I keep track of every media thing I “consume”, so here are quick reviews of some things I’ve read, seen, heard, and exp
Three Takes on Jony Ive Leaving Apple
The first is by John Gruber at Daring Fireball:
Ive is, to state the obvious, preternaturally talented. But in the pos
The Hayflick Limit
Biology is one field I don’t know supremely well, having had a couple of college courses and then mostly just public t
The Origin of Everything (The Bagel)
Dan Nosowitz digs into the genealogies of bagel-making to find and define the true (i.e., disputed) origin of the ever
Daft Punk Live DJ Sets from the 90s
From the Flow State newsletter — “every weekday, we send out two hours of music that’s perfect for working” — comes a c
Highlights from Normal People by Sally Rooney
Based on a recommendation from *gestures around at almost everyone*, I started and finished Sally Rooney’s Normal Peop
Emma Willard, America’s First Female Mapmaker
At The Paris Review, historian Ted Widmer highlights the work of Emma Willard, pioneering educator and America’s fir
30 Years of New York Drawings
Since her first trip in 1988, UK artist Lucinda Rogers has been traveling to NYC to draw the city and its inhabitant
Two-Hour Mixtape from Boards of Canada
Boards of Canada haven’t released an album since 2013 so this is a welcome development: a two-hour mixtape by the duo t
Art Zoom
Google Arts & Culture, with expertise from music video geniuses La Blogothèque, have produced a series of videos th
Restoring Vintage Toys to Like-New Condition
A few months ago, I posted this video showing the restoration of a Hot Wheels car from 1971. Then today via Open Cultur
The 50 Best Memoirs of the Last 50 Years
The NY Times has compiled a list of the best memoirs published since 1969. Here are a few that caught my eye:
Persepol
How Art Arrived at Jackson Pollock
From Evan Puschak, this explanation of how art went from almost fully representational painting to abstract impression
“I Want to Make Beautiful Things, Even if Nobody Cares”
Saul Bass is one of the most celebrated designers of movie posters and title sequences in the short history of cinema.
Sesame Street Tiny Desk Concert
To celebrate their 50th anniversary, the Sesame Street gang dropped by NPR for one of their Tiny Desk Concerts. They s
How to Shoot TV Commercials with Robots
Visual engineer Steve Giralt constructs bespoke robotic cameras to capture unusual scenes for TV commercials, many of w
A Documentary on Jim Henson’s Creative Life
Defunctland has produced a six-part documentary series on Jim Henson. Each episode focuses on a different creative proj
Mario Royale
Mario Royale (now renamed DMCA Royale to skirt around Nintendo’s intellectual property rights) is a battle royale game
The Marvelous Mississippi River Meander Maps
I have long admired the Mississippi River meander maps designed by Army Corps of Engineers cartographer Harold Fisk b
Amish Vacation Snaps
From Dina Litovsky, photos of Amish and Mennonite families on their annual Florida getaway. Her photos were recently
The (Continuing) Case for Reparations
Five years after The Atlantic published his The Case for Reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates spoke before a House committee a
Summer, Summer, Summertime
We interrupt your regularly scheduled flow of fine hypertext products for a short program note or two. Here’s your soun
Uncompetitive Purposefulness and Infinity Cake
In her post about the book The White Cat and the Monk, Maria Popova uses this great phrase, “uncompetitive purposefulne
Photo Wake-Up
Researchers at the University of Washington and Facebook have developed an algorithm that can “wake up” people depicte
100 People Share What Drugs They’ve Done
The Cut asked 100 people what drugs they have done and this is what they said.
Lots of alcohol, weed, mushrooms, and m
30 Films You Should Watch According to Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan will be out with his latest film next year, Tenet. To celebrate, IndieWire has collected a list of 30
Up in the Trees
Amongst much fine work on his website and Instagram, Manuelo Bececco’s photos of forest canopies are my favorites. An
100 Fun Facts About Language
To celebrate their 100th episode, The Allusionist podcast shared 100 Things We’ve Learned About Language from The Allus
Beautiful Maps of the Solar System’s Asteroids and the Topography of Mercury
Remember how last week I told you about Eleanor Lutz’s An Atlas of Space?
Over the past year and a half I’ve been work
That’s My Jazz
That’s My Jazz is a short documentary by Ben Proudfoot about world class pastry chef Milton Abel II, who reminisces
The Apollo 11 Mission in Realtime
Well, this is just flat-out fantastic. Ben Feist and a team of collaborators have built Apollo 11 In Real Time, an int
The Best Books of 2019 (So Far)
It started in mid-April, barely 3 and 1/2 months into the year. To hit expectant readers before Memorial Day with sugge
Jurassic Park but With Pee-Wee Herman in Place of the T-Rex
This is gold — a perfect 30 seconds of entertainment. I have watched this at least 10 times and Pee-Wee rolling around
Doris Burke Is Too Good For Her Job
David Remnick writes what everyone knows: “the best broadcaster in the [NBA] is Doris Burke. This has been the case no
The Biggest Nonmilitary Effort in the History of Human Civilization
Charles Fishman has a new book, One Giant Leap, all about NASA’s Apollo program to land an astronaut on the moon. He t
How Do You Feel About the American Flag?
In Flag Code, Karen Good Marable shares her experience of the American flag growing up and in the wake of the 2016 elec
Curved Cityscape Panoramas
As a long-time fan of BERG’s Here & There projection map of Manhattan (and Inception), these bendy photos of Russ
Frida Kahlo Speaks
The National Sound Library of Mexico says they have found the only known audio recording of Frida Kahlo’s voice. Take a
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