Uhoh, two What I Read This Weeks in a row. Eeeww, their butts are touching! (I joke.) New: I added one-off things I’m listening to in my headphones. Oh god, you guys. Did I do anything besides read this week?!?
- Branded but ‘independent’ media – The pros and cons of trying to do real journalism at a non-media company by Ann Friedman, “If you do take the leap, don’t expect any more stability than you had at your old-media job. “In the end, Tumblr decided it didn’t work, for reasons we’re not sure of,” Bennett says. “The truth is, I don’t have any regrets about going to work for Tumblr. Getting to experiment in this space—even if it ultimately led to being unemployed after barely a year—was way more exciting than watching budgets shrink, ad pages shrink, and everything else that has happened at old media outlets like Newsweek over the past year.”
- My Thoughts on This Whole Danny Brown Oral Sex Thing – Bad Advice… with Kitty Pryde, “…Danny is great and I want him to have fans that appreciate his intelligence and also fans that will show him their boobs. I want him to have everything he wants, because he’s my friend. …I’m mad that a person thought it was okay to pull another person’s pants down during their performance in front of about 700 other people. I’m mad that a person thought it was a good idea to perform a sex act on another person without their consent. ”
- coincidence from marginamia, “And because I’m at a point in my healing where just leaping and doing what I want with honesty and courage is important. because if I can’t do this here when the consequences are so … inconsequential (someone laughs? someone thinks I’m crazy or narcissistic or that I fancy myself a real writer? I don’t give someone what they expect?) then when?”
- a connection from the sphinx & the milky way, “I want to create and experience a closeness, maybe not a comfortable one, but something honest. To give something, and to receive something of the same cloth. …that in art, in relationships, in life… we crave connection. We want a witness.”
- The Friday Night Pie – Why are we flaking? pie chart by Ann Friedman
- He made me his drug mule – Twenty years after I almost went to jail, I found the guy responsible on Facebook — and something amazing happened
- Stay Curious: An Interview With Molly Ringwald by Maude Apatow, “What do you get out of writing that you don’t get out of acting? MR: Well, first of all, you get to play all the parts, which is great. And coming from a long career of having to do what other people tell me to do, it’s nice to have control over what you’re making.”
- I Am Rihanna’s Hairstylist, “When I told Ri the salon was finally happening, she was like, “Bitch … it’s about time.” She’s incredibly supportive and generous.”
- The Disapproval Matrix by Ann Friedman, “Frenemies: Ooooh, this quadrant is tricky. These people really know how to hurt you, because they know you personally or know your work pretty well. But at the end of the day, their criticism is not actually about your work—it’s about you personally. …Dishonorable mention goes to The Hater Within, aka the irrational voice inside you that says you suck, which usually falls into this quadrant. Tell all of these fools to sit down and shut up.”
- How Plant a Kiss Day Saved My Life by Sherry Richert Belul, “In the midst of sadness, anxiety, upheaval, and loss, we all desperately need moments of unexpected joy. It is what heals our cells.”
- Listened: Ammbush – Ammbaataa (Album) by swtbrds
- Would Anna Settle for a Safety Pin?, “Can any of them get punk just right? “The one woman who could is Cher,” said Mr. Silver. “She wore a Mohawk to get an Oscar.” One can only dream.”
- Lightning bolt panties, power-positions & promises kept — 30+ Confidence Vitamins to pump you UP! by Alexandra Franzen
- Listened: 14 Choppa [Feat A$AP Rocky & Danny Brown] (Prod By 808 Mafia)
- The Brown Sisters, Group Portraits of 4 Sisters Taken Every Year For 36 Years by Nicholas Nixon, “Using an 8×10-inch view camera, American photographer Nicholas Nixon began shooting lovely black and white portraits of the Brown Sisters: his wife Bebe and her sisters, Heather, Mimi and Laurie, in 1975. They decided to make it an annual tradition and were photographed together for 36 straight years (until 2010).”
- Watched: RATS on YouTube, “The dogs are mostly Terriers and so the primary purported purpose of the group is to maintain the instincts these animals were originally bred for, namely hunting vermin. There is, of course, the added benefit of rat extermination that accompanies a successful expedition.”
- Watched: True Facts About the Introvert, A Parody of Ze Frank by Pleated-Jeans
- I’m still here: back online after a year without the internet by Paul Miller, “In fact, most things I was learning could be realized with or without an internet connection — you don’t need to go on a yearlong internet fast to realize your sister has feelings. … I abandoned my positive offline habits, and discovered new offline vices. Instead of taking boredom and lack of stimulation and turning them into learning and creativity, I turned toward passive consumption and social retreat. …It’s hard to say exactly what changed. I guess those first months felt so good because I felt the absence of the pressures of the internet. My freedom felt tangible. But when I stopped seeing my life in the context of “I don’t use the internet,” the offline existence became mundane, and the worst sides of myself began to emerge.”
