The elements of the Periodic Table, personified as illustrated heroes. An irreverent take on chemistry from Japanese artist Bunpei Yorifuji.
Archive for October, 2012
Liwa postcard
We spent our Eid al-Adha break, Thursday to Sunday, at the famous oasis at Liwa, about 150 km from Abu Dhabi to the southwest. A crescent of date palms and other green brush that stretches for about 100 km from east to west, the Liwa oasis is the traditional home of the Bani Yas tribe, […]
I am freeking out.
How did this happen? How is this presidential race so close now, after months of Mitt Romney stumbling and bumbling his way through a zillion gaffes? I just can’t believe that we’re down to the wire like this, that Mitt — he who refuses to release tax returns!, who changes his position the way some […]
NWBW October 2012 mix: Parallelisme (How far to L.A.?)
Nathan and I have embarked on a Waterman Bros musical correspondence. For the last month we’ve been sending each other tracks, loosely responding to what the other sends but also just exchanging the best or weirdest of what we’re listening to at the moment. From that archive we’ve distilled an hour-long mix for your pleasure, […]
Top 5 bits of advice for first-time readers of Moby-Dick
In my line of work it’s fairly common to come across people who’ve started Moby-Dick but found themselves stalled somewhere along the way: in the details of the ship, the proliferation of supporting characters, the intimate chronicle of whale-parts and boiling blubber. That’s to be expected. It’s not supposed to be an easy read. Right […]
Make love not war
Some days I am haunted by the “for richer or poorer, sickness and health” dichotomies of the marriage vow. Some days the good to bad range extends to unreasonable expectations. This was one of those days. “So let me get this straight. You wear a red vinyl penis on the outside of your clothes, use a walker […]
The adventures of Whitman
This page by Dave Morice is from my favorite entry so far in Graphic Canon vol. 2, which arrived with yesterday’s mail.
Settling in has its price
I had one week with my daughter in Paris to settle her in before she started her freshman year of college. It was a constellation of connection and closeness along with misunderstandings and frustrations, the need for separation sitting with us both. The weather was gorgeous and we went out to see the sights and […]
i am not a hipster.
I think that we can all agree that Silverlake, Brooklyn, and Foodies have all jumped the hipster shark. Here are some of the finer examples of hipsterism gone overboard: “Ruth Bourdain” is the nom-de-text of a hilarious critic of foodie-ism. Observe her recent snark here: Last night, on our way to a Dodger game with […]
