January 2012
26 posts
1 tag
On winking
It’s a Tuesday night, so Brie and I are eating pho and discussing romance: in particular, my aversion to online dating.
You know, says Brie. You don’t have to meet men through online dating. You could go crazy and meet them in real life.
I could, I say. It’s true. I could! But I can’t wink. And I think that winking is a very helpful way of communicating interest in the...
“The technology I like is the American paperback edition of Freedom. I can spill...”
– (via)
Dear Jonathan Franzen: I’m not that in to ebooks either. I own neither a Kindle nor an iPad and neither is on my to-buy list). I like to sniff at the glue of a paperback as much as the next person.
But you went wrong when you claimed that physical books were the domain of...
Anonymous asked: What do you think of the Costa Books Award list this year?
Anonymous asked: Who is your favourite fictional character?
On romantic advice
It’s been a while since I’ve had romantic advice from a cab driver, I think. But then, it’s a while since I’ve been taking cabs on my own late at night. Sure sign, I suppose, of a lady who needs romantic advice. From a cab driver.
How long have you been here? says the cab driver.
Eight years! I say, because I am incapable of lying to cab drivers, of pretending that I am a...
“A man who assisted in autopsies in a big urban hospital, starting in the...”
– Sunday was the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade (via motherjones)
Anonymous asked: How many books do you read a week?
“I doubt that I was in the majority among my classmates in choosing to abstain...”
–
Jean Hannah Edelstein on why good sex education is not about preaching abstinence
(via guardiancomment)
Watch80strand:
Some books do (extra) special things. In this case, Tom Bullough’s new novel, KONSTANTIN, out March 1st.
This is a rather beautiful idea.
1 tag
Anonymous asked: I've applied for Editorial Assistant jobs at magazine and book companies. For this type of job, is it usually a one-to-one interview or a group interview? Thank you!
Anonymous asked: I really hate that Paul Auster book. What are your thoughts on it?
1 tag
1 tag
On banality
I. It struck me, like never before, somewhere in the sixth or sixtieth hour of my flu-induced confinement (but probably the sixtieth, because I believe in the first throes I was delerious) that the only thing more unforgivably banal than composing, in my head, a 140-character remark about my suffering (vile suffering; in the grand scheme of possibility, gentle suffering) would be sharing the...
"Daaaaad, I can't believe you let them send me to... →
stryker:
nerdshares:
From this article: “Even though the region boasts some of the finest farmland in the world, there is a startling lack of fresh produce here.”
My mother-in-law is a vegan who lives in the woods (yes) in southern Ohio. And even though it’s an hour and a half to the nearest grocery, she and my step-FIL are still alive. People who actually cook for themselves instead of going...
“SETTLING in a chair in the interview suite of the press office at the National...”
– Simon Russell Beale kindly talked to me for The Australian, even though he was in a lot of pain!
broadist: you look great! have you lost weight? →
broadist:
ATTN: “You look great! Have you lost weight?” is not a compliment. I know it has been the go-to praise-route towards many women since the inception of puberty, but I’d like to put an end to it. Why do I hear this like a broken record every holiday?
Some alternatives:
You look great! How are…
The only thing I think when someone tells me that I look like I’ve lost weight...
Guardian Comment: Top five tips on women for... →
guardiancomment:
Photograph: Murdo Macleod
Women, professor Hawking said in an interview with New Scientist, were a “complete mystery” – one that he now devotes much of his time to contemplating. Here are a few of our pointers to help him on his quest…
1. Much like individual fundamental particles,…
Anna is a decisive stylist
Jean: Anna, should I wear my glasses for my new Guardian profile photo?
Anna: No.
Jean: Even if they make me look smarter?
Anna: No, they don't.
“ANTONY Gormley’s taste in materials has always been catholic. Which is why...”
– I interviewed Antony Gormley for The Australian about dance as well as white bread.