- The Restaurant Critic Hits the Road by Pete Wells, “Loyal readers, and loyal New Yorkers, will notice that this is the second time in three weeks that I have left my home stadium for an away game. Just what kind of stunt I am trying to pull here? I think it’s time for the restaurant critic of The Times to cast a wider net.”
- Kareem: 20 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Was 30 by Kareem Abdul-Jabar, “Being right is not always the right thing to be. Kareem, my man, learn to step away. You think being honest immunizes you from the consequences of what you say. …Don’t be so quick to judge…. You have to weigh the glee of satisfaction you get from arrogantly rejecting people with the inevitable sadness of regret you’ll eventually feel for having been such a dick. ”
- Lil Wayne Hospitalized for Seizure Again on Pitchfork
- A Fresh Angle on Dwelll.com, Surrounded on all sides by a sweeping Canadian hayfield, the 23.2 House is an angular ode to rural life. Out of “respect for the beams and their history,” Designer Omer Arbel insisted that not a single reclaimed plank—still marked by nailheads and chipped paint—be cut nor altered during construction, which gave the home its striking geometric motif.
- The 13 Creepiest Things A Child Has Ever Said To A Parent
- Zero Tolerance Watch: Teen Faces Felony Charges for Science Experiment, “Three more details in this story from the Lakeland Ledger: She mixed the chemicals outside rather than indoors, she didn’t leave the area afterwards, and according to police she “said she thought the materials would produce only smoke, not an explosion.”
- Who speaks for the women of Wikipedia? Not the women of Wikipedia., “By ignoring all of the women already on Wikipedia, it is as if we are all invisible. As if all of the contributions, hard work, and debates we already contribute are utterly disregarded. Also, assuming that the women of Wikipedia haven’t thoughtfully considered many of these difficult questions about female representation and categorization, raised them on the site, and wrestled with them is insulting and, frankly, disheartening to the many of us that are here.”
- After the Show: The Many Faces of the Performer by Scott Barry Kaufman, “These three seeming contradictions — energy/rest, extroversion/introversion, and openness/sensitivity — are not separate phenomena but are intimately related to one another and along with other traits form the core of the creative performer’s personality.”
- How To Be Gracious, and Why – In business, the little things — a favor acknowledged , a favor returned, proper introductions, smiles, attentiveness — are really the big thing by Tom Chiarella, “Manners are rules. Helpful, yes. But graciousness reflects a state of being; it emanates from your inventory of self. … It bears repeating: Look around. Remember names. Remember where people were born. … Remember that the only representation of you, no matter what your station, is you — your presentation, your demeanor.”
- My Top 5 Apps: Ashley Neese, Wellness Coach
- Chefs+Tech Newsletter
- Watched: Tokyu Hands – We visit the description-defying Tokyo institution that sells just about everything you could ever need and is loved by everyone who visits.
- Watched: A Lost Interview With the Beastie Boys, Animated, The latest installment of Blank on Blank features a previously unheard interview conducted by Rocci Fisch for ABC News Radio in 1985.
- I’m Listening by Heather Armstrong, “If I label the sponsorship at the beginning of the post, I’m wary that it will impact the way you read my stories. I am in no way trying to dupe you or deceive you or trick you. In fact, I work tremendously hard to do just the opposite, to preserve the genuine spirit of my voice.”
- Watched: how glow sticks are made
- In the Make – studio visits with West Coast artists: Chris Duncan, “I work with a wide array of materials. Photos, string, sewing, paint, wood paper, time, mirrors, light and space. I’m all over the place. But if I were to describe my work in a couple of sentences it would be something like this: I am interested in using color, line, shape, repetition and reflection to investigate perception and balance. Fake/perceived vs. real, darkness and light, positive and negative.”
- Lucienne Day on DesignSponge, “Today I will be focusing on the work of Lucienne Day – a mid-century textile designer who, along with her husband Robin Day, were the British answer to uber design couple Charles and Ray Eames!”
- Reporting on industry gossip – How Politico should have reported the “turbulence” at The New York Times by Ann Friedman, “Critics, myself included, asked whether this piece would have been written and edited in this particular way if its subject were a man. But perhaps a more useful question: Is there anything that could have turned this piece from a string of complaints about the boss into a valuable piece of media reporting?”
- Stoya, Pop Star of Porn by Amanda Hess, “Stoya does not look like a stripper. The artist Molly Crabapple, a friend, describes her as “a cat-eyed Snow White beauty” who is “mathematically perfect.”
- making art can be hard – mati rose newsletter for the Daring Adventures in Paint, “I get curious with my fear. I befriend it. I break it down to small pieces. I say f-off fear. All of this is true. I roll the fear around in my tongue. I do my dishes. Sort my laundry. Sweep. Shred old bills. I do anything to keep my hands busy instead of creating.”
- Watched: Hilary Mantel introduces Bring up the Bodies
Real, actual books:
