AH!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Kissaten
"Today, the kissaten are disappearing, replaced by Western-style chain
stores and a growing market of home brewing. Still, there are around
80,000 kissaten left in Japan, which are easy to spot in Tokyo. They’re
usually small and moody, and have the feel of a bar (stools at a long
counter, sunlight kept to a minimum) or a diner (vinyl booths from
another decade, lace curtains in the windows). Kissaten are not built
for speed — you go to one to collect your thoughts, not for a quick
caffeine hit. After you sit down, a waiter shuffles over and puts an
ashtray in front of you, then wanders away to give you time to light up
before coming back to ask for your order."
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
P and L
"People ask me about profits," he says.
"But you don't know about profits if you're doing something that nobody has tried before."
-Masuda on Tsutaya Books, Daikanyama District. Monocle Feb '12.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Stop motion
-?
To blend in where the locals go whilst subtly acting out a role of an estranged traveler in the many intriguing cities of this world.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Letters from the grave
-Richard Feynman
"And now it is clearly even more true — you can give me nothing now yet I love you so that you stand in my way of loving anyone else — but I want you to stand there. You, dead, are so much better than anyone else alive."
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Blackbird
“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."
—F. Scott Fitzgerald
—F. Scott Fitzgerald
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Alberto
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.”
—Albert Einstein
—Albert Einstein
Monday, February 13, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Propagandist
Atheism 2.0
Title is somewhat misleading, as it explores the middle ground and compromise that can be achieved between religion and atheism. Beautifully spoken nonetheless, particularly for an agnostic like myself.
"...you may not agree with religion, but at the end of the day, religions are so subtle, so complicated, so intelligent in many ways that they're not fit to be abandoned to the religious alone; they're for all of us."
Profundity
Wabi and Sabi: The Aesthetics of Solitude
"Wabi-sabi, as a tool for contemplation and a philosophy of life, may now have an unforeseen relevance as an antidote to the rampant unraveling of the very social fabric which has held [us] together for so long. Its tenets of modesty and simplicity encourage a disciplined unity while discouraging overindulgence in the physical world. It gently promotes a life of quiet contemplation and a gentle aesthetic principle that underscores a meditative approach. Wabi-sabi demotes the role of the intellect and promotes an intuitive feel for life where relationships between people and their environments should be harmonious. By embodying the spirit to remind itself of its own mortality, it can elevate the quality of human life in a world that is fast losing its spirituality."
"Wabi-sabi, as a tool for contemplation and a philosophy of life, may now have an unforeseen relevance as an antidote to the rampant unraveling of the very social fabric which has held [us] together for so long. Its tenets of modesty and simplicity encourage a disciplined unity while discouraging overindulgence in the physical world. It gently promotes a life of quiet contemplation and a gentle aesthetic principle that underscores a meditative approach. Wabi-sabi demotes the role of the intellect and promotes an intuitive feel for life where relationships between people and their environments should be harmonious. By embodying the spirit to remind itself of its own mortality, it can elevate the quality of human life in a world that is fast losing its spirituality."
Friday, February 10, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Gunung
You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.
-Rene Daumal
Absenthe
"I want to be a poet, and I am working to make myself a seer: you will not understand this, and I don’t know how to explain it to you. It is a question of reaching the unknown by a derangement of all the senses."
-Arthur Rimbaud
-Arthur Rimbaud
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Four in hand
James Bond never trusted a man who boasted a Windsor Knot; "It was tied with a Windsor knot. Bond mistrusted anyone who tied his tie with a Windsor knot. It showed too much vanity. It was often the mark of a cad." -From Russia With Love
Always a four-in-hand knot...
Always a four-in-hand knot...
Gold standard
Nostalgia is denial - denial of the painful present... the name for this denial is golden age thinking - the erroneous notion that a different time period is better than the one ones living in - its a flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present.
-Midnight in Paris
How frighteningly true in some ways...
Striking 12
“This is the beauty of literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald
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