dressing "naturally" is seriously difficult business, but it shouldn't be stressful. Anyone can pile on a ton of in-your-face clothing and stand out from the crowd. But what's really impressive is the guy who looks comfortable in his clothes and like he dresses effortlessly. If you don't enjoy dressing, everyone can tell. I promise.
Think about the stuff we typically call "basic": grey suit, navy blazer, dark brown shoes, etc. Nothing flashy, nothing complicated. At least at first glance. You quickly come to realize though, that a seemingly obvious descriptor like "dark brown" means literally hundreds of nuanced possibilities. And if you ask five other guys, you'll get at least ten opinions on which dark brown is "right." It takes time to learn these things, and for the sartorially-minded man the journey is never really over. If you think you're going to master it over night, you're missing the point already. And most importantly, there's no rush.
When just starting out, you'll hear you need a navy tie. "If you only have one tie in your wardrobe, it should be a plain navy tie," or some such nonsensical aphorism will be thrown your way. So you go out and buy a decent-quality navy tie. It's not bad, and you like it just fine for a while. But over time, you'll start to realize that "navy tie" is just as vague as "grey suit." Should I have bought a grenadine instead of a plain twill? Is the width exactly right? Is it too shiny for day wear or too matte for the evening? You can always find more details to obsess over.
They key is not to stress out over it. Whether it's a tie or a pair of shoes, they're just clothes after all. Enjoy the process of learning. If you could ever get a complete handle over your wardrobe, dressing would become formulaic and boring - Garanimals for adults. Over time you'll learn what tie width suits you best, how you like your shoes polished, the proper way for a lapel to roll, and a million other little things that become second nature faster than you'd think. And every time one thing becomes common sense, two new issues will pop up.
But that's why you can really enjoy your clothes - there's always something new. Don't worry about them. Enjoy thinking about them, doing research before purchases, living in the clothes you own, and avoid, at all costs, making the process seem like studying for an exam. Dressing is an ongoing process, and a thoroughly enjoyable one at that. Treat it as such.
Scratchy repeat
-Harnessing the Power of Feedback Loops, Wired Mag.
"But fear, it turns out, is a poor catalyst for sustained behavioral change. After all, biologically our fear response girds us for short-term threats. If nothing threatening actually happens, the fear dissipates. If this happens too many times, we end up simply dismissing the alarms."
"So feedback loops work. Why? Why does putting our own data in front of us somehow compel us to act? In part, it’s that feedback taps into something core to the human experience, even to our biological origins. Like any organism, humans are self-regulating creatures, with a multitude of systems working to achieve homeostasis. Evolution itself, after all, is a feedback loop, albeit one so elongated as to be imperceptible by an individual. Feedback loops are how we learn, whether we call it trial and error or course correction. In so many areas of life, we succeed when we have some sense of where we stand and some evaluation of our progress. Indeed, we tend to crave this sort of information; it’s something we viscerally want to know, good or bad. As Stanford’s Bandura put it, “People are proactive, aspiring organisms.” Feedback taps into those aspirations. "
"But fear, it turns out, is a poor catalyst for sustained behavioral change. After all, biologically our fear response girds us for short-term threats. If nothing threatening actually happens, the fear dissipates. If this happens too many times, we end up simply dismissing the alarms."
"So feedback loops work. Why? Why does putting our own data in front of us somehow compel us to act? In part, it’s that feedback taps into something core to the human experience, even to our biological origins. Like any organism, humans are self-regulating creatures, with a multitude of systems working to achieve homeostasis. Evolution itself, after all, is a feedback loop, albeit one so elongated as to be imperceptible by an individual. Feedback loops are how we learn, whether we call it trial and error or course correction. In so many areas of life, we succeed when we have some sense of where we stand and some evaluation of our progress. Indeed, we tend to crave this sort of information; it’s something we viscerally want to know, good or bad. As Stanford’s Bandura put it, “People are proactive, aspiring organisms.” Feedback taps into those aspirations. "
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Human condition
Don’t Give Me What I Want
-By TERRY TOM BROWN
Snippets:
-By TERRY TOM BROWN
Snippets:
Constructing a brightly colored nest works wonders for the bowerbird. Clownfish will actually change their sex in the right setting. Bonobo chimpanzees display their physical interest in one another directly and ceaselessly, performing sex acts as greetings.
Perhaps humans have simply entered a new stage of evolution in which we have abandoned chocolates, door holding, flowers or any overt gesture of interest for a new and unnatural order of things.
“The smartest thing you can do is play hard to get”...
...I began to think how ridiculous it is that our most useful allure is resistance and that our natural reaction is to push away someone who shows that he cares.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Intercon.
"We say a person is a person through other persons. You can't be a human in isolation. You are human only in relationships."
-Desmond Tutu, on the meaning of the word "Ubuntu", a noun to speak about what it means to be human.
-Desmond Tutu, on the meaning of the word "Ubuntu", a noun to speak about what it means to be human.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Body jerk
“This fall I think you're riding for — it's a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn't permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling. The whole arrangement's designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn't supply them with. Or they thought their own environment couldn't supply them with. So they gave up looking. They gave it up before they ever really even got started.
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye.My mind's playing tricks on me...
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Makan makan
"When you eat, you let your guard down and open up. It's a very intimate experience. The relationships you have with people pre- and post-meal are two different relationships. Maybe it is very subtle, but once you share a meal with someone there is more chance they will share intimate knowledge with you"
-Saad Mohseni, My Last Meal, Monocle Sept 2011.
-Saad Mohseni, My Last Meal, Monocle Sept 2011.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
24 / 9 / 2011
"... recommends using a lighter roasted coffee with a higher acidity rather than a darker, more bitter roast for a "luscious, soft, and supple" result. The resulting flavor and body of a cup of cold brew is the exact opposite of what you get in a cup of espresso."
Voltan
A Malaysian cafe somewhere, slightly Melbourne-sque.
High ceilings and bare hanging bulbs will always do it for me.
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